Community Food Security - read the Hunger Commission's food access study and download free food access study materials including curriculum for nutrition education workshops.

Short Range Recommendations

Circulate a Monthly Informational Food Access Newsletter

Create and distribute a monthly newsletter through existing mailing lists and organizations in the community. Many participants of the community input meetings expressed surprise at the amount of information they learned about food resources in their own community just by listening to other people talk. For instance, several people were very interested in a home delivery service when another resident mentioned it as a resource that he regularly used. No one else even knew the service existed. In addition, some participants jotted down strategies that other people were using to stretch their food budget. On the evaluations of the meetings, there were several comments referring to the desire to have more information about community food resources more often.

The newsletter could include a host of information like a supermarket comparison, comparing the prices of the five main markets in the area. This could stimulate competition in local businesses and hopefully lead toward lower prices. Information about Farmers' Markets including current locations and times, dates and times for community carpooling and updates on efforts to establish a market in North Sacramento would be very useful for people trying to find affordable produce. The newsletter could serve as an Outreach source of federal food programs such as Summer Food, Food Stamps and WIC. Information on a food buying cooperative Self Help and Resource Exchange (SHARE) Program, community garden locations and ways to become involved, recipes and advice from residents, and food safety information are further examples of useful information that could be made available within the community. It may be difficult to find on-going funds to mail a monthly newsletter, but it could also be distributed through non-profit organizations and meetings of neighborhood associations. A neighborhood-focused newsletter would provide a streamlined, interactive form of regular communication, giving residents a number of easy ways to stretch limited resources and share ideas with each other.

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