Food Insecurity Report: A look at the food system on Nantucket, starting with food insecurity
Remain grants have funded opportunities to better understand the island’s food system. In partnership with Nantucket Resource Partnership, Remain has underwritten several studies with Process First to study food insecurity, the transportation of food on the island and how data can improve the communications supporting the demand for food and growing schedules for island farmers.
Process First was tasked with researching the food insecurity landscape on Nantucket, focusing specifically on social service organizations and the food-insecure community they aim to support. Through two years of informal research and two months of focused formal research that included interviews with island stakeholders, partners and a group of English, Spanish and Portuguese-speaking island residents who shared their experiences, Process First determined that food insecurity is impacting thousands of Nantucket residents with as many as 4 in 10 students on Nantucket experiencing food insecurity.
Findings indicate that while complexities in the problem and gaps in the services provided make addressing the issue a challenge, there is a unique opportunity to build a food-secure Nantucket by capitalizing on aligned social services and food system stakeholders. The research was paired with the development of a “referral platform” that allows social service providers to enroll clients into food security programs. This tool is built around the desired outcome: help individuals get the food they need to be healthy and collect data to inform program strategy. The conclusions helped to align a coalition of partners, leading to the formation of The Nantucket Resource Partnership.
The findings were published in April 2022 as a Food Insecurity Report. A follow-up Food Security Demand Mapping study can be found here.