Collaboration and Service Improvement:

• Support strategic planning within the Upper Valley Hunger Council to identify opportunities to increase coordination of services and address gaps.

• Map food security assets to identify gaps and opportunities. 

• Increase use of Hunger Vital Signs as a screening tool to identify food insecurity in healthcare and social service settings, especially for children. 

• Expand access to meals for children at school and during summer breaks. 

• Increase the number of community gardens and gleaning providing fresh produce to people experiencing food insecurity. 

Education:

• Support strategic planning within the Upper Valley Hunger Council to identify opportunities to increase education about resources and healthy food options. 

Advocacy: 

• Host Bi-State Legislative Breakfast every two years to engage state policymakers in discussion of local health priorities. 

• Advocate for the expansion of low-barrier meal programs for children at school and during summer breaks. 

• Advocate for livable wages.

Equity:

• Increase capacity of grassroots and small organizations representing people with lived experience of health inequities to address the concerns of their communities independently through grantmaking and technical assistance. 

Healthy, nutritious food is more expensive and spoils faster than fast food or processed snacks, so many families struggling with poverty choose these more convenient options. Areas that lack grocery stores but have a surplus of stores selling cheap, high-calorie foods are known as food swamps. The National institute of Health (NIH) considers food swamps as a predictor of obesity. Access to healthy food can be improved by encouraging local farmers' markets to accept food stamps and creating programs to subsidize grocery store openings in high-need areas.

• Upper Valley Hunger Council (UVHC)
• Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center (MAHHC) Food Security Workgroup
• Mt. Ascutney Regional Commission (MARC)
• Two Rivers Ottauquechee Regional Commission (TROPC)
• New Hampshire Hunger Solutions
• Hartford Community Coalition (HCC)
• Friends of Mascoma Foundation(FOMF)
• Vital Communities (VC)
• Willing Hands
• Public Health Council (PHC)
• Upper Valley Equity Anti-Racism (UVEAR) Leadership Team
• Upper Valley Community Health Equity Partnership (UVCHEP) Steering Committee

Data Overview: The USDA Food Security Survey quantifies the number of individuals living below 200% of the federal poverty line by county who live far away from a grocery store. In rural areas, the distance threshold is 10 miles, while the threshold in non-rural areas is 1 mile. 

Limitations: Data is published every five years, which makes ascertaining current trends difficult. In addition, there may exist public transportation barriers making it difficult to access grocery stores, even if they exist within the 1 or 10 mile radius proposed by this metric.