Oral

Food banks, welfare programs and emergency food providers experience a surge in participation during difficult economic times. With increased demand on assistance systems, it is important to not only consider areas that are critical to providing needed services, but the social and personal aspects of food insecurity. Session presenters will provide insight into methods used to learn streams of work needed to deliver healthier foods and services in food banks. Women experiencing hunger first hand will present a photo-voice project directed at increasing awareness among policy-makers to advocate for needed policy level approaches to food insecurity. Methods to expose the weaknesses of the welfare systems and proposed initiatives to streamline the process with a vision for it to address social justice will be presented.

Session Objectives: 1) Describe areas for improvement in providing welfare and food assistance programs in the US 2) Explain challenges faced by low-income single women facing food insecurity and approaches used to inform policy-makers of action for change 3)Describe how approaches to food insecurity and hunger can be viewed as a human rights issue and should address prevention instead of emergency assistance

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)