UAMS ‘Community of Practice’ collaboration receives $750,000 hunger relief grant from Walmart Foundation

The Northwest Arkansas Food Insecurity Community of Practice will receive a $750,000 award from the Walmart Foundation. The funding will help develop strategies to reduce hunger in Northwest Arkansas over the next 18 months.

The Community of Practice is a collaboration between the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and more than 20 regional organizations.

By sharing skills and experiences, the members of the Northwest Arkansas Food Insecurity Community of Practice work together to cultivate new strategies to address recurring problems related to food insecurity in Northwest Arkansas.

Since its launch in 2020, the community of practice has worked to increase access to nutrition programs and has focused on improving equitable and inclusive healthy food access. This has included installing food lockers at a partner pantry, training and building capacity at community-based organizations to boost outreach for nutrition programs, creating a Cultural Food Preference Toolkit and encouraging the sharing of information and resources among local organizations.

Over the next 18 months, the community of practice will add members from the education and health care sectors, develop two new pilot projects focused on increasing access to nutrition programs, and create new, innovative approaches for food distribution.

“Thanks to the generosity of the Walmart Foundation and the commitment of individuals and organizations across Northwest Arkansas, we will continue to address food insecurity and ensure every person has access to healthy food,” said Bonnie Faitak, associate director of community programs at the UAMS Institute for Community Health Innovation, formerly the UAMS Office of Community Health & Research.

Food insecurity is defined as a lack of consistent access to safe, adequate, culturally appropriate and nutritious food. Last year, a U.S. Department of Agriculture report found that Arkansas has the highest level of food insecurity in the country, with an estimated 16.6% of Arkansas households struggling to put healthy food on the table.

“The Community of Practice has had an enormous impact on filling gaps in healthy food access in Northwest Arkansas during their first three years of operation,” said Angela Oxford, senior manager of NWA Giving on the Walmart.org team. “The Walmart Foundation’s continued investment will allow the Community of Practice to grow its leadership and work collaboratively to meet community needs to address food insecurity.”