Community readiness to participate in the local food system: A novel case study

INTRODUCTION: Access to fresh, healthy food is a crucial determinant to healthy eating. Increasingly, grassroots programs aim to build a more secure food system through encouraging access to local fresh food resources (i.e. farmers markets, community gardens, cooking classes), often in low-resource settings. Sustainability of local food system programs is ultimately dependent upon community ownership. The purpose of this presentation is to describe a novel approach to quantifying the level of community ownership in the local food system. METHODS: The study is a cross-sectional assessment of "community readiness” to participate in local food systems programs that target food access. Key community stakeholders (i.e. farmers, school food service administrators, grocery store owners) will be interviewed using semi-structured interview guides. Interviews will be transcribed and thematically coded using a validated scoring guide. A “community readiness” score will be calculated and used as a baseline measure for a community level food system evaluation and to identify strategies for encouraging more participation in the community food system. RESULTS: The overall community readiness score and qualitative data gleaned from community member interviews will be presented. Results from the score and semi-structured interviews will inform the current use of local food resources in health prevention programing. DISCUSSION: Community Readiness is a novel approach to measure a community's “readiness for change” in interventions that aim to increase the healthfulness of the food system. The presentation adds to the limited research used to examine the connection of food systems and community health.