The Community Foundation of the New River Valley, Feeding America SWVA, The New River Health District, Virginia Cooperative Extension, and the Family Nutrition program are partnering with Virginia Tech researchers on a study to better understand how to support the 60+ groups working to relieve hunger in the New River Valley (NRV).
This study will help us all better understand how groups are currently working together to increase food access. Are groups working with others to acquire or share food, provide client referrals, to share information, resources or coordinate their efforts? How could these relationships be improved or expanded? The study will also look at what types of collective action are of greatest interest to local groups so that we can all work together to increase the impact of individual efforts. Would groups benefit from bulk purchasing, local delivery, greater access to fresh food, more educational programming for themselves and their clients, access to cool storage, and more?
This study builds upon the work of the NRV Food Access Network. In 2017, the networks leadership team hosted a six-part conversation series to support the sharing of best practices, innovative approaches, challenges and opportunities for collaboration among the network of organizations working to relieve hunger in the NRV.
The leadership team has organized five different dates and locations across the NRV to take this in-person survey. In-person survey completion will help to participants to learn more about the effort and to also ensure its accuracy because the researchers will be on hand to answer any questions that may arise. The survey will take 20-30 minutes to complete and participants can come at any time convenient to them within the allotted window on each day. And the more the merrier! More than one individual from each group’s effort is welcome and encouraged to complete the survey.
Those interested in participating can register here, by clicking on their preferred date and time below:
- December 11th from 12-2pm at the Beans and Rice office in Radford
- December 12th from 12-2pm at the Beans and Rice office in Pulaski
- December 13th from 1-3pm at Plenty! in Floyd
- December 14th from 12-3pm at the Community Foundation of the NRV office
- December 18th from 11am-1pm at the Christ Episcopal Church in Giles
Do these dates and times not work for you? Let us know! The leadership team and researchers will work to make other times available as needed to ensure that as many voices are heard as possible. Just email: kimthurlow@cfnrv.org.
Once the survey is complete, the Leadership team will host a community gathering to share the results and discuss next steps for combining our efforts for relieving hunger in our community. The results will be informative for all involved in hunger relief and food access in the New River Valley.