BRIC State Recipients Webpage


Resources and Tools Supporting BRIC

Food and Nutrition Security State Profiles 2022
Food and Nutrition Security State Profiles

Food and Nutrition Security National Profile

White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health

  • White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health took place on September 28th, 2022. The agenda, recordings and National Strategy released are all available on the conference website.
  • National Strategy document
  • NACDD in Action! – Access Learning and Discussion Series past recordings and Resources

Nutrition Guidelines for Food Banks

Healthy Eating Research Nutrition Guidelines for the Charitable Food System. A 24 page, March 2020 publication on nutrition guidelines for the charitable food system from Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. A one-page overview of the document is available.

  • Nutrition Standards for the Charitable Food System presentation by Ronli Levi, MPH, RD, UCSF Nutrition & Obesity Policy Research & Evaluation Network (NOPREN). PRESENTATION

Nutrition in Food Banking Toolkit. Developed by Feeding America’s Nutritious Food Revisioning Task Force. The toolkit contains three sections that can serve as standalone resources:

  1. Healthy Eating Research (HER) Nutrition Guidelines for the Charitable Food System
  2. Applying an Intercultural Competence Lens
  3. Role of Food Bank Nutrition Policies: A Guide to Action

Implementing and Evaluating Nutrition Policies and Standards in Food Pantries (NOPREN)

Evidence Supporting Nutrition Ranking in the Charitable Food System. This handout illustrates how the availability of healthy food increases significantly at every level of the charitable food system (food bank, pantry, and client) when nutrition ranking with SWAP ranking system is used.

June 25 Nutrition Security Office Hours with guest speakers Jessica Hager, Feeding America and Megan Lott, Healthy Eating Research (HER) discussing the HER Guidelines for Charitable Food System, RECORDING and PRESENTATION

Food Security and Nutrition – Community Assessments

The University of Vermont Food Insecurity: Impact of Covid-19 is a web page that contains links to research briefs, surveys and news.

Vermont Farm to Plate Strategic Plan, Chapter 4, Section 1, Food Security in Vermont provides and example of a state food assessment and includes sections on current conditions, analysis and objectives and strategies.

USDA Economic Research Service Community Food Security Assessment Toolkit includes standardized measurement tools for assessing community food security.

CDC Healthy Places Community Food Assessment web page includes resources, white papers and journal articles.

Delivering community benefit: Healthy food playbook is a service of Health Food in Health Care at Health Care Without Harm and includes a Community health needs assessment component with resources, tools and data sources including Engaging the community to understand food needs guidance brief.

The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) just released a NASDA Food Security Tool Kit, a resource for state commissioners, secretaries and directors to partner with communities, designed to share successes of state food security programs and equip state agriculture departments with additional resources to fight hunger across the U.S.

Food Pantry Assessment Tools

Two examples of pantry level assessment tools to consider using once relationships and partnerships have been developed.

  1. Healthy Food Pantry Assessment Toolkit developed by Washington State University that measures food pantry environment best practices, observational survey tool
  2. The Nutrition Environment Food Pantry Assessment Tool(NEFPAT) developed by the University of Illinois to assess PSE changes within food pantries to ensure the healthy choice is the easy choice while promoting dignity and inclusion.

COVID-19 Impact on Food Pantries

Food Box 2.0 Shines Light on TEFAP (Article in Food Bank News). NEW Farmers to Families Food Box Program – produce boxes will now be distributed through USDA’s Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP).

Food Bank News. A great publication for many topics including COVID-19 responses/pivots. Read other articles of stories from around the country and sign-up for regular news.

Considerations for Pantries and Food Distribution Sites during COVID-19. A CDC compiled webpage with resources on operational considerations, cleaning and disinfection and tips for encouraging staying home when sick.

Food Systems Friday – Food Insecurity and the Charitable Food System: Lessons Learned During COVID-19 with Katie Martin, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Institute for Hunger Research & Solutions at Connecticut Food Bank-Foodshare.  Episode 24 Recording

Coordinated Food Assistance Network – example in Connecticut. Task force members pivoted to address COVID-19 shutdowns and address emergency food needs.

