Helping Hospitals Tackle Hunger

Community health needs assessments (CHNAs) are conducted every three years by nonprofit hospitals. The CHNA presents an opportunity to identify and address a broad spectrum of factors that impact health and well being in local communities. PHI’s Tackling Hunger project, led by Kevin Barnett, created a guide to help hospitals assess one these factors: the community food environment.

With examples from food policy councils, food banks and health departments, the Making Food Systems Part of Your Community Health Needs Assessment guide points to existing sources of data and case studies of collaborations between hospitals and food system stakeholders.

The guide is designed to support a local dialogue that encourages stakeholders to share experiences and identify existing tools, data, and resources. This process will create synergistic linkages and an ethic of shared ownership of the community’s health and well-being.

Read the guide.