Systems Change

After years in planning, Mesa County stakeholders developed a local action plan to address hunger in our community, known as the Mesa County Blueprint to End Hunger (Valente, J., McQuade, A., Wenzel A. 2021).

The Blueprint has two overarching goals:

• Protect and promote the health and well-being of people experiencing food insecurity.
• “Shorten the line” by addressing longer-term issues that create the problem of food insecurity.

Mesa County Food Bank Survey Impacts

In 2021, we learned from 623 clients visiting 6 different Mesa County food pantries how we could do better as a community in meeting people’s needs. This work was completed by our intern, Rachel Seidner, who completed her Colorado School of Public Health capstone and practicum. The overview below describes the major findings from the survey and lessons learned to improve the Mesa County community food system.

If you are interested in reviewing the entire report, please email Amanda McQuade at amanda.mcquade@colostate.edu

87% of the time, people prefer getting fresh foods (meat, dairy, vegetables, fruit and eggs) over shelf-stable items from a food pantry. 

Mesa County organizations should continue prioritizing fresh foods by investing in the infrastructure to source, store and distribute fresh, whole foods. 

The food most wanted from food pantries is meat followed by vegetables.  

Mesa County organizations should continue successful partnerships with local livestock and specialty crop producers to source meat and produce. The food pantry assistance grant is a powerful tool that allows food pantries to source local foods. 

Most people said they cannot use some of the food they get from food pantries. The top reasons are: the inability to cook it, dietary restrictions and foods are not liked. 

Mesa County organizations should continue to maximize client choice through full or hybrid choice models. This empowers clients to get the food they can use and want to provide for themselves and their families. 

Clients cited not having access to additional cooking supplies, such as oils, spices, or seasonings, as the biggest barrier to preparing foods. Not knowing how to cook the food was cited infrequently. 

Increase availability of cooking ingredients at food pantries. Before implementing nutrition education programs, make sure to understand why people cannot cook certain foods. Access to supplies, a kitchen space, or inadequate time are also barriers to preparing food. 

Clients need up-to-date information about food pantry location and the Mesa County food pantry system needs to be geographically expanded to towns outside of the Grand Valley (Fruita, Grand Junction, Cliton, and Palisade). 

The Mesa County Hunger Alliance needs to continue to identify geographical gaps and support client communication in partnership with other entities. Allowing clients to act as proxies to pick up food for neighbors, friends or families and/or instituting delivery programs are also good practices to addressing transportation barriers.