Food Fight! A Teen Participatory Action Research Project for an Equitable Food

System

Summer Youth Research Institute 2012

Teen Friendly Spaces and Farmers Markets

BUILD FOUNDATION• Identity

•Ecological Perspective• Cooperation

IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM

CONSTRUCT A RESEARCH MODEL

cause

cause

cause

issue

Hypothesis

IMPLEMENT THE RESEARCH

• Select the sample• Collect data

• Conduct analyses

USE RESEARCH FINDINGS FOR CHANGEAdvocacyEducation

Intervention

LEARN & USE

ETHNOGRAPHIC

RESEARCH METHODSInterviewSurvey

Visual Research

ObservationPilesortingMapping

The PAR Process

•We work here through OPP. We work with Hartford Food System.

•This is a 5 week summer program.

•We do research to solve important social issues facing youth today

•We learned different methods like surveying, interviewing and videography,pile sorting, observation and mapping

•The project we chose was about farmers market and being teen-friendly. We got to choose this topic on our own.

•In week 1: it was an introduction to food justice and the food system. •In week 2: we selected our topic and did community mapping •In week 3: we created the surveys and handed them out•In week 4: we developed interview questions and conducted the interviews •In week 5: we did analysis and put all the data together.

Overview of Food Fight!!

Food

Food Justice Youth Researchers

Food Justice Youth Leadership Group

Youth Programming “Triangle”

How we worked with HFS:

•Week 1: Introduction to Food Justice , Food Security and Food Systems

•Discussions on Friday at ICR

•In-depth Interviews with GROW Hartford teens

•Field trip to FRESH New London and Laurel St. Urban Farm

•Food Justice Youth LeadershipGroup: some ICR teens and GROW Hartford teens will apply and intern with thisgroup during the school year.

HFS Grow Hartford Teens

Our Exploration of the Food Environment During week 1 of the program, we went to:

• Park St. • Community gardens

• Farmers Markets

Our observations from our “Park St. Walkabout:”•“Promotion of liquor, parties and clubs” •“Package stores, bus stops, corner stores”•“Grocery stores--empanadas, chicken, ham, cheese, white rice, pork, coconut , fresh fruits and Spanish American food” •“Hair salons, trash all over the ground, family businesses” Our observations about the markets: •“No type of teens at farmers market just older people”•“There is nothing to drink”•“People come from different towns” •“If you see teens they are with a program” •“Promote markets more”

Our Exploration of the Food Environment Our observations about the community gardens:•“Lots of fruits and vegetables” •“I did not know there were as many community gardens as there are” •“A lot of people use the community garden” •“Food is very fresh” •“It seems like people really take care of the gardens”

Our Exploration of the Food Environment

EWIndividual

Ecological Model

Our Eco Model: What Does it Mean?

Topic Selection•Our first topic was homelessness and food availability. But we changed the topic because we weren’t experts on this issue and it was a very sensitive topic.

•We wanted to do something with teens and food because that’s what we really knew about. We found out that teens don’t have many places in Hartford to hang out and we wanted to tie this into food.

•We visited farmers markets and we saw that they weren’t a destination for teens, even though they are community spaces and have healthy food which would be good for teens.

•This topic is important to us because teens need places to hang out in Hartford – some teens get in trouble because they have nowhere to go. This is a food justice issue too because farmers markets are adult spaces and we think teens should have access to the markets also.

Types of foods teens

eat

Teen Engagement with Farmers

Markets

Atmosphere

Education and

Cooking

Location

ICR Summer Youth Research Institute 2012: Food Fight!

Research Model

Marketing and

Advertising

Our Research Questions: •Are farmers markets teen friendly? •Do teens hang out at farmers markets? Why or why not? •How can farmers markets become more teen friendly? •What are some of the barriers to farmers markets becoming teen friendly?•Where are teens going to hang out with friends? Why do they go there and what do they do in these locations? What foods do they buy in these locations?

We developed a survey with 29 questions about how much money teens spend, where teens hang out and why, qualities of food teens choose to eat and why teens would or would not go to farmers markets.

