Changing the conversation about hunger: the process of developing Freshplace.

BACKGROUND

Despite public and private food assistance programs, food insecurity and hunger are persistent public health problems. Freshplace is an innovative food pantry collaborative whose goal is to build long-term food security and self-sufficiency among residents of the North End of Hartford, Connecticut. Freshplace was founded by Foodshare (FS), the Chrysalis Center (CC), Inc., and the Junior League of Hartford (JLH), Inc., who then partnered with the University of Connecticut to design and evaluate the program.

OBJECTIVES

This article describes the community-based participatory research process involved with developing and evaluating Freshplace.

METHODS

We are conducting a randomized, controlled study to compare 100 Freshplace members with 100 people who receive food from traditional food pantries. Main outcome measures include food security, self-sufficiency, and diet quality. Change scores are compared from baseline to 3 months using independent t tests.

RESULTS

Freshplace opened in July 2010. We have recruited 233 people to participate in the study. Over 3 months, Freshplace members had larger change scores than the comparison group in food security scores (1.6 vs. 0.7 points; p < .01), and fruit and vegetable intake (1.9 vs. -1.4 points; p < .01).

CONCLUSIONS

Freshplace is a successful, community- university partnership bringing together three community agencies and a state university. This is the first food pantry intervention to be evaluated, and preliminary results are promising.