Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #108695

Wendy J. Rankin, MPA, Chronic Disease Prevention, Multnomah County Health Department, 426 SW Stark Street, 9th Floor, Portland, OR 97204, 503-988-3663 x 26221, wendy.j.rankin@co.multnomah.or.us

Food policy councils can have a considerable impact on understanding and addressing the issues of community food access. In 2004 the Portland/Multnomah Food Policy Council in Oregon collaborated with a wide variety of organizations on a community food access survey conducted in Lents, a low income neighborhood in Portland. Key informant interviews were conducted in the summer of 2004 and a Lents stakeholders group was convened to inform the process. A survey was developed and piloted and six community residents were trained to interview their neighbors. Phase I of the outcomes identified three areas in which at least 50% of respondents expressed interest in improving their access to healthful food. These were: 1) community nutrition education; 2) growing their own food if they had more space and information; and 3) having access to a neighborhood farmers market. The food access work was, from the beginning, a joint effort of the Food Policy Council in collaboration with Lents community members, the Multnomah County Health Department, Portland State University, the Oregon Food Bank, local schools, governmental and community-based organizations. Discussion will focus on examining the public health policy implications and outcomes that reach beyond typical public health interventions. The project demonstrates that food policy councils provide opportunities for true collaboration, capacity building and political leverage to further public health policy efforts that insure that communities have a voice and agency in assuring access to healthy affordable food.

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