Update of Project Activities
This week, we finally left The Farm. I (Pete) attended a community meeting at the Fair Oaks Community Center. The meeting was organized by the Fair Oaks Forward Parks Working Group. The Parks Working Group, of which Priscilla is a member, is developing ways to fulfill the North Fair Oak’s Community Plan’s goal of increasing green space and community gardens. There is a clear nexus between these efforts and the goals of our farm stand project. The following day, Natalie and Sophie toured the Fair Oaks Health Center (FOHC). They stood in the parking lot, on the very asphalt that may one day host vendors of local, healthy produce. Other major tasks for the week included finalizing our Scope of Work, drafting a survey for FOHC patients and staff, and conducting phone interviews with Collective Roots and the West Coast Farmers Market Association – two organizations which operate farmers markets at health facilities on the Peninsula. Observations and Learnings At the community meeting, I was able to watch community planning in process. County officials reported on concepts for redesigning several blocks of Middlefield Road in the heart of NFO. Representatives from the Trust for Public Land presented some ideas for how parks can transform communities and then introduced a participatory mapping exercise. Community members divided up according to the section of NFO in which they resided. Each table had a map of the area. Community members placed stickers to mark where they lived, where they played, places they loved, places about which they had concerns, and places where they’d like to see parks. In the discussion that followed several themes emerged. For instance, there was consensus that fields at the Fair Oaks School, which community members have access to after school hours through a joint use agreement, need more public restrooms. On their visit, Natalie and Sophie were able to see the physical layout of the FOHC campus. Priscilla showed them an outdoor patio that could potentially provide a space for farmers market-related events, as well as a conference room where we can conduct our focus groups with staff. The health center, which just opened in December, boasts a dental clinic, a wellness center, and adult and child primary care among other services. Critical Reflection On Tuesday night, I hopped on my bike outside the law school and started navigating rush hour traffic towards the Fair Oaks Community Center. I went a long way in six miles. Middlefield Road took me through Atherton. I always know when I’m in Atherton because of the walls that surround the properties. Forbes recently named Atherton the most expensive housing market in the nation. The median housing price is $6.67 million. Atherton, Menlo Park, and North Fair Oaks were all part of what was called Fair Oaks, until the early 1900s when the first two incorporated. North Fair Oaks remains unincorporated. I knew when I had entered NFO because the walls disappeared, the trees thinned, and the street came to life. Businesses, many with signs in Spanish, shed as much light as the occasional street lamps. I started walking my bike along the curb, in part to see what I could see, in part to avoid being terribly early, and in part because the bike lane had disappeared. I passed auto body shops, pay day lending operations, corner stores, liquor stores, a supermarket, taquerias, pupuserias, and – incongruously, immediately before the Dumbarton Spur – the lonely Connoisseur Coffee Company. A Costco sits next to the Community Center. I wondered who shops there. At the community meeting, Priscilla and the other organizers were anxious, wondering if residents would show up. Folks trickled in. Some took headsets to listen to the live translation. No one touched the snacks until the end, which required some restraint on my part. I distributed stickers and took notes and tried to make eye contact and smile. I thought about the string of meetings that preceded this one and the string of meetings that would follow. I was looking at the raw materials of community planning: a mix of heady ideas, mundane details, disagreement, and hopefully consensus and change. It was a good night. Part 1: Update of Project Activities
Over the course of this week, much of our time and effort went towards addressing the logistics behind our research methods, working at our project site, and tackling some of our overarching goals so that we can move forward with clear next steps. We focused on several questions that we had around the issue of farmers’ market organization regarding management, budgeting, vendor recruitment, and the potential use of EBT and WIC. These questions included:
We also began reaching out to other Bay Area resources to help us answer these questions. We were able to make contact with Nicole Wires, the Manager of Community Initiatives for Collective Roots in East Palo Alto. She has agreed to have a conversation with us in the coming week. We plan to ask her the following questions:
