Project at the store

A group of Joanne's students did a food label reading project at the market and have presented their project on the class website. Check it out: https://sites.google.com/site/schoolsnotfactories/classroom-ideas/food-literacies 

Under construction

The market is getting its construction overhaul as I write this. The grand opening is tomorrow! Hard to believe given how much work that still has to be done. Here are a couple of photos of the progress.

Revised model

What do you think of this version of our theoretical model?

Defining literacies at the market

Here's the definition of literacies we presented at AERA this past week:

"literacy needs to be seen as a set of multiple and changing social practices that carry and shift across specific sites and persons within a complex web of relations. In other words, to be “literate” or educated means negotiating these interdependencies and the challenges and conflicts that each implies. Rather than seeing challenges and conflicts as deficits, we posit that they are the fuel that enervates dynamism and change."

What do you think?

Emerging themes

Whenever a community acts and develops a certain way of knowing about itself and others, it is, by the same token, instituting itself as such, inviting a future for what it does and indeed, actualizing the power it holds to shape a way of life. (Jovchelovitch 2008, p. 29).

Emerging Themes from Qualitative Data (November/December 2012)

In general, we have found that the store is a gathering space in which there is authentic, two-way dialogue and where people feel valued for who they are, as they are. Everyone is valued, no matter their circumstances. The community is only as strong as its weakest member, and it counts how that weakest member is treated. Food corps workers take extra care for individuals in need.

Belonging has emerged as an important value. People who come to the store feel acknowledged for who they are in a non-judgmental way (“I see you and you are important”)

Becoming relates to the sense of change going on in the store and, subsequently, in the community (from transactional to transformational). The store is contributing to building a safe, secure zone, but it is important to note that this sense of  security is balanced out by realistic expectations. That is to say, a sense of accountability and personal responsibility is an inherent part of the emerging community. Everyone involved in the project has high, supportive expectations of the potential of the community’s capacity for coming to know and understand what needs to be done. The store is a restorative space that is helping the community get itself back in order (because perceptions from insiders and outsiders suggest that it may be out of order now). The store is consistent in all its dealings with the community and in the ways that consequences are meted out for contradicting the values that are becoming important, or failures to be responsible to the developing, shared expectations.

Sense of family entails seeing the store as a homeplace[1] in which people feel at home, and where they feel comfort. They feel protected and safe, and as such, they can be vulnerable. The store is a social space of respect and caring and where solutions to personal, local, or political problems can be discussed and valued.

Communicating includes seeing the store as a hub, a resource and a gathering space.  Customers seem to see the store as a place to get information, particularly information about what’s going on in the neighborhood and a place where they can bring forth questions and issues to be resolved, or to get initial counsel for. Communicating is authentic, dialogic, and synergistic.

Building relationships is embedded in varying roles emerging in the store (elders, men and women, counselors, security, greeter). Greeting each person with solid eye contact builds trust through communication that allows for saving face. In this way, relationships are developed through what people say and what they do—it is embodied and communicated both directly and indirectly.

Building community is connected to building relationships and to family in the sense of the store being a place of becoming and changing (transformational). People feel a strong sense of belonging and safety.

Building community values entails communing together (e.g. harambee, sharing meals) where there are intimate exchanges of thoughts and sharing of common interests. Intimacy is built through recognition of having gone through similar circumstances. Education is highly valued across all participants.

IN-STORE SURVEY

In addition to field observations and interviews, data was sought through the completion of online surveys in the store. Completing the surveys became a shared literacy experience, as over 130 store customers (many of whom found the computer format somewhat daunting at first) shared their responses to the items listed below.

Survey findings (n=135[2]):

• Frequency of Store Visits: The majority of respondents (37%) come to the store more than three times per day. 16% come to the store at least twice a day while 13% come once per day. The remainder come on a weekly basis. Most respondents (45%) live right on the block while another 27% live within 2 blocks and 14% live between 2 and 8 blocks away. 8% of respondents don’t live in the neighborhood, but shop at the store regularly.

