Achievement Award Program

"No Kid Hungry" Mecklenburg County

  • Achievement Award Program

    "No Kid Hungry" Mecklenburg County

    The Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services led an innovative project that coordinates food and nutrition programs (notably, SNAP and WIC) to reduce childhood food insecurity and fill program enrollment gaps in our area. The county hired a team of staff with lived experiences, called “Food Navigators,” to help children and families across our most vulnerable and impoverished communities navigate the complex food and nutrition programs available. While their work heavily focused on education and outreach, by strengthening community relationships, the Navigator team learned the difficulties and barriers many residents faced to accessing the food and nutrition assistance programs, and how these difficulties can be addressed, which led to service delivery model recommended changes. The ultimate outcome of this project was to decrease childhood food insecurity. To do this, the project enhanced community knowledge of nutrition support programs, worked to identify and fill program enrollment gaps, created a network of community partner agencies to spread program awareness, enhanced information referral processes, reduced siloed practices across different nutrition support programs, and created a replicable national model. Throughout this project, Johnson C. Smith University, a local HBCU, worked alongside the project team to conduct a formal evaluation of all project activities, and successes towards the intended outcomes. County Mecklenburg County, N.C. Featured Resources Announcing 2023 Achievement Award Winners Achievement Award Category Human Services
    "No Kid Hungry" Mecklenburg County
    May 18, 2023
    May 18, 2023, 12:00 am
2023 NACo Achievement Award Winner
"No Kid Hungry" Mecklenburg County
Mecklenburg County, N.C.

About the Program

CATEGORY: Human Services
YEAR: 2023
The Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services led an innovative project that coordinates food and nutrition programs (notably, SNAP and WIC) to reduce childhood food insecurity and fill program enrollment gaps in our area. The county hired a team of staff with lived experiences, called “Food Navigators,” to help children and families across our most vulnerable and impoverished communities navigate the complex food and nutrition programs available. While their work heavily focused on education and outreach, by strengthening community relationships, the Navigator team learned the difficulties and barriers many residents faced to accessing the food and nutrition assistance programs, and how these difficulties can be addressed, which led to service delivery model recommended changes. The ultimate outcome of this project was to decrease childhood food insecurity. To do this, the project enhanced community knowledge of nutrition support programs, worked to identify and fill program enrollment gaps, created a network of community partner agencies to spread program awareness, enhanced information referral processes, reduced siloed practices across different nutrition support programs, and created a replicable national model. Throughout this project, Johnson C. Smith University, a local HBCU, worked alongside the project team to conduct a formal evaluation of all project activities, and successes towards the intended outcomes.
The Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services led an innovative project that coordinates food and nutrition programs (notably, SNAP and WIC) to reduce childhood food insecurity and fill program enrollment gaps in our area. The county hired a team of staff with lived experiences, called “Food Navigators,” to help children and families across our most vulnerable and impoverished communities navigate the complex food and nutrition programs available. While their work heavily focused on education and outreach, by strengthening community relationships, the Navigator team learned the difficulties and barriers many residents faced to accessing the food and nutrition assistance programs, and how these difficulties can be addressed, which led to service delivery model recommended changes. The ultimate outcome of this project was to decrease childhood food insecurity. To do this, the project enhanced community knowledge of nutrition support programs, worked to identify and fill program enrollment gaps, created a network of community partner agencies to spread program awareness, enhanced information referral processes, reduced siloed practices across different nutrition support programs, and created a replicable national model. Throughout this project, Johnson C. Smith University, a local HBCU, worked alongside the project team to conduct a formal evaluation of all project activities, and successes towards the intended outcomes. County Mecklenburg County, N.C. Featured Resources Announcing 2023 Achievement Award Winners Achievement Award Category Human Services
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    Human Services & Education Steering Committee

    All matters pertaining to children’s issues, foster care,  public assistance and income support, services to senior citizens and individuals with disabilities, immigration policy, social services, and elementary, secondary and post-secondary education. Policy Platform & Resolutions 2022-2023 2022 NACo Legislative Priorities
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    <p>All matters pertaining to children&rsquo;s issues, foster care,&nbsp; public assistance and income support, services to senior citizens and individuals with disabilities, immigration policy, social services, and elementary,

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