Moving forward, we are going to begin looking at other markets that operate in Redwood City in order to identify vendors and potential dates and times when they are already traveling to the area. We want to look at markets that exist in low-income areas with demographics similar to North Fair Oaks, but we also plan to look at markets in more affluent areas. This may help us find vendors that are more financially viable and capable of engaging in a riskier market endeavor. Survey design and writing is also an important next step so that we can begin gathering the information we need to plan the market. Lastly, we need to tour the clinic and visit the area with Priscilla. As soon as we agree on a date and time, we will finally get the chance to see our project site. Part 2: What We Observed and Learned Priscilla was able to clear up many of our lingering preliminary questions when we met on Wednesday. Importantly, we learned that the clinic does not have a budget for operating and managing a farmers’ market, so management will have to remain internal. This factor narrows our options for market design and implementation. In discussing survey design and execution, Priscilla suggested approaching patients in the waiting rooms of the clinic and how we could organize this based on average waiting times in each department. She is going to solicit this information from the clinic departments and pass it on to us. The phone call with Carle Brinkman from the Ecology Center answered many of our EBT questions. We learned that WIC includes both the Farmers Market Nutrition Program and a fruit and vegetable check program. The former is much easier for farmers markets to participate in than the latter. Studies show that recipients redeem FMNP benefits at a much higher rate when those benefits are distributed at farmers markets. The process for accepting WIC is different from the process for accepting CalFresh. In terms of vendor certification, vendors do not need to be certified to accept EBT at a farmers market. Communication with and education of vendors about EBT is critical, and the Ecology Center has materials for that purpose. The POS should be centralized, well-marked, and operated in a way that reduces stigma, an issue that I had not thought of but agree is very important so that all customers feel comfortable at the market and can benefit fully. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that Priscilla currently has a few other student volunteers working with her at the clinic. She is introducing all of us via email, and it seems as though we may be able to work together on a few aspects of our project. One volunteer is bilingual and may be able to assist us in Spanish translation. Another has offered to administer surveys if there are peak hours when we are not available. Having this additional help could prove to be very important as we deal with the time limitations of one academic quarter. Lastly, the GIS workshop was incredibly useful. What a wealth of information! Now that we know it’s there, we plan to use the Business Analyst tool to gather information about the North Fair Oaks community at large and perform the mapping necessary for our project. Part 3: Critical Analysis At the start of our most recent meeting, Priscilla brought up the issue of time and asked us very directly if we thought that the project deliverables were realistic. While all of us are very excited about the potential of this farmers’ market, it is becoming clear that we need to prioritize and do what will be most useful for the clinic, especially if we can set them up to carry the project forward after the quarter has ended. This conversation tied back in with the “How Do You Define Service?” activity that we did in class and the question of whether or not we can actually provide something that we would consider “service” to a community in such a short period of time. Priscilla mentioned treating it like a farm stand at first, then building it into a market. This struck me as a good approach to the entire process – construct a focused, strong foundation and allow it to grow from there. In reflecting again on the “Reconsidering the Margin” reading, it became clear that we need to acknowledge our reliance on our community partners as windows into the communities we are trying to serve. Priscilla is likely quite different from our target population; she, too, is existing “outside the margin” and is also working to engage her community in the same way that we hope to. It is important to remember that she is adding another lens that may or may not be reflecting the North Fair Oaks community. There is no doubt that she is an invaluable resource and thinks about these same issues. However, the fact that we are three full weeks in and have yet to see the clinic, visit the area, or talk to a single community member has become a bit of an elephant in the room, and we are really looking forward to taking our next steps. - Natalie, Pete, Sophie Part 1: Update of Project Activities
The past week, we really enjoyed getting the chance to meet Priscilla, hear about the North Fair Oaks area and North Fair Oaks Health Center, and ask questions about the idea of implementing a Farmer’s Market. Right now we are focusing on gaining a firm understanding of what the project is and what resources we can utilize. In addition to working on setting up a follow-up meeting with Priscilla, we are asking Priscilla what additional information she wants us to read and review before our next meeting, including a more detailed description/flow chart of the organization structure of the San Mateo Medical Clinic. We are also reaching out on our own to find additional resources to better prepare us to understand the plan for the North Fair Oaks Health Center Farmer’s Market, what challenges the North Fair Oaks Health Center may face in market implementation, and how other communities have dealt with similar obstacles. In addition to reading the resources posted on Piazza, we are looking at articles about farmer’s markets in nearby areas, such as the East Palo Alto Farmer’s Market run out of the Ravenswood Family Health Clinic. In addition, we plan to talk to a representative from Collective Roots this upcoming Tuesday about the East Palo Alto Farmer’s Market about the challenges they have faced (particularly with attracting, generating customer interest, and accepting EBT and FMNP WIC checks). In addition to familiarizing ourselves with the process of farmer’s market implementation (particularly in communities with similar demographics), we are working to list out the goals and tasks we hope to accomplish and draft our Scope of Work so we are prepared for our follow-up meeting with Priscilla. Right now, we have defined our goals to be determining the feasibility of a farmer’s market that both survives (attracting sufficient purchasing power to retain vendors and cover costs) and serves (expanding community access to affordable, health food). To answer the key question, “What items at what prices (with what additional outreach) will attract vendors and customers and expand access to affordable, health food?,” we will start by going through existing data sources and meeting with experienced individuals. Our strategies for gathering data are listed below:
