Community Fellow Nate Smith Fostering food security by building relationships and empowering systems for self-sufficiency. Phoenix Rescue Mission estimates that 18,000 people in Maricopa County are homeless and one in three Arizona children faces hunger. These are realities that push Nate Smith in his role as the community impact director for Phoenix Rescue Mission. Smith’s fellowship project focused on strengthening his organization’s food distribution programs to better meet the basic needs of people facing food insecurity. He also explored the potential of teaching tangible skills to help them become more self-sufficient. “No matter what kind of crisis we go through as people, we always need access to food,” says Smith. By studying the local food system — from production to distribution — Smith created a business plan to provide Phoenix Rescue Mission with a program design that leverages its resources and its relationships to other organizations to foster food security. The program allowed for the fellows to work collectively, share knowledge, and exchange ideas. This included allowing Nate to connect with colleagues working at Valley of the Sun United Way, ASU Library, and more. Smith’s time as a fellow helped him to broaden his understanding of food-system models. His new food-system model is founded on the understanding that resilient communities also need resilient community resources centers.
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Nate Smith Phoenix Rescue Mission
But his model looks to move beyond providing food to community members in need. “We are focused on meeting basic needs and empowering them beyond that — workforce development programming, GED classes, etc.,” says Smith. His ultimate goal is to provide a resource and platform to help individuals become self-sufficient. Looking back at his time as a fellow, Smith says: “It gave me an opportunity to step back from the day-to-day and do some real research, to look at evidence-based practice and figure out how to be strategic going forward.”
“It gave me an opportunity to step back from the day-to-day and do some real research, to look at evidence-based practice and figure out how to be strategic going forward.” After completing his fellowship, Smith is leading Phoenix Rescue Mission to become a thought leader in building a more resilient food model and plans to continue working on research with the Knowledge Exchange for Resilience.
