Cook 4 Community is a theoretical action plan created over the course of a semester for INSC 590 The Role of Libraries in Addressing Homelessness and Poverty. Cook 4 Community is a partnership between four organizations: UT Libraries, the Grow Lab, the Big Orange Pantry, and Food 4ALL. The target population for this plan are students with families.
The inspiration for Cook 4 Community came from my volunteer experience during undergraduate, as well as my own personal experience with food insecurity as a student. I regularly volunteered at a local food pantry near my undergraduate institution and saw other students from the school that I recognized. Likewise, my friends and I would beg each other for a packet of ramen noodles, a cup of mac and cheese or to share their food when we ran out of meal swipes, as without jobs we were solely reliant on their meal plan to feed us all semester. Although we may have been unaware of it, we were experiencing normalized food insecurity. Since then, I have become increasingly aware of the food insecurity that college students face and that it is not a character building experience, but a barrier to education. It is my goal and passion to help alleviate food insecurity in my community.
Prior to my needs assessment, I knew food insecurity was prevalent on the UTK campus as it is on many campuses in the United States. As the cost of higher education continues to steeply increase, student student worker wages plateau and unpaid internships are encouraged. This leaves many students hungry and without the means to buy food when they are out of meal swipes.
Through numerous interviews with my community partners, I discovered that the meals that Food4vols provides were running out fast with many students taking up to four meals at a time and coming more than once a day. This signified to us that these students were likely feeding more than themselves. This information guided my action plan and helped me select my target population as UTK students with families.
1.What is the requirement for this assignment?
I was required to create an implementable action plan that address an aspect of housing or food insecurity. This action plan had to include a partnership between a library and at least 2 community partners. We turned in several smaller assignments prior to the large document I have displayed here, including a proposal and our field notes. The field notes were collected by interviewing a minimum of two people at each organization.
2.What did you do? Explain your work.
I fostered relationships with new community partners, none of which had ever worked with the UT libraries before. I spent hours interviewing and emailing my community partners. I created two sample marketing flyers on Canva for my final project. What I have included here, is the 24 page culmination of my semester long project.
3.What was your role – group or individual?
This was an individual assignment.
4.What skills and competencies does this example showcase?
Graphics, fostering relationships, library outreach
I have only included 9 pages of my action plan, as the entire document is too large to upload here.
[pdf-embedder url=”https://insc589.infosci.utk.edu/khames/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2022/05/Hames_Cook4Community_Narrative.pdf”]