Abstract
Background: The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has encouraged Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) state agencies to lead needs assessment activities to guide funding and program decision-making for the SNAP Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Grant Program (SNAP-Ed). The Georgia Department of Human Services (DHS),decided to center the voices of SNAP-Ed participants in Georgia through a series of listening sessions occurring January to October 2023. The goal of the community listening session (CLS) was to discuss community needs based on local health data, identify existing community assets, identify barriers to accessing healthy food and active living, ideate solutions that could help people overcome these challenges, and define success for community members.
Methods: DHS in partnership with the Public Health Institute Center for Wellness and Nutrition (PHI CWN) held an open invitation to bid for community organizations, to facilitate a CLS. Six agencies applied, and five were awarded in the following counties: DeKalb, Chatham, Bulloch, Fulton, and Colquitt.
Results: Across all host sites, CLS were most attended by African American/Black female community residents. Preliminary results show that participants at each CLS listed having access to places for physical activity (e.g., parks, walking trails, gyms) and churches with food pantries as a strength of the community. Although challenges varied, one challenge mentioned by participants across all sessions, was the lack of quality produce available at neighborhood grocery stores. Solutions that were present across all sessions were to increase partnerships with schools, businesses, and/or community organizations to advance health education and access to good quality produce.
Conclusions: The final report with aggregated results will be completed in January 2024. Individual community results will be shared with each host site and attendees to ensure an equitable data collection process and to close the feedback loop with the community.
Keywords
Program planning, qualitative data, community-engaged
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Included in
Are we listening? Approaches to community-centered needs assessment
Background: The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has encouraged Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) state agencies to lead needs assessment activities to guide funding and program decision-making for the SNAP Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Grant Program (SNAP-Ed). The Georgia Department of Human Services (DHS),decided to center the voices of SNAP-Ed participants in Georgia through a series of listening sessions occurring January to October 2023. The goal of the community listening session (CLS) was to discuss community needs based on local health data, identify existing community assets, identify barriers to accessing healthy food and active living, ideate solutions that could help people overcome these challenges, and define success for community members.
Methods: DHS in partnership with the Public Health Institute Center for Wellness and Nutrition (PHI CWN) held an open invitation to bid for community organizations, to facilitate a CLS. Six agencies applied, and five were awarded in the following counties: DeKalb, Chatham, Bulloch, Fulton, and Colquitt.
Results: Across all host sites, CLS were most attended by African American/Black female community residents. Preliminary results show that participants at each CLS listed having access to places for physical activity (e.g., parks, walking trails, gyms) and churches with food pantries as a strength of the community. Although challenges varied, one challenge mentioned by participants across all sessions, was the lack of quality produce available at neighborhood grocery stores. Solutions that were present across all sessions were to increase partnerships with schools, businesses, and/or community organizations to advance health education and access to good quality produce.
Conclusions: The final report with aggregated results will be completed in January 2024. Individual community results will be shared with each host site and attendees to ensure an equitable data collection process and to close the feedback loop with the community.
