The Power of Community Partnerships for Innovative Regional Solutions for Food Justice: A Food Alert Phone Application for Southcoast Massachusetts
Document Type
PosterPublication Date
2018-03-09Keywords
community partnershipsfood security
food alerts
food justice
web app
phone app
Civic and Community Engagement
Community-Based Research
Community Health and Preventive Medicine
Food SecurityPublic HealthTelemedicineTranslational Medical Research
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
There is evidence for a growing need for innovative solutions that a collaborative nonprofit network can facilitate. There is now interest by funders in the potential of collaborative networks. However, such networks can be difficult to create and nourish. The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth founded and facilitated a successful nonprofit network which has led to a significant, regional projects. Founded in 2009, Southcoast Serves - based in the Leduc Center for Civic Engagement -- began as a collaborative of over 40 community organizations. Starting as a leap of faith, then slowly developing connections through monthly meetings over five years, by 2014 Southcoast Serves became a set of trusted, collaborative partners, actively looking for effective regional projects. In 2015 Southcoast Serves settled on a regional, food justice campaign that has resulted in a number of projects - most recently the development of a 'Food Finder' web/phone app for the region. The 'Food Finder' project team has successfully utilized people from Southcoast Serves non-profits, the university's LeDuc Center as well as students and faculty from the Charlton College of Business' Management Information Systems group. This poster will present the successful development of the Southcoast Serves network of nonprofits as well as the details of the Food Alert Phone/Web application. Best practices will be highlighted to encourage others to develop their networks.DOI
10.13028/az70-wt25Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/26718Rights
Copyright the Author(s)Distribution License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/Scopus Count
Collections
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Copyright the Author(s)
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Communities for Healthy Living: A Holistic Approach to Engaging Head Start Families to Improve Health OutcomesThe Communities for Healthy Living (CHL) project is a five year, pragmatic intervention trial to reduce and prevent childhood obesity among low-income preschoolers in the Greater Boston area. This workshop will demonstrate the successes and challenges of engaging parents as participants and leaders of a participatory intervention to prevent childhood obesity. Key lessons learned; give insight on how staff and parents were engaged from the outset; and what this type of program can offer diverse groups of parents. With a particular focus on the participatory nature of our work, we will describe the stages of our trial and discuss the current status of the project. Presenters will outline how CHL differs from other childhood obesity prevention trials, and place emphasis on their parent health and empowerment program – the keystone to the project. The presenters will lead the group in several activities taken directly from the parent program, to illustrate how parents of varying backgrounds and literacy levels can be engaged around health topics.
-
Achieving Health Equity: The Role of Innovative Community PartnershipsVideo includes Symposium welcome and introductions. Navigate to 5:30 in the video for the keynote presentation. Dr. Renée Boynton-Jarrett, MD, ScD is Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center/Boston University School of Medicine, and Director, Vital Village Community Engagement Network. Dr. Boynton-Jarrett is nationally recognized for her expertise in the role of early-life adversities as life course social determinants of health. Through BMC Vital Village Network she has supported the development of community-based strategies to promote child wellbeing and equity and prevent adversity by building community capacities. During this presentation, she will discuss the role of using a trauma-informed framework to promote systems alignment, and innovative, cross-sector partnerships to improve wellbeing and achieve equity. This presentation will review the contribution of early life adversities and adverse social environments to inequities in health, with a focus on the role of social stress as a driver of inequities. One learning objective is to review new medical competencies that consider structural violence and social forces, as a strategy to transform models of practice and care. An additional objective of the presentation is to situate the current use of metrics of wellbeing and improve the utility of metrics to track progress, and implement local improvements over time by sharing examples of how participatory strategies, community engagement, and community-based research methods can be incorporated in the work of Vital Village Network. Finally, the presentation will share strategies for scaling local innovations and the essential role of civic participation for building community capacity to achieve health equity. The BMC Vital Village Network integrates a trauma-informed framework to cultivate partnerships between community residents and agencies and align systems of care and education. This presentation will ask the question of what cross-sector partnerships and innovative strategies arise from a paradigm shift that frames early life adversities as life course social determinants of health.
-
Greater Lawrence Family Health Center Food Insecurity Campaign: Building Partnerships within Communities to Address Social Determinants of Health and Promote Health EquityBreakout Session 2B: Background Social determinants of health contribute more to our general quality and length of life than the medical care we provide in our communities. To address these needs, the Greater Lawrence Family Health Center has recently launched a food insecurity campaign to reduce barriers and access to food for residents of Lawrence. Our initial pilot data suggests that up to 2/3 of our patients are food insecure. To help address this problem we have partnered with the Greater Boston Food Bank to provide free monthly access to fruits and vegetables and assistance with obtaining governmental support. Recognizing the significant impact food insecurity has on the community, we have also started to engage in community partnerships, particularly with the Mayor’s Health Task Force of Lawrence, Greater Boston Food Bank, and Groundworks Lawrence, to develop sustainable solutions to food insecurity. We also are working to develop an understanding of community needs through community members’ perspectives and experiences of food insecurity. Our goal during this session is to describe how the use of informant interviews and focus groups, community needs assessment resources and stakeholder relationships helps to promote a community-driven movement that can tackle health equity. Purpose To promote and discuss methods of community partnership and community-based participatory research in addressing health equity in communities and healthcare organizations To discuss methods and ideas for community engagement and partnership to address social determinants of health, particularly food insecurity.
