Minutes 11-10-2022 Work Session - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

7 existing funds available to them to begin addressing some of the identified needs. She said these recommendations came from community experts. Commissioner Greene said that the agency the community experts identified was Transplanting Community Transitions. Ashley Heger explained Transplanting Community Traditions and said that they have a program that allows them to receive funds from the Food Council that goes directly to the farmers. She said the farmers grow food that they donate to PORCH and the Refugee Center. She said the distribution will happen primarily to those two groups. Commissioner Greene said the entire executive team was 100% on board with this. Commissioner Bedford said she was surprised by the $9 million funding needs but understands the need of hunger. She asked how many community experts participated in photovoice and if they were the same people or different than the budget review. Ashley Heger said the community experts were different groups. She said that photovoice experts were recruited from the most impacted communities. She said she wanted to make sure that the experts represented the whole spectrum of those who experience food insecurity. She said that they also want to make sure they are paying each expert a living wage to participate just as they would a consultant. She said it is a small group but a very meaningful sample. Commissioner McKee asked which organizations and groups were represented in the county. Ashley Heger asked if he meant demographic representation. Commissioner McKee said he meant organizational representation. Ashley Heger said they did not recruit for organizational experience but for lived experience. She said that some of the people are connected to various community groups, but they were recruited for their lived experience. She said they focused on Black, Latinx, immigrant/refugee, and intergenerational food need experiences. Commissioner Fowler said that she previously volunteered for the Food For Summer program and that it felt strange to tell 4-year-olds they had to eat their food in front of her but that their parents could not eat and that they were also required to take a milk even if they were not going to drink it. She said there are quite a few unusual rules. She said that EBT can be used Instacart and asked for further information on what was mean by using EBT like Instacart. Ashley Heger said that in discussions with community experts, they said that curbside pickup for charitable food distributions would improve their experience. She said that $9 million is an eye-popping number, but it is a reality. She said that people see money going to pay people like her or for a refrigerated truck, when they could use those funds in their bank accounts. Chair Price asked what communities the 16 people represent, or if they are on a map. Ashley Heger said they did not collect that data, but anecdotally, she could say that people were located from north of Hillsborough to southern Orange County. Chair Price said they did not have much representation from the rural areas. Ashley Heger said they did not. She said if they were to do further research, they would want more people from the Cedar Grove area. She said they also would want to do more research with native and indigenous residents. Commissioner Hamilton said that she read through the assessment and really liked the qualitative direction in it, however she struggled with not being able to see the bigger context. She said that for example, knowing the community experts, how they map with the rest of the county, and what groups they might represent would be helpful because it would help paint a picture of food insecurities in the community. Ashley Heger said they felt that they did not have time to reengage the community members to get that data. She said that they are trying to get the photovoice data and then pin