Forms of Community Engagement in Neighborhood Food Retail: Healthy Community Stores Case Study Project
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Design
2.2. Recruitment and Data Collection
2.3. Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Customer Engagement vs. Community Engagement
3.2. Strategies of Community Engagement
3.2.1. Outreach
3.2.2. Relationship Building with Community through Customer Service and Relations
“Now you’re having a conversation human to human with your customer and it’s no longer this transactional relationship, but it becomes a neighbor-to-neighbor relationship.”[Washington, DC]
“It’s a church, it’s your local grocery store, it’s your confession center, your child center; this place is more than just fruits and vegetables. Some people just come in and don’t buy stuff; “they just want to come in and talk to us.”[Boston]
“People come to shop and do their grocery shopping, but I think what is unique about our grocery stores is that it’s a community gathering place…usually, it’s like people just hanging out in the aisles talking… We have people who hang out all day in our dining area. I think it’s a place where folks can just be in community.”[Minneapolis]
3.2.3. Giving Back to Community
“Our farmers need us to buy food so they don’t go out of business, your community members need food so they’re hungry; like, let’s figure this out. We’re ethically and morally aligned… and it really was wonderful, it really entrenched our relationship for the long term, that we’ll always have something going now.”[Washington, DC]
“The main reason I was thinking about it is because I want to do something to help foster newcomers in our community and then when the pandemic hit, hearing about how my people were struggling, I was like, this would be a great way to get money flowing with people in our community.”[Buffalo]
3.2.4. Partnering with Diverse Community Coalitions
“...it’s more than just a grocery store. It’s a statement of our values. It’s a commitment to sustainability in our environment and our food systems. It’s a commitment to support locally grown, locally produced food. It’s a commitment to shared ownership, a different way of being.”[Minneapolis]
“I feel like our relationship is a little bit different there. He’s constantly trying to expand his reach; he’s constantly trying to support more folks, whether it is through his store or just within the community. I think that’s unique to my relationship with them.”[Buffalo]
3.2.5. Promoting Community Inclusiveness and Representation
“Knowing and having…African American employees, where we are at, are predominantly in the African American community. [These employees] also have provided me input on what would be a product that we should carry.”[Chicago]
“There were people who said they didn’t, ‘We don’t even know why you were there,’ ‘We didn’t participate in you guys being there,’ ‘we didn’t understand it.’ They pointed to the fact that there are plenty of food sources [in the community] and so they had done their homework too and understood what our premise was for being there, what our mission was, and from their perspective it didn’t fit, so they most certainly didn’t shop there and were critical of our presence from that.”[Baltimore]
4. Discussion
Strengths and Limitations
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Baltimore, MD | Boston, MA | Buffalo, NY | Chicago, IL | Detroit, MI | Minneapolis, MN | Washington, DC | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Customer engagement | |||||||
Customer feedback (informal conversation/ survey/drop box) | ✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ |
Community engagement | |||||||
Listening sessions/focus groups | ✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ||
Media usage | ✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | |
Community coalitions 1 | ✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | |
Participation in community events | ✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | |
Hosting community events | ✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ |
Community representation 2 | ✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔ | ✔✔ | ✔✔✔ | ✔✔✔ |
✔ = Only planned but not implemented ✔✔ = Planned and partially implemented ✔✔✔ = Planned and fully implemented 1. Community coalition refers to the partnerships the store had with other organizations in the community. 2. Community representation refers to the representation among the store staff and/or leadership team (either through employment or ownership). |
Strategies | Definition | Example Activities | Case Sites with Evidence of the Strategies |
---|---|---|---|
Outreach | Using communication channels to inform communities regarding retailer events and activities | Media usage; annual reports | Boston (MA), Buffalo (NY), Detroit (MI), Minneapolis (MN), Washington (DC) |
Relationship building with community through customer service and relations | Developing connections with customers to establish two-way information sharing among retailers and community members | Survey, drop box, focus groups, listening sessions, participation in community events | Boston (MA), Buffalo (NY), Chicago (IL), Detroit (MI), Minneapolis (MN), Washington (DC) |
Giving back to community | Supporting community residents and local business to achieve their goals and enhance nutrition education | Hosting community events (e.g., cooking classes); donations to community organizations; prioritizing local vendors; workforce development programs | Boston (MA), Buffalo (NY), Chicago (IL), Detroit (MI), Minneapolis (MN), Washington (DC) |
Partnering with diverse community coalitions | Building a partnership with different local community organizations to improve food access in the community | Community coalitions | Boston (MA), Buffalo (NY), Chicago (IL), Minneapolis (MN), Washington (DC) |
Promoting community inclusiveness and representation in decision making | Having community members and/or representatives from the community participate in store decision making and future directions | Community representation in management/leadership/ownership; cooperative or social enterprise business model | Boston (MA), Minneapolis (MN), Washington (DC) |
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Share and Cite
Kaur, R.; Winkler, M.R.; John, S.; DeAngelo, J.; Dombrowski, R.D.; Hickson, A.; Sundermeir, S.M.; Kasprzak, C.M.; Bode, B.; Hill, A.B.; et al. Forms of Community Engagement in Neighborhood Food Retail: Healthy Community Stores Case Study Project. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 6986. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19126986
Kaur R, Winkler MR, John S, DeAngelo J, Dombrowski RD, Hickson A, Sundermeir SM, Kasprzak CM, Bode B, Hill AB, et al. Forms of Community Engagement in Neighborhood Food Retail: Healthy Community Stores Case Study Project. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(12):6986. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19126986
Chicago/Turabian StyleKaur, Ravneet, Megan R. Winkler, Sara John, Julia DeAngelo, Rachael D. Dombrowski, Ashley Hickson, Samantha M. Sundermeir, Christina M. Kasprzak, Bree Bode, Alex B. Hill, and et al. 2022. "Forms of Community Engagement in Neighborhood Food Retail: Healthy Community Stores Case Study Project" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 12: 6986. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19126986