Food Service Guidelines

Food Service Guidelines Collaborative Webinar, December 2020. Resetting the Foodservice Experience: Challenges & Opportunities in COVID-19  

Food Service Guidelines Collaborative Webinar, January 2021. Resetting the Foodservice Experience: Creating Food Pantries in Foodservice Settings 

Food Service Guidelines from Association of State Public Health Nutritionists (ASPHN). Summary of food service guidelines developed by states, including food pantries.

Choice Pantries  

Choice pantries, which are set up like a grocery store, are the best practice for pantries but during COVID-19 may be difficult to implement depending on COVID-19 spread in the community.

Converting to a Healthy Client Choice Pantry. A collection of resources and models.

SuperShelf transforms food shelves, creating welcoming environments for communities to access appealing, healthy food and is a project of four Minnesota partners.  

Foodshare Institute for Hunger Research and Solutions May 20, 2021, Webinar Offering Client Choice: Promoting Dignity in Food Pantries.

Supporting resource/toolkit: Ohio Making the Switch – A Guide for Converting to a Client Choice Food Pantry

Healthy Food Donations

Donating Healthy Foods to Pantries List is Feeding America’s suggestions for healthful food donations.

Healthy Food Donation List from Feeding America which includes suggestions for healthful food drive donations including a variety of fruits and vegetables, proteins, dairy and dairy substitutes, 100% whole grains and healthy fats.

How food banks get their food is a blog article on the Feeding America website from December 2020 that walks the reader through the three steps of how food banks receive food to feed communities.

Food Bank Policy

Developing a Food Bank Nutrition Policy. An online course from the Nutrition Policy Institute for those interested in the link between hunger, health, nutrition and charitable food assistance.

USDA Foods

USDA Foods Available List for The Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP). A list of USDA foods with description, WBSCM ID and pack size

USDA Foods Expected to be Available. A link to USDA Foods that are available or expected to be made available to participants in each of the food distribution programs. 

Impact of COVID-19 on Food Insecurity and Health Status – Journal Articles, Reports and Webinars

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Waivers and Adaptations During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey of State Agency Perspectives in 2020, from The Institute for Health and Social Policy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, synthesized results from a nationwide survey of state SNAP administrators to better understand the challenges of implementing federal waivers during the pandemic and opportunities for strengthening SNAP. FULL REPORT and the EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Lessons Learned: Examining WIC During COVID-19 for Policy and Program Recommendations Going Forward from UC ANR Nutrition Policy Institute and Public Health Foundation Enterprises WIC.

The Kansas City Star news article, Food insecurity linked to gun violence. In St. Louis, Black farmers work on a solution.

Increases in Food Needs in King County, WA, Spring-Summer 2020. Report date August 2020. Abigail Schachter, Lin Song, Scott Neal, Fel Pajimula, Kris Johnson, Amy Laurent, Elizabeth Kimball, Eva Wong. Public Health Seattle & King County; Assessment Policy Development and Evaluation Unit.

Fleischhacker, S et al. Strengthening national nutrition research: rationale and options for a new coordinated federal research effort and authority. Am J Clin Nutr 2020;112:721–769.

Leddy et al. A conceptual model for understanding the rapid COVID-19–related increase in food insecurity and its impact on health and healthcare, Am J Clin Nutr 2020;112:1162–1169

The Impact of Coronavirus on Food Insecurity in 2020.  A Feeding America report that provides an analysis of how food insecurity may increase in 2020 due to COVID-19.  

WEBINAR Recording – Key Drivers to Improve Food Security and Health Outcomes – hosted by the Institute for Hunger Research & Solutions

General Resources

BRIC Guidance Document: Safe physical activity access and related allowable costs for policy, systems, and environmental changes

2021 ParkScore Index is a tool from the Trust for Public Land. This tool compares park systems across the 100 most populated cities in the United States. Published annually, the index measures park systems according to five categories: access, investment, amenities, acreage, and—new for 2021—equity. 

