Researching:
We — people, families, communities, service providers, public agencies and elected officials — need to better understand the local food system so we can work together to improve it. That’s why, in addition to our work to change the food system, Food to Power engages in research partnerships to keep learning and growing ourselves.
PARTY Family Recipe Project
PARTY (Participatory Action Research Team for Youth) is a paid opportunity for youth aged 14-19 to build community, learn research skills, and take action. Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) is an approach to change that centers on youth voices and challenges the idea that only adults know how to solve problems in our neighborhoods and our world.
Six young people completed a research project we created with help from Food to Power and Colorado College. They learned about the food system, food justice, and how to do community-based research.
The youth decided to investigate how people get the ingredients they need for important family dishes, the stories that come with the recipes, and how those stories affect people. (Family could be chosen or biological!). Youth, along with their adult research collaborators on the Food to Power staff and Colorado College faculty, interviewed 19 families including more than 50 individuals.
The recipes and stories they collected, as well as their research findings can be found through the link below.
El Paso County Food System Assessment
Funded by the Colorado Springs Health Foundation, Food To Power partnered with the El Paso County Public Health Department to conduct research and analysis for the El Paso County Food System Assessment (FSA) — a document that provides the city-county Food Policy Advisory Board (FPAB) with information and recommendations on matters, policies, programs, and land use patterns related to the local food system.
Phase I of the assessment identified barriers to food access as well as “areas of opportunity” ripe for neighborhood-based solutions like small grocers, community kitchens, community gardens, urban farms, farmers’ markets, farm stands. Phase II of the assessment featured more specific, resident-driven recommendations for appropriate interventions in neighborhoods with the highest prevalence of fast-food restaurants and lowest prevalence of supermarkets. This work was conducted from 2017-2020, and continues to inform our strategy, programming, and advocacy.
Then in 2021 Food To Power collaborated with researchers at Colorado College to dive more deeply into the interviews from the FSA. Our work was published in August 2022 and can be read at the link below!
Research Collaborators
Since 2014, Food To Power has collaborated on intersectional research of the food system. Collaborators include:
