Select an organization, project, program, or policy initiative focused on some aspect of community food system development to conduct a case study, assessing its history, goals, approach, and outcomes. The studyshouldprovide an evaluation of the public health, environmental, and social equity/ justicedimensions of the selected initiative, and integrate relevant course readingsand new sources identified in your research. Each student will prepare a written report and give a final presentation about their case study for the class.

Introduction(1-2 pages): Incorporate some of the readings from at least 3 weeks of the course to introduce your research project by explaining the overall purpose and goals of the initiative. Explain the problem or set of challenges the program/policy/org. is trying to solve.  Consider as many aspects of the initiative as you can, using systems thinking.  For instance, what are the health, community, environmental, and social equity/ justicedimensions of the problem the initiative is trying to solve?For example, if you are researching community gardens, you coulddiscuss the problem of inequitable access to fresh fruits and vegetables, the concept of food deserts, food security,the public health and environmental impacts of the current standard US diet (average fruit and vegetable intake), and policy recommendations.
Part 2(2-3 pages): Heading based on topic, such as “Community Gardens”Provide an introduction to the topic of your research, referring to the new sources you identified.  For example, if you are researching community garden programs, refer to the sources you find about community gardens to introduce the history, goals, impacts and outcomes of community garden programs, and specific issuesimportant to your project (i.e. if you are researching participation in community gardens, include discussion of that, or if you focus on their impact, discussresourcesfocused on that).  For this section be sure to discuss and cite at least 5 reliable sources.
Part 3(4-6 pages)-Mini Case study: Focus in on thespecific aspectsof the topicyou researched.  For example, if you are researching community gardens, describe the community gardens in Bloomington, discussing the history of the programs, who runs them (Hilltop, Parks & Rec, etc) where they are located, how they operate, what’s interesting about them… If you researched a national policy or organization, you would describe the specific history of that policy, most recent iteration in the 2014 Farm Bill, a report on the outcomes or impacts of the policy or program, etc.
Conclusion (3-4 pages): Provide your analysis of the initiativeand what you see are it’s broader impacts, outcomes, and contributions.  Discuss any problems or challenges you see with the approach andoffer suggestions for how those could be improved going forward.  Evaluate the initiative based on the points made in you introduction-does itfocus on just one dimension of food systems, such as environment impact or food security, or does it take a systems approach, addressing multiple dimensions?

Category: Essays