Policy Research and Process
Our project required both policy and ethnographic research, which involved looking at policies, documents, and videotaping interviews. We started by researching food policies through government websites. Each member focused on an area of food policy: food regulations, urban farming, food industry, and food access. Government websites were a major data source for us. Regulatory laws ranged from having a kind of checklist to ensure all prepared food is safe to eat to federally funded programs to help low-income households. Said food policies impact people’s lives, and our goal is to prove and show that to everyone.
The final step was to create a website that anyone can use to learn about the participants’ food stories and what food policies affect them. Our ultimate goal is to start having a more inclusive discussion about food policies and sparking a wider awareness of the current policies.
Why Oral History?
Oral histories are a lot more powerful than someone may first assume because those stories of personal experiences leave a more significant resonance with people than simple facts and numbers.
Why These People?
We chose Samuel and Tony because they are some Hartford residents who work at Trinity College as a Chartwells employee.
Sarana Beik, the youth coordinator at Hartford Food System, helped us get in touch with Nick who’s gone through one of organization youth group, Grow Hartford. The young Hartford native had fairly recently graduated high school and is now a sophomore at U CONN.
Lorenzo, Julio, and Ray are life long friends of a couple of our team members, who have also spent the majority of their life in Hartford.