Evaluating food access in communities of need
Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank serves as a critical community resource in southwestern Pennsylvania, working with over 1,000 partners to source, warehouse, and distribute food to people in need across their 11-county service area. They engaged our ChemRisk team to identify service gaps and ensure equitable resource allocation to meet the needs of the communities they serve.
We conducted spatial analyses using census-tract level measures of need and access to identify gaps in Food Bank programming. Community need was defined using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Social Vulnerability Index and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility. We found that, although Food Bank programs are generally closer to higher need census tracts than to lower need census tracts, there were some gaps in service.
The ChemRisk team made recommendations for prioritization based on higher need index, larger population, clusters of gaps, and locality of strong partners. The Food Bank has engaged their stakeholders and is using the results of our analysis to direct their strategy to improve access to food for people living in the highest need communities in their service area.
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