Alternate Food Markets, NGOs, and Health Policy: Improving Food Access and Food Security, Trust Bonds, and Social Network Ties

Abstract

Limited access to healthy foods in low-income areas is well documented as part of “the new hunger” in the United States. Characterized by easy access to nutrient-poor processed food and blocked access to foods that secure dietary health and sustain well-being, “the new hunger” has been linked in public health and social science literature to obesogenic environments, defined as both food and built environments that promote obesity. The paper examines how non-governmental organizations work within distinct policy ecologies to improve food access and food security and promote community health, focusing on one high-impact Mobile Farmers’ Market Program that was successful in building community infrastructure to promote dietary health and improve food security at the community level through improved food access. We offer this case study of a NGO–community collaboration to better understand the role of formal and informal social networks between NGO actors and different community stakeholders, including market customers, in communicating and realizing city policy goals and positive program interventions in support of community health.