American Trails webinar RECORDING on Effective Programs to Improve Access to and Use of Trails for Youth from Under-Resourced Communities. This webinar is part of the Advancing Trails Webinar Series

The State Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator can be a valuable contact. For a listing of state contacts visit the US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration page.

The Community Guide, Physical Activity: Built Environment Approaches Combining Transportation System Interventions with Land Use and Environmental Design includes a snapshot of the review, what the Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) found, supporting materials and considerations for implementation. Also available is a one page summary fact sheet, Increasing Physical Activity: Built Environmental Approaches.

CDC Active People, Healthy Nation (APHN) website for information, strategies, the design element and more.

CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity’s (DNPAO) SPAN Implementation Guide, August 2018, provides guidance and resources to help implement the required strategies under the SPAN cooperative agreement (CDC-RFA-DP18-1807).

America Walks Webinar Series â€“ Learn more HERE 
– Authentic Community Engagement – Best Practices for Equitable Work (July 2021 RECORDING)
– Inclusive Planning in Tribal Communities, Engaging People With Disabilities in Designing Safe and Accessible Transportation Systems  (Dec 2020 RECORDING and WHITE PAPER)

Complete Streets

Smart Growth America provides information and resources on Complete Streets and how they help create livable communities, improve equity, safety, and public health, while reducing transportation costs and traffic woes.

The National Complete Streets Coalition  promotes the development and implementation of Complete Streets policies and professional practices.

Safe Routes

Safe Routes Partnership provides fact sheets, toolkits, infographics, videos and many other resources related to Safe Routes to Parks, ten-minute walks or bike rides to parks.

Comprehensive Community Health Plans

ChangeLab Solutions provides information on the toolkit – How to Create & Implement Healthy General Plans, produced with Raimi + Associates and in partnership with The California Endowment. 

Crime Prevention through Environmental Design

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) Learning Portal that is intended to educate and provide resources for anyone wishing to learn about CPTED. Portal is intended for beginners and experienced practitioners.  

Zoning

Developed by the Institute for Health Research and Policy (IHRP) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Components of Local Land Development and Related Zoning Policies Associated with Increased Walking: A Primer for Public Health Practitioners provides a primer for public health practitioners and others interested in engaging with local planning and zoning officials.

PolicyLink Equitable Development Toolkit: Inclusionary Zoning provides an overview of inclusionary zoning and considers the key issues when implementing and effective program.

Licensing and Zoning: Tools for Public Health is a fact sheet developed by ChangeLab Solutions to provide an overview of how licensing and zoning laws can help promote public health, and help communities choose a strategy that will help them achieve their particular health goals.

Rural Development Policy Toolkit: Providing Well-Placed Housing in Rural Communities by Smart Growth America examines how local governments can provide affordable housing in locations that are close to key necessities with little or no upfront cost by changing zoning restrictions, protecting existing Section 515 housing, and taking advantage of federal assistance.

The Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC) has crowdsourced a dataset to track local community actions and policies that are either temporarily or permanently implemented. The dataset is open-access and available as a reference for other communities that are looking to draft their own action plans. Local Actions to Support Walking and Cycling During Social Distancing Dataset

HEALTH EQUITY AND PLANNING & TRANSPORTATION

“12 Strategies for Centering and Prioritizing Health Equity in Transportation” by Charles Brown is an article in the February 2020 edition of ITE Journal about effective strategies in centering and prioritizing equity in transportation.

Long-Range Planning for Health, Equity & Prosperity: A Primer for Local Governments developed by ChangeLab Solutions is a resource to help planners across the country prioritize health and equity in their communities.

An EJBeings People-First Planning webinar, Trenton Reconnected is a webinar presented by grad students of Charles Brown on leveraging anchor institutions, specifically planning programs, to help underserved communities.

