Best Practices Among Food-Based Community Organizations: A Qualitative Analysis

ABSTRACT

Food-based community organizations (FBCO) have positive impacts on community health, yet little is known about best practices that facilitate organization sustainability. To identify strategies among FBCOs used to facilitate member engagement/retention, reach future members/participants, and support organizational growth, key informants from four FBCOs in Texas participated in in-depth interviews. Semi-structured interviews were informed by grounded theory, voice recorded, and transcribed. Results from eight interviews, representing four organizations, indicated five themes for organization sustainability: commitment to a mission, supportive leadership, physical meeting space, clear communication, and community partnerships. Implementation of these strategies may benefit other FBCOs by helping them create sustainable organizations.

KEYWORDS:

• Nutrition
• sustainability
• community food organization

Declaration of Interest Statement

Authors report no conflict of interests for this study or writing of the manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was provided for this study or writing of this manuscript.