At the end of February, the FoodCare Coalition hosted a community gathering and conversation – it was the next step following a set of three Data Chats last fall. The goal was to share the results, reflect on the findings together and begin exploring what we could collectively do next.

About the Data Chats
These chats are structured conversations where participants review publicly available data, share their personal experiences and generate solutions. It’s a way to ground our work in lived experience.

The main groups involved in this gathering included:

In addition to the organizations listed above, community members, FoodCare Coalition partners and a few foundations joined. Families came out, kids joined in – it was truly a community space.

The event
Data You Can Use organized and facilitated the event, which took place at ThriveOn King. We began the early evening with a shared meal, followed by an engaging group conversation. After a discussion about results, we moved into small group discussions.

What we heard
The conversation was rich with ideas and grounded in real concerns.

Several key themes emerged:

  • Longer-term goals like increasing access to grocery stores and fostering neighborhood-to-neighborhood collaboration.
  • Concerns around the poor quality of food in some local stores.
  • Information gaps, especially around resources (not just food) that aren’t up to date or available in multiple languages.

We also heard inspiring and actionable ideas:

  • Creating community gardens
  • Sharing resources more effectively and inclusively.
  • Increasing accessibility through multilingual outreach.
  • A strong desire to connect more regularly as a community.

What’s next
As a team, we are committed to deepening our relationships with these groups and continuing this work collectively. We’re already taking steps to learn more about each organizations goal and how we may continue to work together. We are also aiming to attend or volunteer at upcoming community events in these neighborhoods.

Learn more about the food security initiative by visiting our Food Security webpage.

Written by:
Geeta Wadhwani, MPH, RN, BSN
Program Leader, Food Security and Medical Home