Part 2: What You Observed and Learned Our first meeting with Priscilla was incredibly useful. The most concrete set of information we took away from the meeting was the demographics of the community. We learned that 70% are monolingual Spanish speakers, which is why it will be critical to have bilingual surveys and outreach efforts. In addition, 68% are below the 150% federal poverty line, which means it will be all the more important to look into how the farmer’s market could create a system of accepting EBT and WIC. One thing that surprised me was the extremely high rate of unemployment in the area (around 19%) compared to unemployment rates in the surrounding communities. Priscilla mentioned that a number of mental health challenges faced by the community in North Fair Oaks may be tied to this high unemployment rate, and again emphasized the North Fair Oaks Health Center’s focus on total wellness as part of their effort to combat these mental health challenges. In addition to the specifics of the demographic data, we also gained a better understanding of the organization of the South County Clinic and their goals based on total wellness. The goal of North Fair Oaks – as detailed in the North Fair Oaks Forward Plan – is to revitalize North Fair Oaks for families of all ages. This plan involves 300+ new policies and strategies going into place, of which health and wellness is a big focus. The South County Clinic has adapted this approach through their goal of serving multiple generations within this clinic and focusing their own efforts on preventative total wellness education and resources. The South County Clinic is working on expanding patient education, including projects that encourage community involvement. Currently, the health center has a plot for a community garden, cooking demos, nutrition classes, and community outreach efforts to train community residents to help with the education piece. It was particularly useful to hear how Priscilla envisioned the farmer’s market would fit into their preventative model for keeping families healthy. One thing that surprised me was hearing that as part of their nutrition program, based on a USDA-approved nutrition grant for teaching about healthy eating in four languages, community residents complete eight classes in two months, where after each class, participants receive a $7 voucher to buy fruits and vegetables at a farmer’s market. I was surprised to hear that already, there is a deep connection between their health education and the need for a farmer’s market. Part 3: Critical Analysis In our meeting with Priscilla, it became clear to us that Priscilla carries out her education and community outreach work with the approach of “reciprocity with the community” in mind. From the start, Priscilla has emphasized the importance of working with the community members, and when we asked whether the community is interested in the idea of a farmer’s market, Priscilla said that although she doesn’t have statistical data about community interest, after conducting over 100 oral interviews, she has found that anecdotally, people are interested and see the need for a farmer’s market in their community. It is clear to us that Priscilla cares about serving the community’s self-identified needs, rather than imposing her own view of what would be best without taking their thoughts into consideration. In addition, in Priscilla’s education outreach work, she talked about the importance of creating projects that encourage community involvement, using assets coming from the neighborhood. As she talked about surveying community members, she also noted that because many of the residents do not speak English, some people tend to underestimate their understanding, and emphasized that it is critical that we recognize their intelligence because they truly have important things to say, whether or not they say these things in English. This reminded me of our class discussion around truly showing respect for each community member, and how respect is really important for building relationships and collaborating on a project together. In our reading, “Reconsidering the Margin: Relationships of Difference and Transformative Education” by Jodi Rios, one quote really stood out: “Trust facilitates a more sincere dialogue and leads to a response that reflects the actual, rather than perceived, desires of the community. The benefit of including team members who truly value the neighborhood and no longer fear it goes without saying. The transformative nature of the trust relationships, developed in the seminar through time and intimacy, provides a better context for reciprocity to emerge.” It is clear that Priscilla has already worked hard to establish trust with the community in order to create partnerships to serve the actual goals of the community, not what we think the goals should be. We are looking forward to coming in with an open-minded and respectful attitude in order to gain the trust of community members as well, so that we too can engage in community efforts through an approach based on reciprocity, and work to serve the community as we learn from them in the process. - Sophie, Natalie, Pete |
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