Clinton School student Britney Sink (’13) partnered with Arkansas Foodbank to evaluate children’s anti-hunger programs and provide insight on their use as a multi-intervention strategy to fight child hunger.
Sink evaluated five children’s programs, including Backpacks for Kids, Cooking Matters, Kids Café, School Pantry and Summer Feeding, to help staff understand what programs are working and feasible to continue in the current economic situation, with recommendations for program improvement.
“An evaluation of these programs was needed to determine if they were truly having an impact on child hunger in our service area and if this combination of programs is the best use of the Foodbank’s resources,” said Dianne Williams, chief program officer of Arkansas Foodbank. “Sink’s research, report, and recommendations provide the foundation for making the long-term decisions necessary to truly address child hunger.”
Arkansas Foodbank uses local and national partnerships to acquire and distribute large quantities of food and other resources to hungry people in the state. The organization sponsors children’s programs at more than 30 sites as part of its work with roughly 275 local agencies that provide food directly to hungry Arkansans in a 33-county area of central and southern Arkansas.
Moving forward, Arkansas Foodbank will use Sink’s findings to determine which initiatives to invest in and continue implementing to provide access to food for hungry children.
Sink interviewed a series of staff, volunteers and participants. She conducted research and observed programming to develop an evaluation report and recommendations to inform Arkansas Foodbank’s strategic planning process.
Sink completed the project as part of the Clinton School Capstone program, the last of three public service projects in the Master of Public Service degree program.