Date of Completion
2018
Document Type
Honors College Thesis
Department
Environmental Studies
Thesis Type
Honors College, College of Arts and Science Honors, Environmental Studies Electronic Thesis
First Advisor
Ernesto Mendez
Second Advisor
Pablo Bose
Third Advisor
Victor Izzo
Keywords
food insecurity, emergency food assistance, metrics, success, healthy food products, qualitative data
Abstract
Food insecurity is a widespread issue that has left millions of people dependent on food assistance programs. The lack of access to a healthy diet puts people at risk of instability regarding their level of hunger and quality of life. Food assistance programs aim to alleviate the various stressors and risks associated with food insecurity. The high level of dependency among food insecure populations on food assistance programs makes it essential that the programs that serve as immediate relievers of the discomforts associated with food insecurity, specifically emergency food assistance programs, are effective and provide an adequate provision of healthful and fulfilling foods.
In an effort to analyze and evaluate the current condition of emergency food assistance programs in the Burlington area, it is important to elicit and asses the current metrics used within the system to measure its success. In doing so, this thesis had the following objectives. First, identify and assess the accuracy of food assistance program indicators as explored through the literature and reported by organization staff. Second, examine which metrics are most accurate in evaluating the success of such programs in providing community access to healthful food throughout Burlington, Vermont. Food insecure individuals, households and populations are set at a much greater risk of negative health externalities due to their lack of access to nutritious food. This, combined with the dependency on emergency food assistance programs, elicits the importance behind evaluating metrics of success within this system. This thesis aims to improve such assessments of success.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Conway, Meghan, "Success of Food Assistance Programs: Metrics to Evaluate Provision of Healthy Food Products Across Burlington, Vermont." (2018). UVM Patrick Leahy Honors College Senior Theses. 276.
https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/hcoltheses/276