• Reasons for Purchasing Sweets: The majority of respondents (49%) buy sweets because they are convenient and taste good. 30% buy sweets as a reward for having a good day and feeling successful. Only 7% said they bought sweets because they were stressed, sad or depressed. 15% said they didn’t buy sweets at all.

• Reasons for purchasing beer: 62% of respondents do not buy beer. Field notes that show that it is the same people who buy beer rather than it being a lot of different people. Of those who do buy beer, 20% buy it because they are going to hang out with friends, while 9% say they buy beer as part of their everyday routine. Only 2% buy beer when they are under stress or having a bad day. 8% just want to be alone and enjoy a cold drink.

• Opinions about Smoking: A majority of respondents (40%) are aware smoking is a deadly habit and do not smoke. 32% of smokers know it is bad for them, would like to quit but have not gotten around to it yet. 4.5% think that people make too big of a deal about smoking and 4.5% need cigarettes to feel like themselves.

• Reasons for Coming to the Store: Most respondents (50%) come to the store to get things they need for their home, while 30% drop in when they need something quickly. 19% come to the store because they like to visit with the people there, 21% come to get advice and support stating that it’s not just about groceries and snacks. 13% like that they can bring kids to the store because they know it’s a safe and friendly place.

• Handling Problems at Home: When asked what they do when they are having a problem at home, 55% of respondents said they talk with people they trust while 45% keep it to themselves. 2.3% sometimes make themselves feel better with alcohol or junk food and another 2.3% take their anger out in ways they regret.

• Improving the Future: We asked what respondents think would make the world today better and 69% stated that people should take more interest in each other and show care and concern for others. 28% thought people should take care of themselves and their problems responsibly while 19% thought people should mind their own business. 4% thought people should fight back no matter the risks.

• Meeting the Needs of Children: When asked what children need most, 76% said that they need love and support, 48% said responsible role models who make a good honest living, 41% mentioned food, shelter, and safety, 44% a stable family/home life and 42% stated that education was a way to a better future.

References:

hooks, bell (1994). Homeplace: A site of resistance. In D.S. Madison (Ed), The woman that I am: The literature and culture of contemporary women of color (pp.448-454). New Yorlk: St Martins.

Jovchelovitch, S. (2008). Reflections of the diversity of knowledge: Power and dialogue in representational fields. Meaning in Action Pt 1, 23-36.

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[1] bell hooks (1994) and other scholars of color, identify homeplace as safe, organically established places where people from non dominant communities can grow, develop, and nurture spirits, hence establishing communities of resistance (p. 449), free from the expectations of a dominant or oppressive culture.

[2] Respondents often checked more than one box under each question.

Working on theory

Here's a clean version of a messy theory building process. We are trying to make sense of the relationship of the market to other NEAD initiatives.

Farm market

We have some great photos of the fresh food farm market that was up and running at Freedom Market all summer that I want to share. 

Running steadily

For this week, received news from the AERA. Unfortunately, our proposal was not accepted. Good news is that Dr. Larson's literacy paper was accepted. We will be progressing together to analyze some data focused on her paper. Her paper is connected with the neighborhood literacy practices. My understanding of literacy practices is through different ways to read and understand the neighborhood. Dr. Larson delivered the news from the dean and the president that the university wishes to work with one of the city schools to have after-school programs. The community members pointed out several reasons we did not take into consideration. First, after school programs have been ineffective because we are not able to fully work with students through the course of their school day. However, due to political reasons such as the union contract, the city government would not the programs to intervene with the school day. The term "resources" from the university is vague. It seems that the university is not contributing any monetary resources but is showing its advocacy through physical resources. However, how to allocate resources to match specific needs of the neighborhood and how to structure the resources need more complicated planning. Thirdly, the relationship between the University of Rochester and one particular city school has to be long-term and comprehensively planned. Otherwise, future partnerships between the university and city schools could be compromised. As a research assistant, I am learning research methods and theories. However, I do believe that gaining comprehensive knowledge of the neighborhood as well as the city government is very necessary. It is not to say that I am naive, but having awareness of the context is valuable. The voice from the neighborhood will guide our direction. 