“Moving Beyond the Aesthetics and Pageantry of Equity and Inclusion in Transportation” is an article by Charles Brown in Forward: Issue 2: Transportation, a digital publication and conversation series by Forecast Public Art.

Pandemic Toolkit: Manual for Rebuilding Community Health and Opportunity Post COVID-19 is a summation of strategies to help local and regional governments respond to challenges imposed by COVID-19 and become more resilient. The Toolkit is organized by action steps related to regulatory policy, planning, and community design.

Equitable Processes Lead to More Equitable Outcomes is a Healthy Places by Design blog by Phil Bors  that discusses equity and provides equity-advancing resources for practitioners and community leaders.

A link to download The Toolkit for Health, Arts, Parks and Equity from The Trust for Public Land in partnership with the National Association of County and City Health Officials. The Toolkit offers health advocates case studies, principles, and policy guidelines on using place-based arts and culture to achieve health equity.

COMMUNITY PROCESS/ENGAGEMENT/ASSESSMENT

Planner’s Playbook: A Community-Centered Approach to Improving Health & Equity from ChangeLab Solutions offers guidance, providing resources, concrete steps, and examples for planners who wish to center equity in their planning practice so that their communities promote opportunity and prosperity for all.

The Community Engagement Guide to Sustainable Communities from PolicyLink describes the Sustainable Communities Initiative, where communities are catalyzing new networks of relationships, finding new problem-solving methods, and creating new inclusive decision-making tables to craft an authentic vision for an equitable and prosperous future.

The National Association of Chronic Disease Directors Walkability Action Institute is a multi-day “course” for interdisciplinary teams. Each year, interdisciplinary four-to-six-member teams, comprised of public health, transportation, planning, elected officials, and other disciplines apply to receive travel assistance to attend the course, develop team action plans, and implement PSE outcomes to make their communities, regions, and states more walkable over the long term.

Virginia Department of Health, Walkability Action Institute (VWAI) 2021 Team Application Overview  and a YouTube video highlighting the VWAI. The 2019 and 2020 VWAI heavily emphasized and encouraged the consideration of health equity, racial equity, transportation equity, and effective and intentional community outreach and involvement throughout the curriculum

The CDC Active Communities Tool (ACT): An Action Planning Guide and Assessment Modules to Improve Community Built Environments to Promote Physical Activity helps committed, cross-sector teams create an action plan for improving community built environments that promote physical activity consistent with their community context.

The Smart Growth America Model Policies for activity friendly routes to everyday destinations resource is designed to help communities pass policies that can help get more Americans physically active—specifically by creating connected, healthy communities where people can safely and easily walk, bike, roll, or move actively with assistive devices to reach nearby key destinations.

Four Shifts to Heal Communities is a December 2020 brief by the Prevention Institute that describes four shifts in land use policies and practices that have the potential to fix the broken land use planning system and reveal the full potential of land use decisions that prioritize community needs to contribute to health equity, racial justice, and place-based healing.

9 Reasons to Eliminate Jaywalking Laws Now is a blog from Bloomberg City Lab that discusses why it is time for cities to consider decriminalizing jaywalking or eliminating the infraction altogether.

10 Local Laws That May Be Doing More Harm Than Good is a blog from ChangeLab Solutions that discusses ten types of common local laws that may seem like good ideas but can be surprisingly harmful.

NEW! Building Connected Communities Conference Oct 12-14, 2023 |Recordings

NEW! Join or Die documentary trailer featuring Dr. Robert Putnam

NEW! Action Guide for Building Socially Connected Communities

May 2023: Office of the Surgeon General released Advisory:The Healing Effects of Social Connection includes advisory document, national framework, key takeaways and fact cards.

CDC launched a new webpage on social connectedness includes definitions, impact on health, strategies and what CDC is doing to address social connectedness. 

