Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #117604

Neelam Sharma, Programs Director, Community Services Unlimited Inc, 1467 West 49th Streert, Los Angeles, CA 90062, 323-296-4383, neelam@globalpanther.com

Community Services Unlimited, a South Central Los Angeles non-profit and four community groups, with support from the Community Food Security Coalition, implemented Active Community to Improve Our Nutrition (ACTION) food assessment using a Freirean framework and multi-method, multi-measure rapid appraisal methods. The objectives were to: describe the local food environment and issues in accessing food, describe community priorities for systemic change in the food system, use the assessment as a tool for community organizing, and raise awareness of the connection between health and food choices. Community members were actively engaged in the design, piloting, and revision of community food assessment tools. Information was collected from over 350 Mexican/Central American or African American adults and 380 youth at eighteen sites in a ten by fifteen block neighborhood. Key pieces of the assessment were: 1) Planning for Tomorrow community priority survey identifying healthy eating education and new food resources in the neighborhood as top community priorities. 2) Four day photographic food intake journals (middle school students) and the pictorial one meal recall (elementary students), which both revealed preferences for fresh fruit. 3) The comparative mapping of an area in Gardena which revealed 64% less fast food outlets and 67% less liquor/mini-markets in the Gardena compared to the ACTION survey area. Two community health intervention programs have developed from the assessment: Growing Healthy, nutrition/gardening with students is currently in two schools and From the Ground Up, is developing three entrepreneurial urban farms. A program to work with corner store owners to offer healthier choices, including fresh produce is being developed.

Learning Objectives: Analyze the effectiveness of a participatory approach to conducting a community food assessment and creating systemic change. At the conclusion of this session, the participant will be able to

• Articulate the advantages of community based research;
• Utilize participatory methods and tools employed to empower community members to make healthier food choices and
• Describe the outcomes of this community-based research process.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation