Ohio State's Center for Regional and Urban Analysis (CURA) and the Franklin County Local Food Council are hosting a public listening session for individuals interested in working on mapping projects related to local food access, Thursday evening, June 26 at Columbus Public Health.
CURA Research Associates Peter Chen and Shaun Fontanella will present their project using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping component to develop a food access data hub for targeted Columbus neighborhoods. The data hub will allow the public to compare the food environment across neighborhoods and identify unutilized areas for food production, such as vacant lots that can be converted to community gardens.
Additional key Ohio State community partners with the Franklin County Local Food Council include the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity (Christy Rogers, director of outreach) and the John Glenn School of Public Affairs (Jill Clark, assistant professor).
Registration is requested.
CURA is a member of Ohio State's Food Mapping Team, a consortium of university and community partners, led by Michelle Kaiser, assistant professor of social work at Ohio State. Funded by Ohio State's Food Innovation Center, the team is developing a comprehensive, user-friendly food access data hub to facilitate research and collaboration for food mapping-related research to enhance productivity and maximize community benefit.
For more information about the "Mapping Our Way to Food Access" project and all events, contact Shaun Fontanella at fontanella.2@osu.edu
