Hanna Garth

HANNA GARTH, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, received funding to aid engaged research on “Racialized Placemaking in South Los Angeles: Household Food Access and Basic Needs after COVID-19.” In collaboration with Community Services Unlimited, Inc. (CSU), originally the non-profit arm of the Southern California Chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP), this project examined how South Los Angeles residents navigate area infrastructures and the services of local community organizations to access basic needs. The central focus of the research was related to the sponsored grocery program CSU established during the COVID-19 pandemic to serve the immediate food access needs of their clients. We contacted all the sponsored grocery participants, conducting interviews with 25 people to understand how households were accessing food after the program had ended. We also conducted two household focal follows, which involved directly observing food acquisition, preparation, and consumption practices. Our preliminary analysis reveals that most of the participants’ household income levels have not returned to pre-COVID levels, they remain food insecure, and have not returned to their pre-COVID food shopping practices. This research is ongoing and will be expanded to include households that had extra Pandemic EBT benefits, which have now ended.