Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Perspectives From Frontline Organizations In The Portland Metro Region On Addressing Food Insecurity During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Megan Horst, Meg Grzybowski, Huijun Tan

Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Publications

See video of related event: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/metropolitianstudies/155/

The main goal of this project was to contribute to an understanding of how frontline-serving food security organizations in the Portland region adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic and other emergencies in 2020-2022 and how they addressed increased rates of food insecurity among the region’s residents. We discuss the experiences of these organizations in serving the region’s food insecure residents, the many adaptations they made in the past few years, barriers experienced, and positive and critical reflections on local government. We identify lessons learned and promising ideas for how to better prepare our region, in …

Comparing Heavy Metal Content Found In Spinach (Spinacia Oleracea) Grown On The Roof And Ground Sites At Portland State University, Tyler Robin, Gwynn R. Johnson, Olyssa Starry

McNair Symposium

As a result of urbanization, fresh, healthy food can be expensive and easily contaminated but space for local farming is limited. Roofs can be underutilized in densely populated cities and can offer a space for local fresh farming. The purpose of this study is to find if growing leafy vegetables on the roof can limit heavy metal exposure from air pollutants. By growing Spinach on five roofs and five ground locations around the Portland State University campus, at varying heights, we can extract the heavy metals found in these greens and compare them to each other. The expected results show …

Incorporating Local Foods Into Low-Income Families’ Home-Cooking Practices: The Critical Role Of Sustained Economic Subsidies, Jennifer Gaddis, Amy K. Coplen, Molly Clark-Barol, Allea Martin, Claire K. Barrett, Lauren Lubowicki

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Alternative food practices, including farmers markets and CSAs, are often inaccessible to lowincome families. Subsidized CSAs and fruit and vegetable prescription programs have the potential to decrease food insecurity, increase fresh fruit and vegetable consumption, and generate better health outcomes. However, several challenges can limit logistics of distribution and an inability to cook from scratch due to a lack of kitchen infrastructure, time, or skills. In this paper, we investigate two dietrelated health programs conducted with community partners in Madison, Wisconsin, and Portland, Oregon. We used photovoice to evaluate and enhance these programs, which supplied lowincome participants with free or …

E-Grocery Home Delivery And The Freight & Travel Demands Of Multifamily Dwellings, Katherine Keeling, Gabby Abou-Zeid

PSU Transportation Seminars

Double Feature: E-Grocery Home Delivery and the Freight & Travel Demands of Multifamily Dwellings

E-Grocery Home Delivery Impacts on Food Access and Equity

The adoption of e-grocery home delivery (HD) has the potential to change social norms of acquiring household foods and necessities. In light of recent interest in food deserts, a case study of Portland, OR reviews the new elements of inclusion, exclusion, and value created by the service of four major e-grocery businesses: Shipt, Instacart, Walmart, and Amazon Prime Now. These e-grocers are reviewed in terms of service areas, pricing, and inventory choice, as these are key factors …

Transportation Access For The Food Insecure, Ann Joslin

TREC Project Briefs

A NITC small starts project explores transportation barriers for Tampa Bay’s food insecure population, and recommends strategies to help.

Travel To Food: Transportation Barriers For The Food Insecure In Tampa Bay, Kevin Salzer, Ann Joslin

TREC Final Reports

In partnership with the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) at the University of South Florida (USF), the Transportation Innovation Group informed practical transportation solutions aimed at improved food access in Tampa Bay (Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties). The food pantry/bank sites that are part of Tampa Bay Network to End Hunger (TBNTEH) helped to gather data through a survey and interviews of food-related organizational leadership, staff and volunteers from each site to gain insight into how clients currently access emergency food sites (qualitative). This information was supplemented with a GIS analysis of transit accessibility for the food insecure in …

Friends Or Foes?: Examining Social Capital Of International Ngos And Food Security Programs, Mariah Ann Kraner

Dissertations and Theses

Food insecurity and chronic hunger are devastating global problems currently facing more than a billion people. There are many actors involved in the response to stomp out world hunger, including International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs). These INGOs, however, work in tumultuous environments with limited resources. This dissertation examines the INGOs involved in the food security dilemma (N=51) to investigate how they use resources to reach hungry populations.

It is hypothesized INGOs use a mix of material resources and social capital to enhance their organizational performance. However, little is known about the impact these resources have on reaching communities in need. Social …

Radical, Reformist, And Garden-Variety Neoliberal: Coming To Terms With Urban Agriculture’S Contradictions, Nathan Mcclintock

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

For many activists and scholars, urban agriculture in the Global North has become synonymous with sustainable food systems, standing in opposition to the dominant industrial agri-food system. At the same time, critical social scientists increasingly argue that urban agriculture programmes, by filling the void left by the "rolling back" of the social safety net, underwrite neoliberalisation. I argue that such contradictions are central to urban agriculture. Drawing on existing literature and fieldwork in Oakland, CA, I explain how urban agriculture arises from a protective counter-movement, while at the same time entrenching the neoliberal organisation of contemporary urban political economies through …

From Food Desert To Food Mirage: Race, Social Class, And Food Shopping In A Gentrifying Neighborhood, Daniel Monroe Sullivan

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

New supermarkets in previous “food deserts” can benefit residents by improving their access to healthful, affordable food. But in gentrifying neighborhoods characterized by the inflow of middle-class, white residents and the outflow of working class, minorities, who benefits from a new supermarket that emphasizes organic food and environmental sustainability? This paper contributes to the food access literature by examining the food shopping behavior of diverse residents by using survey data and probability sampling in the Alberta neighborhood in Portland, Oregon (USA). Regression results show that college-educated (62%) and white residents (60%) are much more likely to shop there weekly, regardless …

Food Deserts And Migrant Farmworkers: Assessing Food Access In Oregon's Willamette Valley, Katie Grauel, Kimberlee J. Chambers

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Food insecurity, often correlated with “food deserts,” affects migrant and seasonal farmworkers (MSFW) at greater rates than other populations. Our research evaluates the food desert experiences of MSFW communities in Oregon's Willamette Valley. Through GIS mapping, interviews with MSFW, and food retailer inventories, our research helps elucidate the degree to which the geographical distribution of food retailers and the products they carry affects MSFW. Access to food retailers was assessed for distances of 0.25, 1.5, 5, and 10 miles. Mapping locations of registered MSFW labor camps (n = 62) and food retailers (n = 215) in the Willamette Valley revealed …

Ngos In The Transnational Development Network: Exploring Relational Resources In The Promotion Of Food Security, Mariah Kraner, David Todd Kinsella

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Programming decisions by international NGOs operating in the area of development are a function of both humanitarian and pragmatic concerns. Helping communities establish sustainable agricultural cooperatives to address problems of undernutrition, for example, motivates programs implemented by NGOs in the food security sector. But NGOs are strategic actors and must also be attentive to organizational imperatives in regard to funding. These concerns relate to donor preferences and the reality that aid projects must demonstrate tangible results. This paper examines the network of organizations responding to the needs of the one billion people worldwide who live in food insecure environments. We …