Write an Engagement 2 paper using the Engagement 1 paper and following the instructions 26-28 pdf. ttps://www.mediafire.com/file/scwbt46lrn7nppe/26-28.pdf/file - instructions link

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Engagement 1: Community Partner Analysis

Engagement 1: Community Partner Analysis

Introduction

The social determinant of health (SDOH) domain of social and community context deals with the quality of a community’s relationships and social support, in the context of people’s homes, workplaces, schools, places of worship, and recreation spots(US DHHS, n.d.). High-quality relationships can help temper the negative impacts of uncontrollable life factors such as “unsafe neighborhoods, discrimination, or trouble affording the things they need”(US DHHS, n.d.). One related Healthy People 2030 goal in this domain is to “eliminate very low food security in children” through policies and programs that ensure access to adequate, nutritious food (US DHHS, n.d.).

Several risk factors contribute to food insecurity, including race and ethnicity, education level, socioeconomic status, community support systems, and household status (Aggeli et al., 2022; Lauren et al., 2021). Vance County, which has a high proportion of Black residents, low levels of higher education, a high percentage of children living in poverty, inadequate school funding, and a high prevalence of single-parent households, faces substantial inequities compared to neighboring counties, including Granville, and the state of North Carolina as a whole (for data and comparisons to other locations, see Table 1)(Compare Counties, 2024). These systematic disparities can cyclically reinforce each other, highlighting the wicked nature of the problem of food security (Aggeli et al., 2022; Lauren et al., 2021).

Community Partner Mapping and Analysis

In order to thoroughly address food insecurity in children of Vance County, NC through a social and community context lens, it is critical to identify partners that have the ability to target the root causes of food insecurity such as social isolation, lack of access to affordable healthy food, transportation and economic barriers. Here are the community partners who will be involved in this transformation: Vance County Health Department Director, Vance County Department of Social Services Representative, Rebuilding Hope, Inc, Vance County Cooperative Extension, Area Congregations in Ministry (ACIM), Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, Vance County School Board, Vance-Granville Community College, Vance County Farmers Market. These community partners are representative of multiple sectors from government, faith-based community, community organizations, non-profit organizations, and education.

Each partner was evaluated based on general information and then mapped on a power interest matrix (Appendix B). This mapping method was used to categorize partners on their power to affect the outcome and their interest in being involved with the project. Below is a description of which partners fall into each category:

Low Power/Low Interest

Those in the lower left quadrant of the grid are described as having low interest and power. Because of this, the engagement team should exert minimal effort to engage with this group. Vance County Cooperative Extension is in the monitor quadrant because although they provide educational resources on nutrition their power and interest in helping change the policies and creating new interventions may be limited.

Low Power/High Interest

The parties that fall into the lower right quadrant of the grid are high interest and low power. Partners like Rebuilding Hope, Inc, ACIM, and Vance-Granville Community College are found in this quadrant. These people and organizations should be kept informed at a predetermined frequency. These partners fall into high interest/lower power because they have experience working in the community but have limited power in changing policies or systems in Vance County. ACIM has a well established system within the Granville County community which is available to residents in Vance, but this could be difficult for them to use due to access issues. In the future, if there are enough resources and support they could be open to widening their organization into Vance. The last group in this category of the matrix is the families of Vance County impacted by food insecurity, as these families have directly experienced this issue they have special insight to the problems within their community and are most interested in making change. Unfortunately the impacted families do not have extensive power in being able to change the policies and systems, but they have irreplaceable insight into this area of concern.

High Power/Low Interest

In the top left quadrant of the matrix, the stakeholders are identified as high power and low interest. Vance County Farmers Market falls into this category because they have power to expand local food access to fresh produce but may not be interested in widening their current business. These partners need to be kept satisfied; even though they may not have a deep interest in the issue, they have the power to help shape policy and network for the taskforce.

High Power/High Interest

Lastly, the interested parties in the upper right quadrant are labeled as high interest and high power. Vance County School Board, Vance County Health Department Director, Vance County Department of Social Services Representative, and Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina are representative of this quadrant of the analysis grid. Partners in this quadrant are key players on the taskforce, and in this case are abundant due to their high power in the policies and community resource development in Vance County. This group requires frequent interaction and must be closely monitored to ensure continued intervention support.

Give-Get Grid

Community partners were also evaluated using the Give-Get grid (Appendix B) described in the Southerland article (2013). This analysis tool was used to determine the assets each partner possesses and how those can be translated to enhance the intervention, as well as the assets the intervention team possesses and how they can benefit the community (Southerland et al., 2013).

