Dec. 7, 2010

Students to present findings regarding the impact of state and local food policies

Morningside College students will present their findings regarding the impact of state and local food policies, along with the economy, on the access Siouxlanders have to meet their food needs during a presentation on campus at 8 a.m. Friday, Dec. 10, in Room 101 of Charles City Hall, 3630 Peters Ave.

This event is free and open to the public. Those who plan to attend are asked to RSVP to 211@centerforsiouxland.org by Wednesday, Dec. 8.

The students are taking a food policy course with Lillian López, associate professor of political science. Working with the Center for Siouxland, a local nonprofit organization, they designed a survey to find out what services, in addition to food distribution, could be offered to make people feel more comfortable requesting food. Based on their findings, they are designing some programs that could be adopted to better serve the needs of the community. They also are analyzing data that was collected by another Morningside class while completing service learning projects with a mobile food pantry.

“The idea for this project came from the meetings of a number of concerned organizations related to issues of hunger in Siouxland,” López said. “This is particularly important with the economic downturn since the Center for Siouxland started seeing needs in families that have not requested food before.”