Executive Summary

Being food insecure means you do not have access to quality and nutritious foods.

Food insecurity is a socioeconomic disparity among many children in San Bernardino

and according to kidsdata.org, 22.5% of the households in San Bernardino County have

children who are food insecure (Children Living in Food Insecure Households). Children

may become food insecure because of factors that are out of their control. This health

disparity is a problem in San Bernardino because parents often struggle to afford

nutritious foods for their families which results in them buying foods that are less

expensive but are harmful to the body. Not having fruits, vegetables, nutritious meats,

etc., can cause a child to become food insecure and even obese. There are current

food programs in place in San Bernardino such as CalFresh (SNAP) outreach, Kids

Produce Market Program, or Mobile Pantry Program that target this issue, but none of

these programs offer a garden to supply nutrients to the food insecure families or offer

teaching programs to educate on nutrition. There is a lack of money being allocated to

the prevention of food insecure families and there needs to be a change. Our
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recommendation is to establish a community garden at Community Action Partnership

of San Bernardino County with funds to accommodate transportation needs. We also

recommend to develop a program using community health workers to teach cooking

classes for parents and children. We are targeting the help from government officials

and requesting $30,000 of the Community Development Block Grant in order to support

our program.

Context and importance of the problem

Food insecurity is a growing problem in San Bernardino that is not slowing down.

In a 2014 report done by San Bernardino County Human Services, 43% of low income

households in San Bernardino County were identified as food insecure and lacking

access to an adequate diet (Community Action Plan - Needs Assessment 2015 ). Food

insecurity is a significant issue because food security is a form of poverty and a

measure of food deprivation (Community Action Plan - Needs Assessment 2015 ).

Poverty rates have been increasing in San Bernardino County from 12.3% of San

Bernardino County residents living in poverty in 2005 to 16.3% in 2014. A variety of

factors have lead San Bernardino County to have high rate of the population be food

insecure. One of those factors have been that 5.2% of San Bernardinos population is

on public assistance (Community Action Plan - Needs Assessment 2015 ). The

average salary in the Riverside- San Bernardino Area was $27,000 , $3,000 lower than

the state overall. Half of the residents in San Bernardino spent more than 30% of their

income on living expenses. (Community Action Plan - Needs Assessment 2015) This

has contributed to food insecurity due to the fact that high percentage of wages are

spent on rents which in turn have lead to hardships in affording basic necessities like
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food, clothing, transportation, and medical care. Additional factors that also have

contributed to food insecurity have been lack of employment, lack of education, lack of

available jobs, lack of living wages and job opportunities (Community Action Plan -

Needs Assessment 2015). When high food insecurity exists in children this will also lead

to obesity. Not addressing food insecurity and cutting program funding will also lead to

higher areas of the county being affected by food insecurity.

Critique of Policy Options

There are a few food banks in San Bernardino city that aim to provide nutritious food to

families in need, such as, Helping Hands Pantry or Community Action Partnership of

San Bernardino. Helping Hands Pantry in San Bernardino is open 7 days a week and

they provide food to those who come to their facility. They serve each individual the

same amount of food regardless of the time they come in. Community Action

Partnership of San Bernardino offers a variety of services, for instance, soup kitchens,

food pantries, a food council, and senior nutrition. The aspect that these organizations

lack is a garden to grow nutritious and delicious food for the community. The garden

would decrease the rate of food insecurity in San Bernardino for children and adults.

Without the garden to provide fruits and vegetables, the food organizations mentioned

above are only contributing to food deserts. Another barrier of the food pantries is a lack

of transportation for the hungry. Without being walking distance from one of these food

centers, it may be difficult for families to get there. Expecting every hungry family to own

a car or afford gas prices is unrealistic and there should be free transportation options

available. Furthermore, these food banks do not offer any cooking classes for families

and children. This lack of nutrition literacy by the parents increases the rate of food
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insecurity in them and their children. For example, some might think frying chicken is

nutritious because chicken is healthy, but they do not understand that frying it is

extremely unhealthy and fattening. Offering a helping of food to those in need is not

enough to stop their food insecurity. Current programs in place have not been effective

in reducing food insecurity or reducing obesity because they do not address the long

term problem. They do not give residents the proper tools for them to educate

themselves with better nutrition.

