3031.0: Monday, October 22, 2001 - Board 2

Abstract #26058

Journey to Food Security - Partnership in Action

Susan M. Anderson, MS, RD, Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity/Chronic Disease Nutrition Branch, CDC/NCCDPHP, 4770 Buford Hwy NE, Mail Stop K-26, Atlanta, GA 30341-3717, 770-488-5209, SAnderson@cdc.gov and Mick Henry, Public Health Services, South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, Box 101106, Columbia, SC 29211.

After welfare reforms enacted in 1996, food stamp participation dropped, while demands on local food pantries increased. We can’t fully explain these trends just by looking at drops in welfare caseloads, nor by assessing the impact of changing to electronic benefit transfer (EBT). While all of USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) cooperating State partners for it’s fifteen nutrition assistance programs must assure stewardship of targeted federal funds, collaborative efforts are needed to assure "Access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life." We now look to the annual survey for Household Food Security to assist with measurement of efforts.

In 2000, FNS Regional Administrator, Virgil L. Conrad, cosigned State Food Security Proclamations with key stakeholders as a first, critical step to foster collaboration at State and local levels. Partners committed to form working groups and develop collaborative State food security plans. "Phase One" plans address access to government nutrition assistance programs. States set annual access goals by program out to 2005. "Phase Two" adds non-governmental partners from community- and faith-based organizations, private and advocacy groups. "Phase Three" builds links to partners working on economic security, the key to ending hunger.

On October 15, 2000, South Carolina Food Security Partners presented Governor Jim Hodges with its Phase One Food Security Action Plan, kicking off SC’s Hunger Awareness Week. The Partners are ready to share further developments at the 2001 APHA 129th Annual Meeting. FNS will share examples from five other States’ successful public-private collaborations.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, the participant will be able to:

  1. Recognize two benefits to limited resource individuals and families in need of food when government, private, community and faith-based organizations work in concert to assure access to food.
  2. Describe a State-level model where a wide range of Federal and State government, private, community- and faith-based partners join forces to strategically plan for "Access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life."
  3. List three to five State government agencies in each of eight Southeastern States which have committed staff and resources to engage in interagency strategic planning to improve access to food.
  4. Identify at least five potential non-governmental partners working with governmental agencies to craft strategies to assure access to food in all communities statewide.
  5. Prioritize key strategies developed by one State food security working group to increase food security and end hunger in their State.

Keywords: Food Security, Public/Private Partnerships

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: USDA Food and Nutrition Service, Southeast Regional Office (SERO) Several State agencies in South Carolina (social services, health, education) [no products for sale]
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

The 129th Annual Meeting of APHA