Final Report: An Assessment of Nutrition Security Among Residents in Rural Eau Claire County
In 2024, the Eau Claire Health Alliance served as an advisory for a grant received by the Eau Claire City-County Health Department to assess nutrition security in rural Eau Claire County. The grant was funded by Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment Community-Led Seed Grant.
Poster boards from Community Conversations.
To better understand the structural and systemic issues contributing to differences, we completed a comprehensive assessment of nutrition security in rural Eau Claire County to gather input from rural residents on how to improve nutrition security locally.
The project included collaborating with local partners to implement the assessment, strengthening existing partnerships, and setting the stage for further interventions and programming. We identified gaps and program needs in rural Eau Claire County to improve community access to healthy foods using the following data collection methods: key-informant interviews, community survey and community conversations. The final report includes data from each of these data collection methods (click on the button below to read the report).
Lessons Learned and Recommendations:
Using key-informant interviews, a community survey, and community conversations, the nutrition security assessment allowed for a rich set of data to be collected to identify gaps and program needs in rural Eau Claire County (ECC) to improve community access to healthy foods. In addition to what we learned in the assessment, we developed and strengthened new and existing partnerships in rural ECC during the process, as well saw strong engagement regarding nutrition security from community members.
In rural Eau Claire County, the need for robust nutrition security is evident across various demographics, particularly among families with school-aged children, older adults, and low-income families. A solution identified by community members through the nutrition security assessment was to increase access to healthy foods at existing key food access points and gathering places in the community including the school districts, community food pantries, senior/community center, and local retailers (small grocery store, discount store, and convenience store).
Evidence-based programming focused on addressing barriers to eating healthy foods, building on existing community assets for distributing food in the community, and providing educational messages that focus on developing skills for making healthy meals and promoting new access points for healthy food is recommended.
Our goal is to create a sustainable model that addresses nutrition security while fostering long-term nutritional health in rural ECC. As healthy nutrition is a top priority in the Community Health Improvement Plan, we are dedicated to advance this work through Eau Claire Health Alliance coalition work and through seeking grant funding on this important health topic.