Long wait times, program costs and short staff also do not allow programs to be

effective. Another issue affecting programs has been lack of funding to implement

programs, not using grants properly or not reaching a wider audience. The Community

Development Block Grant is an example of improper use of funds. Although this grant is

designated to help nonprofits it has not been used properly. For the 2017-18 year the

Community Development Block Grant with a $500k budget was allocated to other

eligible projects, such as parks instead of funding non profits like in the past (Hagen &

Sun). Although they are established departments and programs such as San

Bernardino County Public Health- Nutrition Program they do not reach a wider audience

and have limited staff. They also do not take into account the community and would be

more effective if they incorporated community health workers. Community health

workers would have a wider reach of audience and have a better rapport with the

community.

Policy Recommendations

Although Community Action Partnership programs distribute over one million of pounds

of food each year throughout San Bernardino County they lack healthy eating classes
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and access to fresh vegetables (Community Action Partnership of San Bernardino

County | Food Bank, n.d.). Establishing a community garden at the Community Action

Partnership Food bank would not only reach a wider audience but also provide food

education for families and increase food supply. The costs of establishing a community

garden would not be very high and would be under $10,000 to start and maintain

(Community Garden Start-Up Guide). The community garden would target and reach the

correct audience. Community garden participation would not only encourage learning

but form social relationships that are supportive positive health-related behaviors and

improve overall health (Hale et al., 2011). The Community Action Partnership would

also increase community involvement because as the garden is formed and maintained

more families will become a part of it. The garden would also be an ideal place to teach

healthy eating and to integrate fresh vegetables. Allocating an additional $10,000 to

fund transportation to the garden would also benefit the community. Families that live

too far from Community Action Partnership programs such as the food bank would not

only get access to food sources but also fresh vegetables. Providing transportation to

families would not only ensure consistency in continuation of healthy food classes but

also provide access to other resources.

Cooking classes are critical when changing the eating behaviors in adults and children.

There will be lessons on how to cook a variety of meals, how shop for food while on a

budget, how to properly wash food, safe cooking temperatures, and many more. There

can also be lessons involving the community garden to show how to grow and pick fruits

and vegetables. Anyone is eligible to attend the classes and the days and times will

vary in order to accommodate any schedule. By allowing children to attend the classes,
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they are setting their eating standards for the rest of their lives which can greatly

decrease obesity rates.

The establishment of community health workers will have a large impact on the overall

effectiveness of the cooking classes. There are copious amounts of qualified

professionals who can teach food insecure families how to cook quick and healthy

meals or how to cut vegetables. These health workers can also educate on what other

resources are available in the community like CalFresh or Women, Infants, and Children

- Food and Nutrition Service (WIC). With the help of the Community Development Block

Grant, the $30,000 will be spent strategically and will have an great impact of the food

insecure families and children in San Bernardino.

References

Children Living in Food Insecure Households. (n.d.). Retrieved May 30, 2017, from
http://www.kidsdata.org/topic/764/food-
insecurity/table#fmt=1168&loc=2,127,347,1763,331,348,336,171,321,345,357,332,324,3
69,358,362,360,337,327,364,356,217,353,328,354,323,352,32,339,334,365,343,330,36
7,344,355,366,368,265,349,361,4,273,59,370,326,333,322,341,338,350,342,329,325,35
9,351,363,340,335&tf=79&sortColumnId=1&sortType=desc

COMMUNITY GARDEN START-UP GUIDE By Rachel Surls, UCCE County Director With Help
of Chris Braswell and Laura Harris, Los Angeles Conservation Corps Updated March
2001 by Yvonne Savio, Common Ground Garden Program Manager, UCCE
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2015 Comprehensive Community Needs Assessment for San Bernardino County from
Community Action Partnership of San Bernardino Countys 2016-2017
Community Action Plan in collaboration with the Institute for Child Development
& Family Relations at California State University, San Bernardino.

Hagen, R., & Sun, T. (n.d.). San Bernardino votes not to give $500K to local nonprofits.
Retrieved June 12, 2017, from http://www.sbsun.com/government-and-politics/20170321/san-
bernardino-votes-not-to-give-500k-to-local-nonprofits

Hale, J., Knapp, C., Bardwell, L., Buchenau, M., Marshall, J., Sancar, F., & Litt, J. S. (2011).
Connecting food environments and health through the relational nature of aesthetics: Gaining
insight through the community gardening experience. Social Science & Medicine, 72(11), 1853
1863. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.03.044