A Participatory Evaluation of Community Food Security in Western North Carolina.

Of the fifty states, North Carolina has the 9^th highest percentage of its population experiencing food insecurity, showing higher household food insecurity rates than the US average. North Carolina also has a greater percentage of its population living under the poverty line than the national average. Furthermore, the Appalachian region has been historically disadvantaged. The Appalachian Foodshed Project (AFP) is using a foodshed concept to address issues of community food security in the Appalachian regions of North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. By working collaboratively, the AFP builds on the human and natural resources in the region to cultivate resilient food systems and vibrant, healthy communities. This poster will highlight the community participatory approaches of using a Community Capitals model and a Whole Measures for Community Food Systems framework within the whole AFP project and how we applied it specifically in Western North Carolina (WNC) as a basis for establishing shared values, vision, and understanding around community food security.  We will highlight how we have gathered a diversity of community leaders from various food system perspectives from nutrition, public health, academics, cooperative extension, community organizers and emergency food providers in WNC to identify regional assets and understand community based solutions for underlying food security challenges at the food system level.  . We will also describe the framework of developing community food security assessments (CFSAs) in the AFP project across North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia, which is a comprehensive, community-based evaluation of foodshed security and how that differs from individual food security assessments. We will describe some preliminary results of CFSAs in Western NC and how they can be utilized by the greater community in the region. The results of our work highlight the importance of community based and interdisciplinary work to address food security issues.