Impeding Factors

Two factors that may influence the equitable representation and participation of identified key partners in the task force are power imbalances and socioeconomic inequities. Both of these factors should be considered when fostering an environment that supports equitable representation and participation from all identified partners in addressing food insecurity. Larger organizations such as Vance County Health Department or Social Services representatives have more power over the decision-making process when working in teams. These groups have the potential to dominate conversations and take up too much space in the dynamic, which can silence the voice of smaller partners from community organizations, faith-based organizations and nonprofits. Power imbalances caused by these larger organizations could discourage smaller partners from fully participating, as they may feel ignored or unvalued. This can isolate the smaller partners from the team but these partners are more likely to have personal connections to community members which impacts the reach of the taskforce. To address these power imbalances, the taskforce can prioritize democratic decision-making to demonstrate each partner has the same power in the final decisions.

Socioeconomic inequities can inhibit the extent to which all partners are able to participate. For example, local organizations may have limited funding or staff to fully engage on a task force as an active member. This barrier could skew the participation of larger organizations who have more funding and resources. To address this potential barrier, the task force can ensure all partners have access to the resources they need to participate fully such as meeting spaces, stipends for participating, and team building resources. This can allow all partners regardless of their socioeconomic status to contribute equally to the task force.

Reflections and Conclusions

Reflecting on the analysis, I would ask the community partners the following questions: do they have the current capacity to fully engage in the task force, if they have faced gaps or challenges when attempting to address food insecurity, how they think it would be best to reach children in Vance County, if they have current tensions going on within their organization. A strength of this community partner analysis is the holistic approach that incorporates stakeholders from various sectors to foster full community engagement. On the other hand, a limitation is the assumption that all partners are all capable of participating without fully understanding what disparities they may be encountering. I would recommend the County Commissioners to prioritize the providing support to smaller organizations and promote equal decision-making to ensure all partners can participate fully.

REFERENCES

Aggeli, C., Patelida, M., Grammatikopoulou, M. G., Matzaridou, E.-A., Berdalli, M.,

Theodoridis, X., Gkiouras, K., Persynaki, A., Tsiroukidou, K., Dardavessis, T., Tzimos, C., Goulis, D. G., & Vassilakou, T. (2022). Moderators of food insecurity and diet quality in pairs of mothers and their children. Children (Basel, Switzerland), 9(4). https://doi.org/10.3390/children9040472

Compare Counties. (2024). County Health Rankings & Roadmaps.

https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/health-data/compare-counties?year=2024&compareCounties=37000%2C37181%2C37077

Data USA. (2022). Vance County, NC & Granville County, NC. Data USA.

https://datausa.io/profile/geo/vance-county-nc?compare=granville-county-nc

Lauren, B. N., Silver, E. R., Faye, A. S., Rogers, A. M., Woo-Baidal, J. A., Ozanne, E. M., &

Hur, C. (2021). Predictors of households at risk for food insecurity in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public Health Nutrition, 24(12), 3929–3936. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980021000355

myFutureNC. (2024a). Granville County- myFutureNC 2024 Attainment Profiles [Attainment

Profile]. myFutureNC.

myFutureNC. (2024b). Vance County- myFutureNC 2024 Attainment Profiles [Attainment

Profile]. myFutureNC.

Southerland, J., Behringer, B., & Slawson, D. L. (2013). Using the Give–Get Grid to Understand

US Census. (2022a). Granville County, North Carolina . US Census Bureau.

https://data.census.gov/profile/Granville_County,_North_Carolina?g=050XX00US37077#families-and-living-arrangements

US Census. (2022b). Vance County, North Carolina . United States Census Bureau.

https://data.census.gov/profile/Vance_County,_North_Carolina?g=050XX00US37181

US DHHS. (n.d.). Social and Community Context . Healthy People 2030. Retrieved September

5, 2024, from https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-data/browse-objectives/social-and-community-context

APPENDIX A

Demographic Data of Vance County, Granville County, and North Carolina

Note: This table contains data compiled from the following sources: a (Compare Counties, 2024), b (Data USA, 2022), c(US Census, 2022b), d (US Census, 2022a), e (myFutureNC, 2024b), and f (myFutureNC, 2024a).

APPENDIX B

Community Partner Analysis Tools

Table B1. Power analysis grid based on each community partner’s power, occupation, and interest

Table B2. Give-Get Grid analysis for addressing food insecurity in children related to social and community context in Vance County, North Carolina