(P24-112-23) Understanding Commitment of Local Food Banks, Faith-Based Organizations, and Schools To Provide Sustained Non-Government Food Programs

Objectives: Food-insecure households typically receive non-government food assistance through faith-based organizations, schools, and food banks. These organizations are committed to providing this assistance, but little is known about the basis for their commitment. This study aims to examine the values and identities of community organizations to understand the reasons for commitment to providing non-governmental food assistance.

Methods: Thirty-three in-depth interviews were conducted with leaders at faith-based organizations (n=16), schools (n=10), and a local food bank in one state in the Southeast region of the United States. Organizations were selected via purposeful maximum variation and snowball sampling. Observations were made, and related documents were reviewed. Analysis was guided by concepts of organizational values and policy science. Thematic analysis was conducted on observation notes and verbatim interview transcripts using MAXQDA software.

Results: All community organizations believed hunger to be a tangible need and wanted to improve community well-being by ending hunger. Organizations assumed their non-government food programs served as a gesture of kindness and a supplement for hungry families. Seeking to improve the well-being of the community by ending hunger was not the primary value for the organizations’ commitment; instead, their commitment to these programs was supported by values such as forming or maintaining relationships within the community, maintaining identity, and appealing to their participants. Non-government food programs offered participants volunteer opportunities with the food banking network, which in turn increased financial support for sustaining these programs. School participants regarded themselves primarily as a support system that facilitated food program access to students as part of their mission to serve students' holistic needs; they believed they have limited capacity to influence how the food programs operated.

Conclusions: Commitment to non-government food programs fulfills organizational identities, wants, and assumptions. A consequence of such commitment, derived from fulfilling values other than community well-being, is that the roots of food insecurity in a community become obscured, and alternative solutions are ignored or rejected.

Funding Sources: None