These two weeks the store has been running steadily. It is great to see so many school students who feel free to hang out in the store. I do believe that conversations between Wallace and many students can be called literacy practices. Wallace would ask every students who walk into the store "what did you learn from school today?". Most of them would answer short words such as, "everything!", or "nothing", or "math". Then, Wallace would push them further to expand on their literacy expression. He would say, "Tell me more about it", "give me one example", "which kind of math did you learn?". He would also provide them context to express more, such as giving them math problems, ask them their current grade level which will provide more information about their learning and context. Usually, this conversation goes around for at least five minutes. Children either independently solve problems, or with the assistance from Wallace. The all would be encouraged with the sweets as their reward at the end. I believe this is the most commonly occurring literacy in the store, which is not school based, but learning concerned. I hope to read more theories about these literacy practices. 
From Archer Wu

Hard work

Collaborative participatory action research is hard work, really hard work. It's all too easy to slip into a university researcher head and think alone. But, we are working hard to continue to analyze data collaboratively.

Our community partners have pushed back a bit in terms of observations and getting to know "us". They pointed out that we had done all our work in "their" space and they hadn't come to "our" spaces. While they are getting to know us through our field notes, coming to our spaces has become crucial. First, Joanne invited the research team to her house and we decided that we'd share a meal while meeting. It worked out wonderfully - breaking bread together proved to be extraordinarily productive in terms of building trust and deepening our relationships. However, while we had awesome conversations, our data analysis went by the wayside. As a result, we've decided to meet at the NEAD office most times and share a meal at someone's house once a month.

There's an article on research methods in here somewhere.

Ethnographic part

We began the ethnographic portion of the Freedom Market project in September 2011. Data collection methods in ethnography include observation (field notes), interview (audio recorded and transcribed), and artifact and document collection. We began by interviewing neighborhood residents about their family meal practices. We met with Food Corps workers to train them in ethnographic interviewing, interviewing them as a model. We then went to resident homes in pairs (Food Corps worker and University person) to conduct and audio record interviews; we have a total of 8 interviews. These interviews were transcribed for analysis. We met again several times as a group to first learn how to do qualitative data analysis, and then conduct that analysis. We found what we are calling the culture of cooking as represented in figure 1.

I.               Figure 1: Culture of Cooking

As figure 1 indicates, the theme of family emerged as particularly relevant to the residents we interviewed. Another prominent factor that is common throughout the data is that of establishing and maintaining relationships. We determined that constructing a culture in the store that reflects the values we have found and that privileges social relationships will be key to the store’s success in improving food habits. As a result, we have focused fresh foods offerings based on what resident said they would like to see. We also got a sense of the kinds of foods residents would like to see in the store (traditional meats, multiple kinds of greens, starches like baked mac and cheese).

After the store itself opened, we began observing what was going on during business hours. University personnel observed three days a week through June 2012 and then shifted to twice a week (doctoral students were on summer break). Observations were documented in field notes and transcribed in narrative format. Initial analyses has found that: 1) customers come into the store multiple times per day to shop (6-8 times – actual number; 2-4 average for everyone); 2) principal purchases at the beginning of the study in November 2011 included beer, tobacco products, lottery tickets, and snacks; 3) establishing and maintaining relationship again emerged as a key reason to come into the store.

Key behavior changes observed include a shift from buying sugary drinks to buying water along with the sugary drink to buying just water. We began to see this change in January 2012. From what we can observe, this change occurred because water began to be offered when it wasn’t before. We focused on water given a survey Food Corps workers conducted that reported on whether customers would replace sugary drinks with water. 58% of the 62 customers surveyed said no while 21% said yes (21% did not answer that question). We can’t say which of these groups has replaced sugary drinks with water (e.g. whether any of the 58% who said no made the change) but we have observed the change nonetheless. Field notes indicate that customers began to purchase water alongside sugary drinks, gradually changing to buying water only. Another index of this shift is the dramatic increase of water sold in the store.

