Tag Archive | food insecurity

Ottawa County Board of Commissioners funding cuts reduce food security for its constituents

Nov14

… and hunger stings.

The most recent food insecurity statistics in Ottawa were reported in 2019 from the interim CCHS survey data. This data indicates that: One in seven households (13.9 per cent) in Ottawa is food insecure. Despite that fact, the new Ottawa County Board of Commissioners has turned on its own health department with the result that funding has been cut to the county’s food program.

OKT received this media release from Ottawa Food this morning:

Statement From the Ottawa Food Advisory Board

Following cuts to the Ottawa County Department of Public Health

November, 13, 2023

The model of Ottawa Food as a collaborative is unique, with the Ottawa County Department of Public Health employing the full-time coordinator, who works across the private and public sectors towards goals identified county-wide. Ottawa Food’s model is one that has been recognized and celebrated across the state as both highly effective and successful within the Michigan Local Food Council Network.

On Tuesday September, 26 the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners voted to cut the Ottawa County Department of Public Health Education team by 48%, but fund the Ottawa Food operating budget of about $8,950 which covers materials and supplies. Ottawa Food’s coordinator position was a 0.9 FTE Health Educator on this team, and with the cuts, this position no longer exists.

During budget negotiations it was brought up repeatedly that the Board of Commissioners didn’t want to see Ottawa Food operations reduced or eliminated. However, they also knew that by reducing the Health Education budget, this was a highly probable outcome.

Ottawa Food fully supports the Ottawa County Department of Public Health and its leadership team as they determine how to allocate a decreased budget while faced with impossible decisions. The complexity of the full situation is detailed in this Washington Post article from late October.

Prior to the final budget vote on September 26, listening sessions were held with Ottawa Food members to determine possible paths forward.  Following the cuts made in late September, 76% of Ottawa Food members voted to pause the model of Ottawa Food as it’s been operating, rather than continue without a full-time coordinator.

As of now, the collaborative still exists but all regular monthly and quarterly meetings and other activities are on pause. Without a full-time coordinator, certain programs will not continue, including Senior Project Fresh, which distributes farmers market coupons to local seniors through federal funding that the Ottawa Food Coordinator facilitated and coordinated through local agencies. Another impacted program is gleaning and produce donations from local farmers markets, specifically in Hudsonville, Spring Lake and Georgetown which just started this past year, coordinated and launched by the Ottawa Food Coordinator.

Of course, all of the member agencies across the county continue their own individual impactful work, although outside of the collaborative infrastructure. At this time, the Ottawa Food Advisory Board continues to meet and discuss the best course of action for the continued success and viability of the collaborative and its initiatives and programs.

Thank you for the continued support of our shared vision to eliminate hunger in Ottawa County, encourage healthy eating for all, and support local farmers.

About Ottawa Food
Ottawa Food is a collaboration of over 45 agencies and individuals working to ensure that community members have access to healthy, local and affordable food choices. Our members come from a variety of backgrounds and sectors, including local public health, food pantries, human service organizations, food security advocates, farmers, local businesses, community members, MSU Extension, Feeding America West Michigan and many others. Since founding in 2011, our vision is to have an available supply of well-balanced meals for all, and we work to eliminate hunger in Ottawa County, promote healthy eating for all, and increase sourcing of local food.

Learn more at https://ottawafood.org/

OKT’s Lisa Oliver-King featured in story on food insecurity

Nov17

Reposted from Rapid Growth Media

“It is great to grow food, but more importantly when we begin to look at the landscape, how do we understand policy?” Lisa Oliver-King

RG Community Connect: Collaboration is key in working toward a more just food system in Kent County

GRATIA LEE | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2022

If you feel stretched by the increase in food prices in recent months, you are not alone. As inflation affects food costs across the country, more and more people are food insecure. According to the White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, “there is no silver bullet to address these complex issues and there is no overnight fix. Making progress requires collective, sustained action and mobilization across every segment of society.” That document, plus a newly updated Michigan Good Food (MI GF) Charter by Michigan State University, are poised to guide important changes to our current food system — one where “junk food”: high-calorie, low-nutrient food is more affordable than nutrient-dense “whole” foods like fruits, nuts and vegetables.  

