Population: 26,092
Project focus: Access to foods that support healthy eating patterns
Goals:
- Conduct root cause analyses of food insecurity issues
- Increase food security screening
- Implement strategies to increase donations of healthy foods
- Coordinate existing food security services to ensure consistent access
Approaches and Partners
The mission of the Food & Faith Coalition is to improve nutrition-related health outcomes in Perry County. The Coalition engages more than 40 faith leaders, educators, health care providers, researchers, social workers, government officials and food resource providers. For their Challenge project, the Coalition conducted root cause analyses of food insecurity issues via focus groups. The team made incredible strides in their research and analysis by listening to individuals across multiple sectors of the community, including food security advocates, recently unemployed individuals and college students from their local community college.
The team also created materials to support food security screenings, improved coordination between different food assistance organizations across the county and connected their community to culturally important foods. They even developed food insecurity resources like an interactive food insecurity screener and a brochure that catalogs food assistance programs for residents.
Successes (as of September 2022)
To increase food donations from retailers, the project team also provided local businesses with information on tax immunity laws, as well as the environmental impact of donating vs. discarding food surplus. They also partnered with the Hazard/Perry County Chamber of Commerce and the USDA Cooperative Extension agent, which significantly heightened awareness of benefits of food donations from retailers. They were able to present these benefits and provide food retailers interactive forms and infographics at various local meetings and classes. By the end of this reporting period, 119 Kentucky counties received information on food donation tax immunity laws. The products from this campaign will also be disseminated in the metropolitan areas of Kentucky during a project this fall conducted by a U of L graduate student.
Read NACo's interviews with each of the the 10 county-based teams, including Perry County.