Yolo Food Bank is launching a countywide survey that will shape the future of food access and food security in Yolo County
During the first two weeks of April, every Yolo County household will receive a survey invitation letter that will invite homes to participate in a survey that will be used to better understand food access, food security levels, and related health issues of people in Yolo County. Whether someone is personally affected by food insecurity or not, it is critical for Yolo Food Bank and its partners to hear from all populations. The data collected will directly inform Yolo Food Bank’s services.
“The only way to be really thoughtful about our programs is to understand the unique challenges, hopes, and needs from the people that live here,” said Yolo Food Bank Executive Director Karen Baker. “This data will be so important in telling the Yolo County story accurately by capturing important nuances that affect vulnerable populations . If you live in Yolo County, we want to hear about your cultural food preferences, your personal barriers to accessing food, and any health implications you might be facing.”
“Living in a community like Yolo County, we are surrounded by some of the most bountiful farmlands in California, no one living here should struggle to put food on their family’s dinner table,” said Nolan Sullivan, Yolo County’s director of Health and Human Services Agency. “Join local food security leaders like the Yolo Food Bank and Yolo County in assessing the community food need throughout our county, take the survey and encourage others to do so!”
WHAT: A countywide survey with the following focus areas: charitable food system, food security, and housing, CalFresh & WIC, food access, and health related challenges.
WHO: The Yolo Food Access Survey is sponsored by Yolo Food Bank, administered by The Institute for Social Research, Sacramento State University, and designed in partnership with Yolo Food Security Coalition and Valley Vision.
WHEN: A survey invitation letter containing a unique invitation access code will be mailed out to every household in Yolo County during the first two weeks of April 2023.
WHERE: Every household in Yolo County will receive the invitation letter – a sample size of 77,409 residences. Additional paper copies of the survey will be distributed locally in the community at the Food Bank’s distributions and through several of their partner agencies to ensure the survey reaches unsheltered populations, students, seniors, and rural areas in Yolo County.
HOW: Households are encouraged to participate by accessing a unique invitation code that will be mailed to them. Individuals may enter it online by following the link or scanning the QR code included in the invitation letter. The code can only be used once, only one survey per residence is permitted.
“The Yolo Food Bank’s Yolo Food Access Survey – the first of its kind – will be incredibly important for getting a much more accurate picture of food and nutrition insecurity, and healthy food access challenges that Yolo County residents are facing than provided by current statistics,” said Evan Schmidt, CEO of Valley Vision. “The survey findings will help drive investments and actions to ensure that no Yolo County community member will go to bed hungry.”
Yolo Food Bank partners with Feeding America, a national non-profit with a network of more than 200 food banks, and annually serves the nutritional needs of more than 21,000 Yolo County residents through 145 distributions events and via their 84 partner agencies which include local food pantries, senior meal delivery programs, homeless and domestic violence shelters, migrant centers, college campuses, mental health facilities, recovery centers, and more. Working with a network of passionate volunteers, committed donors, grocers, retailers, farmers, processors and food distributors, Yolo Food Bank recovers, stores, and distributes more than eight million pounds of food each year.
