Agenda - 11-10-2022 Work Session; 2 - Discussion Regarding the Community Food Access Assessment Report and Food Council Memorandum of Understanding Agreement Renewal

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21 METHODS In order to examine food access and hunger in Orange County, a strict focus was placed on engag- ing with Community Experts to learn what efforts are working and where improvements are needed on behalf of the County and County funded organizations. Community Experts are defined as people living within Orange County who have lived experience with hunger. Community Experts were iden- tified by the assessment team's Community Consultant who has deep roots and relationships within the community along with lived experience with issues of food access. The Community Consultant played an important role throughout the entire assessment process from design to implementation to report development. The Consultant helped advise the assessment team's work, recruit participants, co-facilitate sessions, and be a consistent liaison and relationship-builder between the assessment team and Community Experts. All Community Experts were compensated for their time and expertise and this compensation was commensurate with an average hourly consulting fee ($40 to $50 / hour). The Community Consultant was also compensated for their role. Unfortunately, we did not have the funding available to compensate for their work at the appropriate rate, but the Consultant felt strongly that the majority of the funding should go to supporting the group of Community Experts involved in the process. Prioritizing the direct community feedback that is presented in this report will actively challenge the white supremacy characteristics of Paternalism and Qualified that scholar Tema Okun includes in her work on white supremacy characteristics. These characteristics show up in our common practice as: • Decision-makers and those in power do not understand the viewpoint and experience of those they are making decisions for. There may even be a sense that they are making decisions because they are more qualified. • Power is hoarded and those without are not included in decision-making processes. When they are included, there is still further analyses and decision-making that occurs without their knowledge or presence. • Quantitative data is extracted from impacted communities and regarded as the holy grail when making decisions. These numbers have more say in the process than the people in the com- munities they were extracted from. • Lived experience is not regarded as the knowledge that it is. Cultural and community ways of knowing are not considered in decision making and policy'. These and other white supremacy characteristics are deeply rooted in any data-collection and as- sessment process. In this Methods section of the report, we will define the assessment teams pro- cess. Additional resources that informed our work can be found in the Acknowledgments section and throughout the report as footnotes. 1 htlps://www.whitesupremacycullure.info/one-right-way.htmi 6