A second survey constructed by Food Corps workers in collaboration with University doctoral students provided important information regarding what healthy foods customers would purchase if they were available. All of the 53 customers indicated they would purchase greens and lettuce, onions, broccoli and cauliflower, eggplant, potatoes, cabbage, and carrots; most of the respondents would purchase combinations of the fresh vegetables. The option “prefer can/frozen” was not checked by anyone. Additional healthy food options were also surveyed with similar results. Customers would also purchase grains and nuts, low sugar whole grain cookies, whole grain bread, bottled waters, granola/energy bars, healthy frozen or boxed meals. This survey provided key information for what should be purchased in the store. Observations have confirmed that some customers have purchased the healthier snack foods that have begun to appear on the shelves (fruits chews, low sugar cookies, nuts and seeds).

In a second wave of interviews, we focused on Food Corps workers. Preliminary analyses show that family is again a key theme. All respondents talked about the neighborhood as being like a family in which people “have each other’s back.” The importance of building and sustaining these relationships is of primary importance.

Future data collection will include continued observations in the store but with different foci (e.g. math and literacy practices related to food behaviors and on customers beliefs about the store and the neighborhood), interviews of customers, surveys, photographs, and document collection.   On-going data analysis in collaboration with community members and university researchers will focus on documenting changes in behaviors and perceptions of community residents over time; uncovering how relationships are being built and maintained in and through the corner store; and understanding the connections between building relationships and community through the Freedom Market and the health and well-being of families and community residents.

More Background

The Freedom Market is a NEAD initiative that is located across the street from its main offices. Beechwood has 5,924 residents who are majority African American and Latino. Area challenges include: 1) absentee landlords whose properties are substandard; 2) deteriorated and deteriorating buildings; and 3) a significant number of City owned vacant properties with the standard bollard treatment the City uses to secure vacant property. While there are challenges, the neighborhood works hard to build on its assets such as: 1) involved neighborhood residents; 2) a strong sense of cultural unity, and; 3) a comprehensive development organization (NEAD).

With few supermarkets within the neighborhood, the residents of Beechwood do not have ready access to affordable, fresh and healthy food; they live in an urban “food desert” (Pothukuchi, 2005). McClintock (2011) suggests that food deserts disproportionately impact people of color and lower-income neighborhoods and communities, where in many of these urban spaces there exists uneven community development and imbalanced relationships of power (94). However, we find that people in this community live in a food swamp (http://theweek.com/article/index/218167/americarsquos-food-deserts). In other words, they are inundated with unhealthy food, rather than having nearby access to clean, healthy foods.

Because the area is extremely low-income, many residents do not have cars and must rely on public transportation to get around.  While public transportation is an option for cheap and efficient mobility, it is not conducive to carrying several days worth of groceries.  One can take only a few grocery bags on a crowded city bus at any given time, forcing residents to select light, portable goods over heavier, cumbersome products (such as fruit and vegetables).  To get to a full-service supermarket, residents need to take a taxi to the closest market about a mile away.  At approximately $10-15 per round-trip, this takes a sizeable chunk of the household grocery budget, an option many households in the neighborhood do not have.  They can walk to corner stores as they walk “their” city (de Certeau, 1984).

This economic condition has caused the only alternative for these families to be grocery shopping at high-priced corner stores, largely stocked with high-fat, packaged foods that provide little to no nutritional value. There are 94 such markets in the Northeast of Rochester alone. The Freedom Market project is revamping a current corner store to introduce a larger variety of healthy food options to residents. By transforming the corner store, we offer the neighborhood an alternative that will phase in healthier and more affordable food options over a three-year period.