Second Harvest North Florida to lead discussion at inaugural Duval County Food Summit on April 21

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - On Saturday, April 21, the Duval County Food Policy Council will host the inaugural Duval County Food Policy Summit at the Schultz Center for Teaching and Leadership. The summit will bring key players within the food system together for a public conversation. The goal of the summit is to identify solutions that can improve the quality and accessibility of healthy food for people living in Duval County.

The program will run from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with an opening reception planned for Friday, April 20. The summit is titled: “A Balancing Act: Access to Fresh and Healthy Food for All.”

Anyone interested in learning about how food influences our community’s overall health is invited to attend the summit. Cost is $5. Tickets can be ordered online.

Second Harvest Executive Director Bruce Ganger and Vice President for Advancement Karen Rieley have helped organize the event, in partnership with more than 70 other local organizations over the past year. Ganger currently serves as chairman of the Duval County Food Policy Council, a group that brings together stakeholders from diverse food-related sectors to examine how the food system is operating and to develop recommendations on how to improve it.

“This event is the next step in a community-based effort to ensure a quality food system leading to better health for all people in our county,” Ganger said. “Second Harvest is involved because we believe the food bank plays an important role in ensuring that the Jacksonville community has access to healthy and affordable food.”  

The summit will include local and national perspectives on the food system, interaction with key players in the Duval County food system and post-conference resources to keep the community on the right path to a healthier lifestyle. In addition, attendees can uncover the challenges and opportunities to bringing healthy food to all members of a community, learn how to advocate for greater access to fresh and healthy food, discover how simple, tasty and affordable eating healthy food can be, exchange tips and resources to incorporate healthy food into their routine, and engage with child experts regarding the health benefits of good nutrition.

For more information about the event, or to register, click here.

When: Saturday, April 21, 2012 – 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Where: Schultz Center for Teaching and Leadership, 4019 Boulevard Center Drive, Jacksonville, Florida 32207
 

Cost: $5

More Information: Call 904.253.2520 or visit the Suwanee River Area Health Education Center website.

Hunger Facts*

EATING ON A BUDGET: MAKING CENTS OUT OF MEAL TIME

• 3 million Floridians rely on public assistance. In Duval County alone, close to 175,000 people are receiving food stamps right now.
• The average food stamp weekly amount per individual in Northeast Florida is $31.19. In Duval County alone, that's about $5.5 million per week.
• In 2010, 4.8 percent of all U.S. households (5.6 million households) accessed emergency food from a food pantry one or more times.
• Feeding America provides emergency food assistance to an estimated 37 million low-income people annually, a 46 percent increase from 25 million since Hunger in America 2010.

CHILDREN’S NUTRITION:  WHAT’S EATING OUR CHILDREN?

• In a study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin, Duval County ranked 46th out of the 67 Florida counties for overall health and wellness. The same study also lists Duval County’s obesity rate at 27 percent, higher than both the Florida and National averages.
• One in three children or teenagers is overweight or obese, 33.1 percent of Florida's youth are overweight, and overweight and obesity among children aged 6 to 11 years increased from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 17 percent in 2006.
• Approximately 17 percent (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged two to 19 years are obese in the United States.
• 24.2 percent of Jacksonville’s school children and 34.5 percent of Florida’s children are overweight or obese.
• Nationally, an estimated $178 billion per year is spent on childhood obesity-related conditions.
• In July 2011, Jacksonville was named the least walkable of the 50 largest cities in the U.S. by Walk Score.

FOOD ACCESS: WHERE’S THE FOOD?

• In July 2011, Jacksonville was named the least walkable of the 50 largest cities in the U.S. by Walk Score.
• Nine states exhibited statistically significant higher household food insecurity rates than the U.S. National average 2008-2010: Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio, Florida,California, North Carolina
• Duval County residents are more likely than typical Americans to struggle with finding healthy food, according to a new nationwide analysis of places known as food deserts.
• In Duval County, analysis shows that nearly two dozen neighborhoods, known as census tracts, qualify as food deserts. The largest food-deprived areas lie in Northwest Jacksonville, the Eastside and a sprawling section of land straddling Florida 9A east of Main Street.
• Research suggests that people with no local choice except fast-food restaurants and convenience stores are likely to eat unhealthy foods and suffer the health consequences, such as obesity and diabetes.
• The Center for Disease Control and Prevention defines a food desert as “areas that lack access to affordable fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat milk, and other foods that make up the full range of a healthy diet.”
• According to the Florida Times-Union, approximately seven percent (62,000) of Duval residents have inadequate access to healthy food. This is higher than the National average of five percent.

*Sources

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=242866
USDA. Coleman-Jensen, A., Nord, M., Andrews, M., & Carlson, S.  Household Food Security in the United States in 2010.
Rhoda Cohen, J., Mabli, F., Potter, Z., Zhao. Mathematica Policy Research, Feeding America.  Hunger in America 2010.  February 2010.
HTTP://JACKSONVILLE.COM/OPINION/BLOG/400721/BETH-CRAVEY/2012-02-21/CHILD...
U.S. Census Bureau. Carmen  DeNavas-Walt, B. Proctor, C. Lee.  Income, Poverty, and Heath Insurance Coverage in the United States:  2009.
HTTP://FEEDINGAMERICA.ORG/HUNGER-IN-AMERICA/HUNGER-FACTS/HUNGER-AND-POVE...
Cox, Jeremy. “Healthy eats hard to find in Duval County, study shows.” Jacksonville.com. 27 June 2011. Florida Times Union. 17 February 2012. http://www.jacksonville.com/news/health-and-fitness/2011-06-27/
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/data.html
Jenkins, Edward R. "USDA: Jacksonville full of 'food deserts'; Duval not a healthy county." About.com Jacksonville. 28 June 2011. About.com. 24 February 2012.  http://jacksonville.about.com/b/2011/06/28/usda-jacksonville-full-of-foo...
http://www.foodsecurity.org/FPC/index.html
http://www.statefoodpolicy.org/?pageID=qanda
http://aphg.jhsph.edu/?event=browse.subject&subjectID=48