National Health Outreach and Engagement Conference 2024

With the support of a two-year Well Connected Communities grant, UNH Extension in Carroll County, NH was able to design and implement a county wide food access needs assessment using existing secondary data sets, a community and famer/producer survey as well as several focus groups reaching service providers, community members and farmers. This needs assessment was done in partnership with the UNH Carsey School for Public Policy and was designed to inform next steps for a newly formed multi-sector food access coalition, The Carroll County Food Access Network. The Network is made up of service providers, farmers, legislators, and state agencies interested in solving the issues related to food insecurity in this rural community that has limited farmland, is a vacation destination, and has had a large increase of new residents since 2020 resulting in changing landscapes and strains on the local economy. Study results illustrate how limited infrastructure and high demand for resources are some of the real issues related to food access, and how the coalition is using this data to set informed goals for the future.