Participatory mapping to address neighborhood level data deficiencies for food security assessment in Southeastern Virginia, USA

Abstract

Background Food is not equitably available. Deficiencies and generalizations limit national datasets, food security assessments, and interventions. Additional neighborhood level studies are needed to develop a scalable and transferable process to complement national and internationally comparative data sets with timely, granular, nuanced data. Participatory geographic information systems (PGIS) offer a means to address these issues by digitizing local knowledge. Methods The objectives of this study were two-fold: (i) identify granular locations missing from food source and risk datasets and (ii) examine the relation between the spatial, socio-economic, and agency contributors to food security. Twenty-nine subject matter experts from three cities in Southeastern Virginia with backgrounds in food distribution, nutrition management, human services, and associated research engaged in a participatory mapping process. Results Results show that publicly available and other national datasets are not inclusive of non-traditional food sources or updated frequently enough to reflect changes associated with closures, expansion, or new programs. Almost 6 percent of food sources were missing from publicly available and national datasets. Food pantries, community gardens and fridges, farmers markets, child and adult care programs, and meals served in community centers and homeless shelters were not well represented. Over 24 km2 of participant identified need was outside United States Department of Agriculture low income, low access areas. Economic, physical, and social barriers to food security were interconnected with transportation limitations. Recommendations address an international call from development agencies, countries, and world regions for intervention methods that include systemic and generational issues with poverty, incorporate non-traditional spaces into food distribution systems, incentivize or regulate healthy food options in stores, improve educational opportunities, increase data sharing. Conclusions Leveraging city and regional agency as appropriate to capitalize upon synergistic activities was seen as critical to achieve these goals, particularly for non-traditional partnership building. To address neighborhood scale food security needs in Southeastern Virginia, data collection and assessment should address both environment and utilization issues from consumer and producer perspectives including availability, proximity, accessibility, awareness, affordability, cooking capacity, and preference. The PGIS process utilized to facilitate information sharing about neighborhood level contributors to food insecurity and translate those contributors to intervention strategies through discussion with local subject matter experts and contextualization within larger scale food systems dynamics is transferable.

Using community-based geographical information system (GIS) to recruit older Asian Americans in an Alzheimer’s disease study

“…Therefore, we used a community participatory mapping approach to harness existing community resources to develop target group-tailored GIS. This participatory GIS relies on the integration of local perspectives and knowledge about the community capacity of conducting this proposed study 51–53. We obtained expert consultation from community leaders, cultural navigators and key informants with knowledge about ADRD, patterns of residence, healthcare use and social activities of KA older adults.…”

“…This participatory GIS relies on the integration of local perspectives and knowledge about the community capacity of conducting this proposed study. [51][52][53] We obtained expert consultation from community leaders, cultural navigators and key informants with knowledge about ADRD, patterns of residence, healthcare use and social activities of KA older adults. When searching for the geographical locations of Korean community facilities online, we used search keywords in both English and Korean such as KAs (재미한국인) or Korean church (한인교회).…”

Community-Centric Approaches to Coastal Hazard Assessment and Management in Southside Norfolk, Virginia, USA

“…RAFT also features long-term engagement and priority setting supplemented and implemented with educational resources and connections between universities and local government [56]. Further, participatory mapping, a key part of the CCDC process implemented in southside Norfolk, is known to be able to address inter-related systems, such as housing and transportation, and has been utilized at the neighborhood scale in Virginia to both effectively capture institutional knowledge and facilitate the alignment of SLR-specific management priorities with the Pamunkey Indian Tribe when paired with a resilience matrix and improve food security data in the Hampton Roads cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Chesapeake [57,58]. Pairing participatory mapping with educational materials and an evaluation method extends the awareness-raising and iterative capacities of such tools, which improves the engagement between universities, government, and community by connecting officials and universities with the priorities developed by the community from the onset instead of leaving the community with a list of priorities to resource themselves.…”