BRIC Guidance Document on Social Connectedness (July 15, 2021)

 New Social Connectedness article: Social Connection as a Public Health Issue: The Evidence and a Systemic Framework for Prioritizing the “Social” in Social Determinants of Health (Holt-Lunstad, J, Annu. Rev. Public Health 2022. 43:29.1–29.21)

Socially Connected Communities: Solutions for Social Isolation 2021 report from Healthy Places by Design

Social Isolation and Loneliness:  Impacts on Health and Approaches to Prevention for the Fairfax Community (released Dec 2021 from Fairfax County Government)

BRIC Webinar Recordings on Social Connectedness
January 2021: BRIC Kickoff – Social Connectedness
May 2021: Strategies for Socially Connected Communities, Webinar Recording (Passcode: N#5n!mjj) | Slide Deck
March 2022: Advancing Social Connectedness as a Public Health Priority

State Plan on Aging Guidance – see Social Connectedness section

Social Connectedness Learning Series (facilitated by the Foundation for Social Connection)
Summary of each Session (includes link to slides, recording and notes/key takeaways)

Social Connectedness Curbside Consulting (facilitated by the Foundation for Social Connection)
Sept 29 Session (NY, LA, IL, MO): Recording | Slide Deck | Resources Shared
Feb 16 Session (MN, MS, TX, WV): Recording and Slides
Mar 16 Session (UT, WA, WV): Slide Deck
Apr 20 Session (AK, AR, CT, CO, KY, PA, SC): Slide Deck | Recording

October 11-13, the Foundation for Social Connection (F4SC), with support from the Coalition to End Social Isolation & Loneliness (CESIL), hosted its annual virtual End Social Isolation and Loneliness Action Forum.  WATCH THE RECORDINGS

New Diversity and Equity Resources from the National Aging and Disability Transportation Center. The National Aging and Disability Transportation Center has compiled a resource hub with collection of articles, reports, webinars and more. 

General Public Health and Racial Equity

Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE) has developed a number of resources to help local governments center health and racial equity, and potential relationship/partnership.

Equitable Processes Lead to More Equitable Outcomes. Blog from Phil Bors with Health Placed by Design emphasizing equitable process must address who is included and how they are engaged and for what purpose.  Phil provides links to “Equity Advancing Resources”.  Note: All of the Resources mentioned in the blog article are on BRIC States webpage Resources Section. https://healthyplacesbydesign.org/equitable-processes-lead-to-more-equitable-outcomes/

National Association of Chronic Disease Directors – Race Toward Health. NACDD’s Health Equity Council launch ‘Race Toward Health’ Podcast Launch, Webinars, and Peer to Peer Activities to Support National Minority Health Month. https://chronicdisease.org/tag/race-toward-health/

Color of Law. NACDD Presents: The Color of Law presentation and panel discussion with Author Richard Rothstein, Dr. Susan Kansagra, Robyn Taylor and Chip Allen.  RECORDING

A great precursor to reading The Color of Law and watching the webinar recording is a short video ‘Segregated By Design’ which examines the forgotten history of how our federal, state and local governments unconstitutionally segregated every major metropolitan area in America through law and policy. 

CDC’s Office of Minority Health, Health Equity Portal – Dedicated to racism and health. https://www.cdc.gov/healthequity/racism-disparities/index.html

CDC Health Equity Resources including COVID-19 health equity resources. https://www.cdc.gov/healthequity/index.html

Data and Health Equity

County Health Rankings – search county level data related to the health of communities. State reports available.

County Health Rankings – Track which cities and counties have declared racism as a public health crisis. https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/racism-as-a-public-health-crisis-three-responses

CARES – Center for Applied Research and Engagement Systems allows you to map 80+ health-related indicators for a community and generate a Community Health Needs Assessment Report. https://engagementnetwork.org/map-room/

CARES Spark Map Community Commons (The Commons) is a platform that community collaboratives and coalitions can access to map data and identify community resources and tools related to various topics including health equity.

HEALTH EQUITY AND FOOD SYSTEMS

Racial Equity Tools for Planning Food Systems – University of Wisconsin developed a Food System Racial Equity Assessment Tool and facilitation guide.

