Talking earnestly about hunger and food at my table were an employee of the St. Mary’s Nutrition Center, a Somali community member, a downtown resident, and two community members who are involved in downtown organizations. The occasion was the Community Food Assessment Charrette held at the Lewiston Public Library on May 18, a gathering designed to share information and promote innovative, collaborative problem-solving to address food insecurity in Lewiston. As a health professional, I have rarely seen such effective and enthusiastic collaboration around a community health issue. More than 120 people attended, sharing a meal and their ideas.

During the past two years, a variety of community partners in Lewiston have joined forces to work on this USDA-funded community food assessment, called Local Food for Lewiston. Such assessments inform communities about the degree to which residents are hungry, where and how they access emergency food supplies, and whether they can find affordable, healthy food.

The Lewiston assessment is being carried out by St. Mary’s Nutrition Center in collaboration with Healthy Androscoggin, Bates College, the University of Southern Maine, the Downtown Education Collaborative, and residents who have been trained as community action researchers.

Why is such a community food assessment important?

For the last decade, much of downtown Lewiston has been a federally designated enterprise community as a result of individual poverty rates as high as 46 percent. In addition, Lewiston has the highest child poverty rate in the state, with 41.7 percent of children meeting federal guidelines. At Longley School, 97 percent of students qualify for free/reduced meal programs.

Poverty leads to food insecurity, which in turn, leads to health problems. Many of those who use food pantries are overweight or obese and eat fewer than two servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

The Local Food for Lewiston CFA has involved surveys of residents and emergency food providers, GIS mapping, and conversations with a cross-section of Lewiston residents, including parents, the disabled, homeless youth, the elderly and Somali/Bantu immigrants. This integrative approach will provide a cutting-edge, scientific analysis of Lewiston’s food system.

Preliminary analyses suggest that community members have identified a variety of obstacles to accessing healthy food. For example, fresh fruits and vegetables are not available at many corner markets or convenience stores downtown, but transportation to larger grocery stores with great variety and affordability is a challenge for those without cars. In addition, the cost of healthy food is an ongoing issue for some residents, particularly those on fixed incomes or who have relatively little knowledge of food preparation.

A full report of the findings of the community food assessment is in the process of being drafted, thanks to the efforts of experts and volunteers from the Nutrition Center, Healthy Androscoggin, Bates College, the University of Southern Maine, USM-Lewiston-Auburn College, the Downtown Education Collaborative, emergency food providers in the community, and the community action researchers for the project. The extraordinary efforts of these community collaborators have produced a detailed snapshot of issues related to food and hunger in Lewiston.

At my table, we talked about cooking, difficulty accessing healthy food, urban gardening, delivery vans for produce, nutrition education, bus routes and schedules, and the walkability of the downtown. We read our colorfully decorated place mats and completed cards about how we could contribute to the Local Food for Lewiston efforts.

We marveled at the resourceful ways downtown residents helped themselves and each other when food was scarce or too expensive. We were also saddened to learn that our neighbors were sometimes hungry or had to choose between rent and food.

The excitement about working together on ways to improve nutrition and reduce hunger in our community was palpable. Addressing food insecurity and related health issues will have a significant impact on health and wellness in our community over the next decade.

Every person, young or old, in Lewiston-Auburn should know where their next meal is coming from. Thanks to all of those who have so generously participated in this project, it is happening here!

 Kathryn G. Low, Ph.D., is health psychologist at Bates College.