Hunger is a personal, physical sensation of discomfort caused by a lack of food.

What’s food insecurity?

When people have inconsistent access to nutritious foods such as dark greens, fruits, and whole grains. (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2023; UCSF, 2024).

1. Increase the number of residents in low-income neighborhoods in San Francisco who understand the links between chronic illness and diet within 6 months. (knowledge)

   
   

2. Increase the number of residents in low-income neighborhoods in San Francisco who know how to access community gardens and where they are located in the community within 6 months.(knowledge)

Ambassadors and interns meet for training for 2 hours a day for 5 days a week in a span of 3 weeks. This training would include gardening and cooking skills that will then be taught to participants.

Information Distribution:

Distribute 1,000 flyers about existing community gardens to recruit participants.

Gardening 101 Workshop:

Gardening 101 will occur every 3 months for a 3 hour session, which consists of teaching 20 participants how to plant, take care of harvest by providing a hands-on experience.

Training Approach

• Practice gardening

• Live demonstration

Training Topics

• How to properly use gardening tools

• How to maintain soil

  
  

Public Health Lectures:

2 hour lectures by public health professionals will take place once every 6 months to educate 30 participants about nutrition and the risk of chronic illnesses.  

Training Approach

• Teaching about nutrition and health

Training Topics

• How to make healthier food choices (healthy foods vs. unhealthy foods)

• Chronic illnesses associated with poor diet such as diabetes, obesity, and hypertension

  
  

Cooking Workshop:

2.5 hour cooking workshops will occur monthly for 19 months involving 15 participants.

Training Approach

• Practicing hands on how to cook healthy meals

  Live demonstration

Training Topics

• Proper hand hygiene

• How to use cooking knives

• How to use healthy ingredients

  
  

Budgeting Workshop:

1 hour lessons about smart/budget-friendly shopping for fresh produce will happen once every 5 months with one 9 month gap, which will include 30 participants.

Training Approach

• Budgeting skills

Training Topics

• How to find food that's affordable

• How to create a budget

Community Events :

Community meals will take place every 3 months to demonstrate the possibilities of what healthy meals can be made at the community garden sites, serving up to 50 participants.

Training Approach

• Demonstration

• Practice cooking

• Following recipes

Training Topics

• Cultural foods

• Meal preparation

In 2021, the food insecurity rate in the US was 10.4%(Feeding America, 2024).

In 2022, 12.8% of U.S. households were food insecure, and 36.7% of households below the poverty line were food insecure (Economic Research Service USDA, 2023).

Even with government assistance, these populations face difficulty accesses or preparing food due to lack of transportation, preexisting health conditions, and functional limitations.

(Justice in Aging, 2023)

(Echeverria, 2023)

An individual who is low-income or unemployed may experience difficulty in affording a sufficient amount of food to support their family. As prices of food continue to increase, low-income families are left food insecure.

In 2021, 87,690 San Francisco (SF) residents were food insecure. The food insecurity rate was 10.1% (Feed America, 2024).

According to the Food Security Task Force, 1 in 4 San Francisco residents is at risk of hunger due to low income (FSTF, 2023).

• Higher rates of food insecurity persist in low-income SF neighborhoods, despite its presents in medium-income households.

  
  

• San Francisco's minimum wage (MW) is $18 per hour or 37,000 a year for full-time workers (SF.GOV, 2024)

• San Francisco is among the top 5 most expensive cities in the US; the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco is $3,020 or about 1 and 1/2 months' pay on MW (SF Gate, 2022)

INFLATION:

• The price of groceries continues to rise due to labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, high demand, droughts, the cost of both organic and inorganic farming (Washington Post, 2024).

SUPERMARKET REDLINING:

• Increased effort into building and preserving supermarkets in higher-income neighborhoods which results in little- to-no access to healthy, affordable foods in lower-income neighborhoods (Move for Hunger, 2024).

For example, without proper nutrition, the chances of developing chronic illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure increases. Additionally, poverty status or economic insecurity is linked to food insecurity which can cause chronic and acute stress.

(Feeding America, 2024; SFDPH, 2023).

• A food desert is defined by the USDA as a neighborhood where at least one-third of the area's population is living more than a half-mile from the closest supermarket or large grocery store in urban areas or 10 miles in rural areas (ABC7, 2022).

• Living in a food desert and/or not having regular access to healthy, nutritious food can be a major cause of food insecurity and potentially lead to hunger, long-term.

• Vulnerable communities, notably in areas of poverty and for individuals without vehicles, face heightened challenges. This underlines the critical link between public transport and food security (Kar, A., Carrel, A. 2022).

Pablo's experience sheds light on broader issues:

• both single-parent and low-income families grappling with escalating food insecurity amid soaring living costs

• childcare hurdles (SF Chronicle, 2024).