HEALTH EQUITY IN PLANNING & TRANSPORTATION

Ensuring an Equitable Approach to Rebalancing Streets, 14 Strategies to Manage Change with Ethics, Equity, and Empathy. In response to COVID-19, communities rebalanced public space on streets and roadways to provide greater opportunities to walk, roll, and use transit, both to enable social distancing and to promote healthy, active travel. For planners, designers, and other transportation professionals.

12 Strategies for Centering and Prioritizing Health Equity in Transportation. Charles Brown, Equitable Cities, provides guidance for meaningful discussion to move equity from a buzzword to a process and outcome in planning and transportation.

Pandemic Toolkit: Manual for Rebuilding Community Health and Opportunity Post COVID-19. Provides list of 20 rapid strategies (mostly policy, zoning in nature) in response to COVID-19 and beyond such as pop-up bike lanes, open complete streets, and implementing the U.S. National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) Streets for Pandemic Response and Recovery.

The Toolkit for Health, Arts, Parks and Equity. From The Trust for Public Land, in collaboration with NACHO (in response to coronavirus pandemic) to create this toolkit using place-based arts and culture to achieve health equity. Includes section on various case studies across the country along with guiding principles.  Main audience is local county public health departments.

Long-Range Planning for Health, Equity & Prosperity- A Primer for Local Governments. From ChangeLab Solutions, for planners at city and regional level, applies to urban and rural communities, to prioritize health and equity in their work.

Charles Brown’s Rutgers Grad Students Work focusing on Complete Streets and Crime Prevention through Environmental Design

Moving Beyond the Aesthetics and Pageantry of Equity and Inclusion in Transportation. Charles Brown with Equitable Cities explores the intersection of artists and transportation and their “intentional collaboration” for community healing and “co-powering”.

Planner’s Playbook (from ChangeLab Solutions)

The Community Engagement Guide to Sustainable Communities Community Engagement Guide for Sustainable Communities

Statewide Walkability Action Institute Walkability Action Institute | National Association of Chronic Disease Directors

Virginia Walkability Action Institute VWAI-Application-Overview_2021.pdf (vml.org)

Virginia Centered Health and Racial Equity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQnrwv1bBVM   

Active Communities Tool Guide and Assessment Modules Active Communities Tool | Physical Activity | CDC

Four Shifts to Heal Communities (Prevention Institute) Four-Shifts-to-Heal-Communities_Report_112020.pdf (preventioninstitute.org)

Long-Range Planning for Health, Equity & Prosperity- A Primer for Local Governments Long-Range Planning for Health, Equity and Prosperity

Charles Brown’s Grad Students Work on leveraging anchor institutions, specifically planning programs to help underserved communities Trenton Reconnected.mp4

Pandemic Toolkit: Manual for Rebuilding Community Health and Opportunity Post COVID-19 https://spark.adobe.com/page/a66lYPnBiZ8zs/

Equitable Processes Lead to More Equitable Outcomes https://healthyplacesbydesign.org/equitable-processes-lead-to-more-equitable-outcomes/

The Toolkit for Health, Arts, Parks and Equity (from The Trust for Public Land) https://www.tpl.org/the-toolkit-for-health-arts-parks-and-equity

BRIC Sept 15 Webinar Recording (Passcode:0EC%E3G4) and Resources

Healthy Places by Design, Oct 20, 2021 Blog, Creating Health and Equity in Rural Communities.

Promoting Food Access in Rural Communities – Resource Compilation (compiled by Dr. Angela Odoms-Young)

2021 Edition of Rural America at a Glance. Webinar recording and Report

USAging and engAGED, The National Resource for Engaging Older Adults hosts a series of webinars on engaging older adults, including the webinar Addressing Social Isolation of Older Adults Living in Rural America.

BRIC Peer Exchange Session, Feb 9, 2022 
Recording and Notes

State Plan on Aging Guidance

BRIC Key Terms and Definition

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