The surveys we developed showed information about teen friendly Farmers Markets in Hartford.

We surveyed 72 Hartford area teenagers about where they hang out and what factors influence what and where they eat

We entered the data into SPSS and analyzed it.

SURVEY METHODS

Key Findings• 44% of respondents said that taste was the first important factor when buying food compared with 29.5% for price and 9.8% for nutrition • •65.2% of respondents said that ads influence where they hang out BUT only 30% said they have seen an ad for a Farmers Market• •56.7% of respondents who have been to a Farmers Market said that they had a positive experience at the market

•59% of respondents said that family or friends was the biggest influence in what food they spend money on but over half of the respondents said culture had the least influence on what food they bought

Survey Results• 44% of respondents said that taste was the most important factor when buying food compared with 29.5% for price and 9.8% for nutrition

• 65.2% of respondents said that ads influence where they hang out BUT only 30% said they have seen an ad for a Farmers Market

• 56.7% of respondents who have been to a Farmers Market said that they had a positive experience at the market

• 59% of respondents said that family or friends was the biggest influence in what food they spend money on but over half of the respondents said culture had the least influence on what food they bought

Videotaped Interviews We conducted a total 21 interviews of teens and adults in Hartford. Interviews were conducted at the Billings Forge farmers market, OPP (Our Piece of the Pie), and ICR. Interviews were 15-40 minutes, and focused on exploring the teen friendliness of local farmers markets.

4 teens (14-18 years of age)5 customers of farmers markets6 vendors at the farmers markets3 farmers market staff2 farmers market managers1 food safety inspector

PILESORTS: METHODS

Our pilesort is on foods teens eat in Hartford. We wanted to find out how teens and adults put different foods together in groups and why.

First we each listed all the food we could think of that teens in Hartford eat

Then we combined our foods and created a list of food frequencies. We chose the top 30 and numbered them.

Next we put each food on a card with the correct number

After that we each created our own piles of foods based on how we thought they should be grouped.

We asked 29 other teens, and 15 adults to do the same thing

We entered the data into a program called ANTHROPAC that combined everyone’s piles and showed how teens and adults grouped foods differently

PILESORT RESULTS

Teens know their junk food/sweets Teens know their fruits and vegetables Teens know their meats Cheese can go with other things, not a meal Adults look at foods nutritionally sooner than the teens – they grouped things more specifically than teens Adults may group by what they eat throughout the day Teens may eat what’s available – don’t sort foods as specifically as adults (rice vs pancakes, adults put these in different categories sooner than teens)

Teen Pile Sorts

Adult Pile Sorts

Types of Foods Teens like

•At the farmers markets we went to they had teen-friendly food like pastries, cookies, and Italian Ice.

•One of the teens we interviewed said that he doesn’t go to the market, but he would go and buy food there because the food is cheaper and better quality than regular stores.

•Teens normally buy grinders, French fries, chips, candy and soda. Our surveys found that teens value taste and price when deciding what foods to buy.

•One adult said that teens don’t eat healthy food, so it would be hard to attract them.•Another one said that teens don’t know about healthy foods and don’t try new foods.

•A teen said that unhealthy food tastes better and he eats more unhealthy food than healthy food.

Hartford Teen

Vendor, Billings Forge farmers market

Advertising and Marketing

Where are the farmers markets advertising?•Teens we interviewed didn’t see signs for farmers markets -that’s why they don’t know about them.

• In interviews with adults they said they would want to attract more teens but teens should be involved in the marketing and trying to attract other teens.

Not a teen destination?•Teens don’t know much about markets because they don’t see any advertisement about them.

•In interviews, a teen told us that she buys more junk food because there are more ads for it.

•Farmers and vendors we interviewed said they don’t market a lot to teens because they think teens don’t have a lot of money.

Vendor, Billings Forge farmers market

Staff, Billings Forge farmers market

Location•Transportation – many people said farmers markets should be on a bus line for the people who use the bus as transportation. Most of the farmers markets were on bus lines.

