Having surveyed for approximately two weeks and called 138 numbers, it was challenging to receive only 35 responses. However, the survey process as a whole reveals a lot about the community and is a jumping-off point for future surveying. In addition to writing a short report and an upcoming final report for the Blum Center, I will have a closing phone conversation with my project manager tomorrow.
What has lingered closest to me since the completion of my IRC internship are certainly the profound, though completely foreign to me, challenges pointed out by multiple clients of the IRC. For example, one client impressed upon me the inaccessibility of affordable halal meat. He can only purchase it in specialty food stores and even there the price is unreliable. He noted that he should be able to buy it at large chain stores, where clients may otherwise shop, like Walmart. I had never considered how it may be restrictive to buy only halal meat and how larger stores should take that into consideration, especially considering what a wide-spread practice it is.
Another challenge mentioned by a client that gave me pause was the criticism of the quality of produce and meat available at grocery stores for a reasonable price. Not only did the client want more affordable organic produce, they also weren’t sure of the way that poultry, for example, is bred in the U.S. Both of these concerns could be addressed by the IRC and would be great additions to a farm stand.
The small conversations I had with clients, or the lack thereof, were eye-opening. By lack thereof, the language barrier is notable. Many clients preferred speaking Arabic, so I would recommend implementing surveys in multiple languages to the IRC. Many clients were also unwilling to speak to a stranger because of the threat of fraud and abuses, which leads me to recommend to the IRC that they send out notifications ahead of time to clients that a survey is upcoming.
It was a privilege to enter clients worlds, if only for a moment, to ask them about very real and often insurmountable, like the cost of good food, challenges that they face regarding food security.
Sources: Questions, formatting and changes for the future from previous IRC projects were completed by: Sara Riegler, Julia Jordan, Ai-Lin Chen, Bilkis Bharucha and Natasha Pavlovich
What has lingered closest to me since the completion of my IRC internship are certainly the profound, though completely foreign to me, challenges pointed out by multiple clients of the IRC. For example, one client impressed upon me the inaccessibility of affordable halal meat. He can only purchase it in specialty food stores and even there the price is unreliable. He noted that he should be able to buy it at large chain stores, where clients may otherwise shop, like Walmart. I had never considered how it may be restrictive to buy only halal meat and how larger stores should take that into consideration, especially considering what a wide-spread practice it is.
Another challenge mentioned by a client that gave me pause was the criticism of the quality of produce and meat available at grocery stores for a reasonable price. Not only did the client want more affordable organic produce, they also weren’t sure of the way that poultry, for example, is bred in the U.S. Both of these concerns could be addressed by the IRC and would be great additions to a farm stand.
The small conversations I had with clients, or the lack thereof, were eye-opening. By lack thereof, the language barrier is notable. Many clients preferred speaking Arabic, so I would recommend implementing surveys in multiple languages to the IRC. Many clients were also unwilling to speak to a stranger because of the threat of fraud and abuses, which leads me to recommend to the IRC that they send out notifications ahead of time to clients that a survey is upcoming.
It was a privilege to enter clients worlds, if only for a moment, to ask them about very real and often insurmountable, like the cost of good food, challenges that they face regarding food security.
Sources: Questions, formatting and changes for the future from previous IRC projects were completed by: Sara Riegler, Julia Jordan, Ai-Lin Chen, Bilkis Bharucha and Natasha Pavlovich
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