Commissioners hear community needs assessment

HAYS COUNTY— The Hays County Commissioners Court was presented with the possibility of a community needs assessment by the Central Texas Food Bank at its Dec. 5 meeting.

Since May of this year, the Hays County Health Department has been working with Central Texas Food Bank to address the food insecurity present in the community.

The food bank began 40 years ago and serves 21 counties. According to Tracy Ayrhard, vice president of strategic insights, the nonprofit supplied 53 million meals in 2022 and continues to serve approximately 70,000 individuals each week through a logistical and redistribution component to ensure that food is getting out safely and equitably.

“There are 5.8 million meals in Hays County that the food insecure population cannot obtain on their own. I do want to acknowledge our wonderful network of partners. There are partners that we have in the Hays County area, including food pantries, mobile distributions and programs specifically for older adults. As a food bank, our role in the community [is that] we nourish the community, so it's not just about getting food out, but we care a lot about making sure that nutritious food gets out to support community health,” Ayrhard said. “We work on innovating. We don't want to be reactive. We learn from the pandemic and we learn that there are things that happen.”

She continued to note that there are 458,000 people who are food insecure in their service area, with 32,693 in Hays County.

Ayrhard believes that there are two ways to increase the availability of nutritious foods to the county: charitable service and working upstream. To achieve this, there needs to be good data to set priorities and partner strategically.

This data could come in various forms, such as food access convening, which assesses what the level of food insecurity is and what the food insecurity population characteristics look like. There is also service insight collecting electronic client data on the individuals they serve through charitable services, so they know who they’re serving and what the pattern is of them accessing it.

“These are all quantitative data and we know very well the quantitative data does not tell the whole story. We know the lived experiences [and] on the ground perspectives are invaluable in forming what really is going on and what solutions will work,” Ayrhard emphasized. “The community needs assessment helps to address that. It is an initiative to elevate community voices, to help us identify gaps, opportunities and solutions.”

Examples of questions that would be asked would consist of inquiring what food access looks like, what their experience is and how can the government, businesses and people help their situation.

The vice president explained that the assessment, should the county move forward with it, would be a four-to-five-month process and would consist of the following steps:

1. Compiling data to build a community profile

2. Looking at the food system dashboard (a system that allows the nonprofit to understand what the agriculture and retail environment is like in the county being served)

3. Assessing the clientele

4. Working with stakeholders, such as government entities, mental health and healthcare organizations, elected officials, school districts, etc.

Commissioners praised Ayrhard for the presentation and commented on how important this would be to the community.

“It's very insightful. I have been working food distributions for the last several years ... I always tell people if you really want to know the true need of the county, go to the food distribution to talk to these individuals that are coming to the line. You really get a sense of the struggle that people have to go through,” said commissioner Michelle Cohen. “I think this assessment is right on time … It is a public health concern — food insecurity — there's so much of it … I look forward to the collaboration and the results of what the assessment will reveal, where we can start pinpointing real direction and provide help to those of the rural area specifically.”

The Hays County Commissioners Court will meet again on Dec. 19.