While national changes are sure to be difficult in this partisan climate, these documents both provide a clear framework for smaller, local organizations to collaborate toward more resilient food systems and echo the work that is already being done. The MI GF Charter “calls for systemic change by supporting food systems that ensure food is accessible to everyone, promote healthy communities, use fair and sustainable production methods and support a diverse and equitable society.” 

It is encouraging that this type of work is currently happening in our community. “It’s a tension between meeting immediate needs and long-term, systemic solutions,” says Janelle Vandergrift, co-chair of the recently formed Kent County Food Policy Council (KCFPC). “Because immediate needs are so great right now it can take so much of our attention, but we still need to be able to zoom out and look at the system as a whole and see what needs to change,” she says. The Food Policy Council is set to begin work on a countywide community food assessment with the hope that the process will involve a lot of community feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of our current system.  

Despite the myriad challenges, Wende Randall, director of the Kent County Essential Needs Task Force, finds room for hope. “I am energized by the coming together of grassroots groups, exploring how close neighborhoods or small groups can work together and some larger organizations activating practices of food justice that support local businesses and families,” she says.  

For the Good Food team at Access of West Michigan, systemic change in the charitable food system has been a top priority for the past five years, as it works to educate and collaborate alongside partners focusing on the importance of dignified access to healthy, affordable, culturally relevant food.  

One of its programs, Refresh Now, is a collaboration with two local health clinics to run a fresh fruit and vegetable prescription program that helps patients with chronic disease or high-risk factors access nourishing foods. “Food as medicine projects have the potential for making a significant impact on public health, especially in communities with significant health disparities,” says Randall.  

Another exciting project is a collaboration between New City Farm and Fresh Markets that we helped launch over the past five years. These are hyperlocal, innovative food retail sites in low food balance areas of Kent County. This project has been powerful as it has been influenced by and designed with community member feedback —  due to being able to share space with individuals who frequent the Fresh Markets and get direct feedback on what could be done better, what they want to have available in the markets from local farms and how the Fresh Markets can continue to be a beacon of health in their neighborhoods. 

Lisa Oliver King and Julie BrunsonOne of the most active organizations doing important grassroots work in Grand Rapids is Our Kitchen Table (OKT). Founded in 2005 as a mobilizing group for moms around the dangers of lead and radon in homes, Executive Director, Lisa Oliver-King continued conversations in her community and quickly realized that a major injustice was food. Since 2010 when they received their first grant, OKT has worked tirelessly on the southeast side of the city. Oliver-King stressed the importance of being active in your community. While growing food and teaching community members about healthy cooking is a tool they use, Oliver-King stresses that “the justice lens … is crucial.” 

“It is great to grow food, but more importantly when we begin to look at the landscape, how do we understand policy?,” she says. “The reality is you are always bumping up against policy. You need to show up at city commission and county commission meetings. How can we build a collective influence to bring about the change we want to see?”

As most have learned through experience, “being a part of systems work is realizing there are many entry points, not just one,” says Vandergrift. It is important to find your passion and start there. As a community member on the KCFPC, Samika Douglas is looking forward to “sharing the needs of the community and the barriers they are facing, as well as advocating for resources and services that are so needed.” Randall emphasized the need for shared language in this work and being able “to consider the assets of the community rather than just the deficits.” 

As the trajectory to reimagining more equitable food systems advances, the community must keep moving forward. Many of the most successful programs happening locally are those that prioritize resident feedback from and are authentically driven by the needs of those most affected by issues of food security. “While there is a lot of good work in our community being done, it is important to remember that in working on multi-levels, things might not happen as fast as you would like for them to happen,” says Oliver-King. “But, figuring out how you can still support the work in some kind of way because the more of a puzzle that we fit together, the better off our community is. We are all individual pieces that must connect to bring about those changes that will address the issue of being food insecure.” 

Photos courtesy of Our Kitchen Table and Access of West Michigan

Gratia Lee is the Good Food Systems Director at Access of West Michigan. She moved back to MI in June 2021 and looks forward to engaging with the community around shared goals of increased health equity and improved food access. She is passionate about the environment and sees food as an important entry point to connect people to one another and our planet.