Episode 99: The Secret Sauce Behind a Successful Food Equity Program
About the Podcast
In this 9-minute “Candid Clancy” podcast episode, Clancy shares the magic that happens when creating a food equity program that makes the most impact.
About Clancy Harrison
As a registered dietitian, TEDx speaker, international speaker, and author, Clancy Harrison challenges the way food insecurity is approached in the US. Her mission to demolish the stigma around healthy food access places her on the cutting edge of advocacy.
Clancy is the founder of the Food Dignity® Project, a strategic program for leaders who want to shift how they approach nutrition outreach by making healthy food access a priority. She transforms the lives of thousands of people through her work with corporations, non-profit organizations, and universities.
Currently, Clancy is an advisory board member for the Pennsylvania American Academy of Pediatrics Food Insecurity EPIC program, Ambassador of the National Dairy Council, and the President of the Al Beech West Side Food Pantry. Since the onset of COVID-19 Clancy has distributed nearly 1 million meals in her community to improve access to healthy food through effective collaborations.
Discussion Takeaways
- We must take a step back in anti-hunger programming and consider how we can do better based on the needs and barriers of the people who are nutritionally insecure. We must talk to these people ask questions like: What are their wants, needs and desires from our programming? What are we doing wrong in our programming? What can we do better? Is there a bigger problem we’re not solving? Can we be more effective and efficient with our time serving you? The people we serve must know that their voice counts.
- Prepare yourself because feedback by removing your ego. Their feedback and their stories are incredibly hard. Once they open up to you, you must act on what you heard because you have their trust. When you do that, magic will happen. There is mutual respect and those you serve feel empowered to be a stakeholder.
- Over 300 students attended a focus group hosted by Clancy and her team. She discovered that the majority of participants were coming to school hungry, worried about the amount of food they had at home, and wanted to be a part of planning a food security program.
#1 tip to improve access to healthy food
- We should honor that there are flaws in everything. Flaws give us the opportunity to be better.
Each week on the Food Dignity® Podcast, the Food Dignity® Movement's Clancy Harrison hosts a wide variety of hunger experts and other people making changes on the frontlines. Join us as we dive deep into conversations that will change the way you think about food insecurity.
Listen to our trailer!
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