•There are not a lot of hangout spots for teens in Hartford. •From our observations, some

of the markets were not in locations where lots of people normally gather.

•We have lots of quotes in interviews from adults and teens saying markets should be in spaces where people gather and hang out.

•Large majority of teens in surveys said they hang out in parks•There is a lot of work and things to consider with finding a place to put a farmers market.

Staff, Hartford Food System

Staff, Billings Forge farmers market

Atmosphere• At some farmers markets they had high fences which might not give off a teen welcoming presence.

• Our surveys showed that teens wanted a place where they can have a place to sit, things to purchase and bathroom availability. Some farmers markets didn’t have many places to sit and relax.

• There were not many prepared foods at the markets, which would attract more teens.• More cooking classes would attract teens and teach them how to turn the fruits and vegetables into tasty meals.

• Farmers markets weren't near schools or parks so a lot of teens would not notice it. Teens in our surveys said they mainly hang out in parks.

•Every customer/vendor at Billings Forge said that they pretty much only saw adults at markets, almost no teens.

Staff, Hartford Food System

Market Customer, Billings Forge farmers market

Cooking and Education

•.Going through some interviews many people stated that farmers markets should be connected to schools and other educational programs.

•It was also said that cooking demonstrations would benefit farmers markets more in trying to bring in teens in order for them to know what to do with the types of foods there.

•Informing schools that farmers markets are around will promote it to teens more in order to establish that it’s a place for them also.

•Cooking and education weren’t main parts of our domain in the beginning but once we discovered how often it came up in interviews we took it upon ourselves to focus more on them.

Hartford Teen

Food Safety Inspector, City of Hartford

Market Manager, Homestead farmers market

• Teens do not have many places in Hartford to hang out. Many people we interviewed think farmers markets should be community spaces where people will gather and hang out instead of just a place to shop. In surveys, teens said they wanted comfortable places to sit, bathrooms, free wi-fi, and things to purchase in the places they hang out.

• Teens eat a variety of food, not only junk food. Teens will spend up to $10 on food for themselves but based on our research they consider taste and price to be the most important qualities when they purchase their own food. Half the respondents ranked nutrition as one of the least important qualities in the foods they choose to eat.

• Many farmers markets in Hartford are not located in areas where teens already go, such as parks. The times many of the markets are open do not fit with teens’ schedules. When surveyed, teens said they usually hang out after 4:00pm.

• Not many teens go to farmers markets in Hartford. Customers and vendors said they see almost no teens at the markets. Teens that do go to farmers markets mostly go because their employer or organization takes them – they almost never go with their friends. Almost no teens had gone to farmers markets with their schools.

• Awareness and exposure to farmers markets had an effect on teen perceptions of the markets. More than half of teens who had been to a market said they had a positive experience, and 57% said they would go to a farmers market with friends. Over two thirds of teens who had been to a market were satisfied with the food options available.

Our Findings

TAKE ACTION NOW! What to do?

•Teens should have more cooking and nutrition classes in their schools. There should be more connections between schools and farmers markets. If teens learned more about cooking, they might want to buy more vegetables sold at markets to cook with instead of prepared foods.

•Marketing at farmers markets should target teens more. Farmers markets should encourage teens to be involved in marketing.

•Advocate for teen-friendly farmers markets: teen-friendly entertainment, items to purchase that teens like to buy, wi-fi and places to sit in the market.

•Farmers markets should be in locations where teens hang out in order to draw more teens.

•Teach teens how to grow their own vegetables and fruit to sell at farmers markets and learn how to eat healthy.

•Schools should increase teen awareness of farmers markets through after-school programs and curriculums.

•In general, there should be more teen friendly spaces created in Hartford for teens to eat healthy prepared foods and hang out with friends.

Thank You!

ICR TEEN RESEARCHERS:

Benjamin Bowen

Andrew Walker

Melanie Vasquez

Shanice Albertinie

Shawn Cannon

Chabely Nuñez

Rahma Khadeer