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Community food assistance, informal social networks, and the labor of care

Author

Listed:
  • Hilda Kurtz

    (University of Georgia)

  • Abigail Borron

    (University of Georgia)

  • Jerry Shannon

    (University of Georgia)

  • Alexis Weaver

    (Atlanta Community Food Bank)

Abstract

In 2016, the Atlanta Community Food Bank (ACFB) launched the Stabilizing Lives project to develop programs and policies that could better address clients’ needs as well as including clientele as part of the planning process. The ACFB partnered with a research team at the University of Georgia to conduct a participatory research project aimed at developing deeper insights into the factors contributing to both instability and stability in the lives of pantry clientele. This article describes the outcomes this research, offering both a substantive contribution to scholarship on food insecurity and emergency food systems and a methodological innovation through a staged mixed-method participatory research project. Through use of a culture-centered approach, this project created discursive spaces within which to outline emergency food models that support informal networks of care. We used a range of methods, including photo elicitation, concept mapping, individual interviews, and focus groups, to facilitate conversation among agency staff, volunteers, and clientele about the effectiveness of current program models and potential new ideas. Specifically, we suggest that through such practices, food pantries and local agencies may help inform new program models that contribute to household stability, and push back against the sometimes alienating and atomizing paradigm found in current emergency food programs.

Suggested Citation

  • Hilda Kurtz & Abigail Borron & Jerry Shannon & Alexis Weaver, 2019. "Community food assistance, informal social networks, and the labor of care," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(3), pages 495-505, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:36:y:2019:i:3:d:10.1007_s10460-019-09943-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-019-09943-0
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Melanie Rock & Lynn McIntyre & Krista Rondeau, 2009. "Discomforting comfort foods: stirring the pot on Kraft Dinner ® and social inequality in Canada," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 26(3), pages 167-176, September.
    2. Valerie Tarasuk & Joan Eakin, 2005. "Food assistance through “surplus” food: Insights from an ethnographic study of food bank work," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 22(2), pages 177-186, June.
    3. Lydia Zepeda, 2018. "Hiding hunger: food insecurity in middle America," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 35(1), pages 243-254, March.
    4. Lynn McIntyre & Danielle Tougas & Krista Rondeau & Catherine L. Mah, 2016. "“In”-sights about food banks from a critical interpretive synthesis of the academic literature," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 33(4), pages 843-859, December.
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