The Boulevard Food Co-Op was launched in November 2014 to address food insecurity in the North Boulevard Corridor of Atlanta. It had 15 members from local apartment complexes who paid $3 every two weeks for approximately 40 pounds of food. The co-op partnered with local organizations to source and distribute healthy foods to members. Surveys found that members improved their diets by trying new foods and shopping more adventurously. While the co-op faced some challenges, members reported positive impacts on their health and food security.

1. Boulevard Food Co-Op
By Chelsea Cobb

2. Background

3. Food Insecurity
185,330 individuals reported food
insecure in Fulton County in 2014.

4. Household Spending Trade-Offs In The Past
Year
Had to choose between food and…
● Utilities: 69%
● Transportation: 67%
● Medical care: 66%
● Housing: 57%
● Education: 31%

5. Household Coping Strategies In The Past Year
55% of households reported using 3 or more coping strategies in the past
year
Purchase inexpensive, unhealthy food: 79%
Eat food past the expiration date: 56%
Receive help from family or friends: 53%
Water down food or drinks: 40%
Sell or pawn personal property: 35%
Grow food in a garden: 23%

6. How did I work with the
Boulevard Food Co-Op to
bring access of healthy
foods to members of the
North Boulevard Corridor?

7. Introduction

8. 1. Launched: November 2014
2. Members: 15
3. Bedford Pines Apartments and Cosby
Spear community members only
4. Cost: $3 every two weeks for about 40
pounds of food
5. Partners: Atlanta Community Food Bank,
Truly Living Well, and Cooking Matters
6. Created to reduce hunger among people
living at or below the poverty line and to
promote food security, individual dignity,
civic participation, and accountability.

9. Baseline Survey

12. Distribution Week

13. 1. Place an order at the Atlanta Community
Food Bank with a $50 budget.
2. Go to Truly Living Well to pick up fresh
produce that had been grown.
3. Pick up items at Atlanta Community Food
Bank.
4. Shop on the floor at the Atlanta
Community Food Bank.
5. Set up for distribution.

14. Recipe Cards

15. Community Garden
Day

16. Every Wednesday
Co-Op members come out to Truly Living Well to grow their own foods.
First Harvest: July 15

17. Cooking Matters

18. ● Cooking demonstrations
● Shopping trips

19. Results

20. 11 members remained in the program at the 6-month follow up period.
Reasons for drop out:
1. Death n=1
2. New employment: n=1
3. Change in residency: n=2
Head of households were interviewed.
Data collection took place during the summer of 2015.
Mixed method data collection

21. Member Quotes
“The mulberries- I finally got the kids to eat those. It
was one of those things where one said let me have
some and then they all ate them. I feel good about.”
“Going to the grocery store you tend to buy
what you grew up eating. This way you find
yourself trying to find recipes so you can at
least say I have tried it. It has changed our
choices at the grocery store we try to be more
adventurous when we go shopping at the
grocery store now.”
“There are some vegetables I have never had, I
don’t like kale but now I mix it with other
vegetables also I learned that those white radish
things you can season food with that i didn’t know
what it was at first so I cut it up and put in my
green and it tasted good, I have never seen white
radishes”
“It takes up the slack when my little food stamps
run out. And I have food to eat until the next time
I get my stamps.”

22. Areas Of Improvement
Lenghty meeting times
Increase participation of families
Incorporate member dietary preferences (lactose intolerant)
Space
Additional Protein

23. Discussion

24. Works Cited
Bickel, G., Nord, M., Price, C., Hamilton, W., & Cook, J. (2000). Guide to measuring household food
security, revised 2000. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service: Alexandria VA.
Casey, P. H., Simpson, P. M., Gossett, J. M., Bogle, M. L., Champagne, C. M., Connell, C. & ... Weber,
J. (2006). The association of child and household food insecurity with childhood overweight status.
Pediatrics, 118(5), 1406-1413.
Dutko P, Ver Ploeg M, Farrigan T. Characteristics and Influential Factors of Food Deserts. United States
Department of Agriculture: Economic Research Service; 2012.
Gundersen, C., A. Satoh, A. Dewey, M. Kato & E. Engelhard. Map the Meal Gap 2015: Food Insecurity
and Child Food Insecurity Estimates at the County Level. Feeding America, 2015.
Hunger in America 2014 Executive Summary. (2014).
http://help.feedingamerica.org/HungerInAmerica/hunger-in-america-2014-summary.pdf
Kleinman, Murphy, Little, Pagano, Wehler, Regal, and Jellinek (1998) Hunger in children in the United
States: Potential behavioral and emotional correlates. Pediatrics, 101 (1), e3

25. Question
s?