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19 <br /> KEY DEFINITIONS <br /> • FOOD INSECURITY: Food security is defined by the United States Department of Agriculture <br /> as access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life'. Please note <br /> that throughout this report we will use terms like `hunger' and `food access' interchangeably to <br /> describe the many issues and causes connected to food insecurity. <br /> • FOOD APARTHEID: Farmer and activist Karen Washington develop the term. In her words, <br /> "people use the words `food desert' to describe low-income communities who have limited <br /> access to food. In fact, we do have access to food—cheap, subsidized, processed food. The <br /> word 'desert' also makes us think of an empty, absolutely desolate place. But there is so <br /> much life, vibrancy, and potential in these communities. I coined the term `food apartheid' to <br /> ask us to look at the root causes of inequity in our food system on the basis of race, class, <br /> and geography. Let's face it: healthy, fresh food is accessible in wealthy neighborhoods while <br /> unhealthy food abounds in poor neighborhoods. `Food apartheid' underscores that this is the <br /> result of decades of discriminatory planning and policy decisions." <br /> • COMMUNITY EXPERT: Someone with lived experience that is directly and oftentimes most <br /> impacted by the issues, programs, and/or policies connected to food insecurity. For the pur- <br /> pose of this assessment, we also defined a Community Expert as someone with this expertise <br /> living in Orange County, North Carolina. <br /> • COMMUNITY CONSULTANT: A Community Expert (see above definition) with additional ex- <br /> perience in advocacy, systems change, programming, and policy. The Community Consultant <br /> was hired at the beginning of the process to help advise the assessment team's work, develop <br /> the design of the assessment, co-facilitate Community Expert Sessions, recruit participants, and <br /> be liaison between the assessment team and community. <br /> • ASSESSMENT TEAM: The group of UNC researchers from the Food, Fitness and Opportu- <br /> nity Research Collaborative (FFORC) and the Orange County Food Council coordinator who <br /> supported this process from start to finish. <br /> 1 https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-u-s/ <br /> 4 <br />