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

Abstract #114656

Leah Rimkus, MPH¹, Fernando Ona, PhD, MPH², Paula Jones, PhD (cand)¹, and Zetta Wells, MA (cand)¹. (1) San Francisco Food Systems, c/o San Francisco Department of Public Health, OEHS, 1390 Market Street, Suite 822, San Francisco, CA 94102, 415-252-3932, leah.rimkus@sfdph.org, (2) Occupational and Environmental Health Section, San Francisco Department of Public Health, 1390 Market Street, Suite 822, San Francisco, CA 94102

Food and nutrition programs in large urban areas have not traditionally followed a systems approach towards mitigating food related health issues, and instead have relied upon specific issue interventions that deal with downstream indicators of illness and disease. In June of 2004, the San Francisco Food Alliance, a group of city agencies, community based organizations and residents, initiated a collaborative indicator project called the San Francisco Food and Agriculture Report Card. In order to attend to root causes of food related illnesses and diseases, the purpose of the Report Card is to provide a holistic, systemic view of San Francisco's food system with a focus on three main areas that have a profound affect on public health: food assistance, urban agriculture, and food retailing. Using participatory, consensus methods, the San Francisco Food Alliance jointly developed a set of indicators to assess the state of the local food system and to set benchmarks for future analysis. Members collected data from various city and state departments as well as community based organizations. Through the use of Geographic Information Systems software, a series of maps were created to illustrate the assets and limitations within the food system in different neighborhoods and throughout the City as a whole. This participatory assessment process illustrates how to more effectively attend to structural food systems issues in large urban areas by (1) focusing on prevention rather than crisis management, (2) emphasizing collaboration to ensure institutional and structural changes, and (3) aptly translating data into meaningful community driven prevention activities.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to

• List at least five indicators that can be included when assessing the state of a municipal food system.
• Identify key stakeholders to involve in a municipal food policy planning process.
• Recognize how Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software can be useful in presenting community food assessment data to city administrators and decision makers.

Keywords: Food Security, Participatory Research

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation