Contact: Maridith Geuder
Frank M. Howell of Mississippi State University is one of four national researchers evaluating the effectiveness of a federal program that funds food security projects.
Food security involves issues both of safe delivery and preparation and the adequate availability of supplies to all citizens, said Howell, a sociology professor and senior researcher at MSU's Social Science Research Center.
He is working with colleagues at Stanford University, Boston College and the University of Montana in reviewing the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program, which provides funding to make food security projects self-sustaining.
As an example, Howell cited a project in Boston that received a grant to fund farmers' markets in areas of the city normally without access to fresh produce. The grant also provided opportunities for young people to work on community farms to learn how to grow food.
He said the evaluation team "will advise (USDA) on how to develop an evaluation for determining the impact such programs have had." In addition to university researchers, the team will include representatives of the National Community Food Security Coalition and private, non-profit organizations that have received awards.
In making his contribution, Howell draws on an extensive background in statistical and sampling methods. A master's and doctoral graduate of MSU, he joined the faculty in 1986.
The other university researchers will contribute expertise in hunger and poverty issues and in the best methods to evaluate the human impact of the USDA grants program.
Since the department is charged with administering the nation's food stamp program, Howell said, "This evaluation of food security is especially important in the context of that program and of welfare reform in general."