Evaluation Report

Sheri Sotto
Jena Seely
Kali Anderson

November 15, 2016

Utahns Against Hunger

Project Evaluation

We completed eight interviews with Provo community members to ask them about their
experiences with food assistance programs such as SNAP (food stamps), WIC, the
School Lunch Program, and others. Two of the eight interviewees were found through
social media and the other six were recruited from the Food and Care Coalition (a local
center for the homeless). We contacted a total of five community agencies, including
local food banks, homeless shelters, and the Provo WIC office to ask permission to
recruit interviewees from their facility. Of those five agencies, four responded to our
initial request, but three of the four failed to respond when we attempted to schedule
an appointment via email to visit the facility.

Key Themes and Trends from Data

The responses to the interview questions varied in length and depth from person to
person, but the overall consensus was that food assistance programs provide the
recipients with more nutritious meals than they would otherwise have. The programs
also help to alleviate some of the stress that comes with being food insecure.

We found that the depth of responses from the individuals at the Food and Care
Coalition were generally shorter and less specific than those of the individuals found
through social media. We found that the majority of interviewees had the most
experience and were most familiar with the SNAP/food stamps.

For the majority of the interviewees, loss of employment and/or reduced income led
them to seek help through a food assistance program. Only about half of the
interviewees had lifelong experience with food assistance programs, while the others
felt that the programs were a temporary resource for making it through a difficult time
financially. One interviewee, a mother of two young children expressed, We arent
beggars, we just need a little bit of help right now. All of the interviewees mentioned
having positive experiences with the programs and expressed their support for
continued government funding for SNAP and other programs. Several interviewees
relied almost exclusively on food assistance programs to be able to feed themselves,
but for many of the participants the food assistance programs provided the means to
buy more nutritious food that they otherwise would not be able to afford.
Recommendations

We found that social media was an effective method to find friends and acquaintances
that have had experiences with federal food assistance programs. We would suggest
posting the Story Banking Project flyer on social media to attract a wider range of
participants. Contacting community sites via email was relatively ineffective as they are
typically busy and overwhelmed with emails. Although we didnt try this method,
walking into a community site and speaking to them directly may be a more effective
way to communicate with them and ask for permission to interview their clients.

Several of the interviewees mentioned what they liked/disliked about the federal food
assistance programs as well as what they would change about the programs. It may be
valuable to add an additional interview question regarding their likes/dislikes about the
programs as well as a question asking them for suggested changes to the programs. It
may also be beneficial to ask follow-up questions that address specific experiences with
the food assistance programs.

It would be important to emphasize to the policymakers that not all of the program
participants are homeless or will perpetually be on these programs. Many of the
participants are otherwise independent people who rely on these food assistance
programs temporarily while in college or between jobs.