Mapping Listening Session Responses from Low Income Consumers

Diane Smith MS, RD; Rita Ordonez MA, Erica Lamson MPH, RD, IBCLC

ABSTRACTAccess to healthy and affordable food, while central to a vibrant community, is a concern for many households in Skagit County facing hunger and under-nutrition. Skagit Food for Skagit People (SFSP) is a year-long USDA/NIFA-funded Community Food Planning project with the goal of bringing together food system stakeholders to develop and promote a comprehensive response to local food access, farm and nutrition issues in Skagit County. Often missing from conversations about food access is the voice of the low-income consumer. A key component of this project was to actively engage the low-income consumer in 6 listening sessions conducted in demographically distinct areas of Skagit County. Using Appreciate Inquiry, participants were asked to describe what is functional about the current food system and to create a vision for a food system in Skagit County that would provide easy access to healthy foods. Audio recordings and detailed notes were analyzed and coded into emergent themes. Mind maps were used to visually represent themes in three main areas: what is working currently, barriers to healthy food access, and participant visions for the future. Listening session results were presented to local stakeholders to inform a planning process for. a comprehensive response to improving healthy food access in Skagit County

METHODS• Six listening sessions were held in geographically distinct, low-income

areas of Skagit County.

• In each area, a relevant community space and host was identified. The

host was well-known to community members, provided a familiar point

of contact for participants and coordinated recruitment. Hosts included

project steering committee members, food bank directors, church

pastors, and life skills teachers. Each host was provided with

recruitment materials and instructions.

• Listening sessions, one in Spanish and five in English, were conducted

by a trained facilitator and included at least two note takers. Spanish

notes were translated into English for data analysis.

• Sessions were facilitated using an Appreciative Inquiry (AI).

Participants were asked 3 questions:

1. What is currently working about how you get food?

2. What would it look like if getting healthy food was easy?

3. What can be done to make your vision a reality?

• Participants received a $20 grocery store gift card for participating. A

light meal was served during the discussion.

• 54 individuals participated. Of those participants,

• 72% used food assistance in the past year, and

• 35% skipped or cut back on a meal because there was insufficient

money to buy food.

• All group conversations were recorded and detailed notes were taken.

Audio recordings and written notes were analyzed for emergent

themes.

• To improve validity, written notes were provided to all session hosts

and following data analysis, the coding structure was discussed with

SFSP steering committee members, most of whom attended at least one

listening session.

IMPLICATIONSThe implications of this work are multifaceted. Directly applicable to the

local community health assessment process, information gathered can

help to identify priorities, develop food security/food access programs and

guide transportation planning. Lessons learned and findings can also be

used to inform regional and state level community planning efforts,

support vision statements and align health strategies and priorities at the

local and state levels.

For further information, please contact Diane Smith at diane.smith@wsu.edu 360-428-4270, ext 235.The Skagit Food for Skagit People is funded in part by the USDA NIFA Grant Number: 2014-33800-22341. This project has been funded at least in part with Federal funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect

the view or policies of the of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.”

CONCLUSIONS• Wider food system stakeholders were engaged in the process through

two all-day meetings and were kept informed by discussion, listserv

and email newsletters. Some stakeholders expressed an interest in

working on programs to address need. Others were interested in

creating a local food policy council to align efforts with the Washington

State Food System Roundtable.

• The act of convening people in listening sessions and stakeholder

meetings created new connections. This generated a ripple effect

which led to additional healthy food access activities outside the

immediate scope of this project.

• The AI approach surfaced community-driven solutions to community-

level problems and allowed discussions to remain focused on solutions

rather than becoming mired in barriers. Barriers did surface

organically in each discussion, and facilitation was required to keep the

discussion solutions-focused.

• A strategy to engage low-income consumers in the process beyond the initial listening session is needed. Questions include: How to create community of belonging? How to build community when you are calling out a group based on economic status? Future efforts need to employ strategies which build on community capital and create deeper community involvement.

Figure 1: Action areas identified by listening session participants to improve healthy food access in Skagit County

Figure 2: Definition and supporting quotes for each action area identified by listening session participants

RESULTS• In addition to visioning the future, participants identified five methods

that currently facilitate access to healthy food: 1) home gardening; 2)

smart shopping (using coupons, bulk buying, etc.); 3) cooperative

systems (trading garden produce, transportation sharing to food

outlets); 4) being in an agricultural area; and 5) food banks operating a

shopping model.

• Participants also identified four main barriers to accessing healthy

food: 1) limited availability at food banks (long lines, limited hours, lack

of produce and/or culturally appropriate foods) and farmers markets

(limited hours and expense); 2) food is expensive (higher cost of healthy

food and lack of sufficient food assistance); 3) transportation (high cost

of personal vehicle and limited public transportation options); and 4)

no space to garden.

• Figure 1 uses a mind map to display the actions needed to increase

access to healthy food as visioned by participants.

• Figure 2 provides further explanation for each primary action area and

highlights salient participant quotes from the sessions.