Culturally Specific Initiatives Need Assessment: Executive Report
OBJECTIVE
Identify and assess the different barriers immigrants, refugees, and ethnic communities face in the emergency
food system, specific to food shelves. Based on input gained, create solutions and recommendations for
developing further cultural competence in the hunger relief community.
ACTIVITIES
Community Organizational Assessment: Individual site visits with 15 food shelves currently serving
immigrants, refugee and ethnic communities. Participating Agencies: Salvation Army –North, The Salvation
Army Central NEED, The Salvation Army Eastside, ICA Food shelf, Good in The Hood, Hallie Q, Waite House,
Centro Inc., Keystone Community Services, CEAP, CAPI USA, The Aliveness Project, Rescue Now Services,
Brian Coyle, and Neighborhood House.
Focus Groups: Conducted 4 focus groups to gain a better understanding of the culturally specific food needs in
the community and what keeps ethnic groups, refugees, and immigrants from using a food shelf. Targeted
populations included 5-7 participants from the Latino, West African, East African, and Southeast Asian
communities.
External Action Group Meeting: Facilitated a meeting with community leaders from targeted ethnic
populations to discuss culturally specific food needs in the emergency food system.
The Food Group Agency Quarterly Meeting Panel Discussion: Facilitated a panel discussion on culturally
specific food needs with agency representatives from food shelves serving ethnic communities.
COMMUNITY NEED
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We collected quantitative data through two different methods to gather information on which ethnic
groups agencies are currently serving: The Food Group culturally specific food package
applications/requests and demographic information collected through site visits.
Both sets of data indicated that the highest need were for the following ethnic groups (from highest to
lowest): Latino, SE Asian, East African, and West African.
Average Percent of Race/Ethnicity Agencies are Serving:
(Data Taken From Needs Assessment, 15 Organizations’ Site Visits, Winter/Spring 2012)
African
NonHispanic/
SE Asian
MultiEast AfricanAmerican
Hispanic
Chicano/
(Hmong,
Racial
(Somali,
White
Latino
Vietnamese,
Ethiopian)
Laotian)
West
African(Liberian,
Nigerian)
American
Indian or
Alaska Native
23%
4%
3%
22%
17%
16%
10%
7%
Number of Monthly Households Agencies are Serving of the Following Ethnic Groups:
(Data Taken From Culturally Specific Food Package Applications and Requests, Spring 2012)
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Latino
SE Asian
East African
West African
1,698
1,651
969
816
Culturally Specific Food Requests at Food Shelves:
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Rice and Beans are the most requested culturally specific food items.
o Followed by more specific cultural foods (in no order): maseca, yellow kokuho rice, Jasmine
rice, basmati rice, fish sauce, fufu flour, gari, rice flour, baby corn, mushrooms, lentils, tortillas,
chili, gari, and rice stick noodles.
BARRIERS EXPERIENCED THROUGH EMERGENCY FOOD SYSTEM
Food Shelf and Organizational Perspective:
Procurement and Cost: Cost of specialty and staple items is often prohibitively high and agencies experience
difficulty finding requested items – trouble finding vendors or donors. With limited food budgets, agencies often
cannot afford to purchase culturally specific foods.
Language Barriers: Not all agencies have staff and volunteers that speak the languages of the clients they are
serving. The top 3 languages spoken within the 15 agencies surveyed: English, Spanish, and Hmong.
Lack of Knowledge on Appropriate Foods: Organizations are not always aware of appropriate items for more
recently arrived immigrant groups and culturally specific foods appropriate for different ethnic populations.
Immigrant and Refugee Individual Perspective:
Accessibility and Availability: Food shelves do not always offer culturally specific, familiar foods.
Transportation can also be an issue, as well as receiving too much food to carry if clients are walking or taking
the bus.
Prepackaged Food at Food Shelves: The ability to choose the food received is very important. Not all food
shelves operate on choice model shopping, which can be a barrier and lead to individuals receiving food they
will not use, do not want, or are not familiar with.
Appointment Distribution Method: Due to language barriers, scheduling appointments over the phone can be
very difficult. This can cause clients to walk away. Also, appointments are difficult for some ethnic groups
because time is very culturally relative and different across ethnic groups; needing to arrive someplace at a
certain time can impose difficulties.
Stigma Attached to Using Food Shelves: Most participants believe that it is difficult adjusting to life in a new
country and the stigmas attached to using resources vary from feeling like they are begging for food and taking a
hand-out to fear of running into someone they know.
Apprehensive about Paperwork and Data Collection: Many immigrants and refugees are unsure of paperwork
and data collection. They find it off-putting and have questions about what their information is going to be used
for by the organization. Clients with uncertain immigration status or negative past experiences related to privacy
and paperwork resist visiting food shelves.
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Unfamiliar Location and Staff/Volunteers: Feedback indicated many people are uncomfortable going to
places that are unknown and engaging with people who are not familiar and don’t speak the same language.
INDIVIDUAL QUOTES FROM FOCUS GROUPS ABOUT FOOD SHELF BARRIERS
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“We want cultural food, food that we can cook.”
“Foods I do not want.” “Expired foods.” “Food I would rather not take.”
“They couldn’t understand me on the phone and I couldn’t understand them so I stopped trying.”
“If you know you’re in that situation and you don’t have any more to eat or feed your family, then you
have to go to a Foodshelf despite the fact that you don’t want to.”
SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS FOR FURTHER HUNGER RELIEF CULTURAL COMPETENCE
Sourcing Familiar and Appropriate Product: Ensuring agencies have access to culturally specific foods to
provide to clients in the community.
Walk-in Distribution Models: Feedback indicated ethnic groups prefer walk-in distribution models because
they get to pickup food when it is convenient for them and work around their schedule. This also allows many
families to carpool and causes less transportation issues. Additionally, language barriers are less of an issue
compared with distributions that require making an appointment in advance.
Choice Model Shopping: Ethnic communities strongly feel that they would rather have the option to eat
something they like and are familiar with rather than receive unfamiliar food that they won’t use. Ethnic
community leaders stated that their communities like to have options and choose what they want to eat.
Outreach and Education: Work to overcome misperceptions through communication and outreach about food
shelf processes (e.g. education on why paperwork is needed and what it is used for at food shelves).
Additionally, equip agencies with the knowledge and tools they need to better serve diverse communities.
Collaboration with Ethnic Groups and Leaders: Involve representatives from different ethnic communities in
food shelf operations to help create a more comfortable atmosphere at food shelves, overcome language barriers,
as well as incorporate familiar faces that ethnic populations will identify with. Having the support of ethnic
groups and leaders can help to overcome stigma, barriers, and strengthen food shelf outreach.
The Food Group | www.thefoodgroupmn.org | 763.450.3860