mano-Y-ola Client Uses Community Assessment Data to Procure Grant Funding for Community Food Bank |
|
|
Families and Communities Rising of North Carolina Leverages Data to Meet Community Needs |
|
|
Durham County, North Carolina — mano-Y-ola celebrates the work of its longstanding client, Families and Communities Rising, Inc. (FCR), using data from their Community Assessment to gain grant funding to create a food bank. FCR, a Head Start and Early Head Start program out of Durham and Orange Counties in North Carolina, opened two Helping Our People Eat (HOPE) Healthy Pantries in 2019 after their Community Assessment highlighted the overall food insecurity experienced by nearly a fifth of local children. HOPE Healthy Pantries now serve between 150-200 individuals monthly. When LaDean Jones Williams, the Parent, Family, and Community Engagement Coordinator for FCR, considered the creation of the food pantry, they shared, “It’s harder to build from a foundation with emptiness, but easier to build from a foundation of love.” With full bellies, the children and families FCR serves will be better equipped to succeed in education, socioeconomic development, and community engagement. |
|
|
FCR staff went through an inspiring process to wield the Community Assessment data to procure this grant. After they reviewed the Community Assessment and noticed the disturbing food access data, they surveyed the families they serve to ensure primary data agreed. Then they contacted stakeholders and community |
|
|
partners identified through the Community Assessment to discuss the data and their pantry goals, and together determined the location, timeline, project costs, and funding sources. Funding sources included the DCO Public Health Department DINE Program, Walmart, Food Lion, Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina Healthy Pantry, Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, PORCH of Hillsborough, and PORCH of Durham. |
|
|
The outcome of this process was the establishment of two certified Healthy Pantries in both Durham and Orange Counties. This encompassed food and nutrition resources, such as workshops and educational materials for children, families, and staff members; free staff training; equipment for pantry |
|
|
operations; and the accessibility of more adequate, nutritious foods for local families. In addition to containing the necessities required to run the pantry, such as shelving, refrigerators, and freezers, the pantries offer nutrition education materials, frozen meats and non-perishable meats, vegetables, and food products, nutritious snacks, diapers, and hygiene products. |
|
|
The HOPE Healthy Pantries help close the gap of food inaccessibility experienced by local children. mano-Y-ola champions FCR’s insight into the data provided, initiative to create change, and their follow through to meet this need in their community. Properly using a Community Assessment can identify community needs and create a data-driven path forward to address those needs for and in collaboration with key stakeholders. To inquire about your own customized Community Assessment, visit https://www.mano-y-ola.com/, and to learn more about Families and Communities Rising, visit https://fcrinc.org/.
-written by Jessica Roqueburg |
|
|
About our company — mano-Y-ola (formerly known as Nolo Consulting, LLC) is a minority- and female-owned consulting firm specializing in work with minority and immigrant farmer communities, early childhood education programs and leadership development. The company’s mission is to help each individual professional love what they do. |
|
|
Click Below for Past Press Releases and Spanish Versions Haga clic debajo para ver comunicados de prensa anteriores y versiones en español |
|
|
|
|
