Work, Governance, and the Institutionalization of an Emergency Food Network

Syracuse University SURFACE Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Sociology - Dissertations Affairs 2011 "It's the Resources": Work, Governance, and the Institutionalization of an Emergency Food Network Stephanie Crist Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/soc_etd Part of the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Crist, Stephanie, ""It's the Resources": Work, Governance, and the Institutionalization of an Emergency Food Network" (2011). Sociology - Dissertations. 69. https://surface.syr.edu/soc_etd/69 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Sociology - Dissertations by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ABSTRACT Thousands of loosely connected organizations such as food pantries and soup kitchens constitute the emergency food network. Organizations in this network provide a critical source of food to millions of households each year. This dissertation examines how organizations in one city-level emergency food network acquire, manage, and use resources. It pays particular attention to the relationships that develop between organizations and funding sources. Utilizing institutional ethnography, this dissertation explicates the ways that everyday food provision in food pantries and soup kitchens is connected to a broader picture of changing modes of governance in the public and nonprofit sectors. The data were collected in Syracuse, New York, primarily using in-depth interviewing. Thirty interviews were conducted with staff and volunteers at food pantries and soup kitchens and fourteen interviews were conducted with staff of agencies connected to food pantries and soup kitchens through funding relationships. The emergency food network arose primarily to address gaps created by structural inequality and the inadequate government social safety net in the United States. Despite the enormous amount of labor that is dedicated to operating organizations within the emergency food network, this dissertation further supports other scholars’ critiques of the network as inadequate. The context in which the majority of the organizations in the network operate is a religious context—many of the volunteers in the network are committed to emergency food provision because of their religious beliefs. This religious context has implications for ground-level services as well as the overall institutionalization of the network. ! ! The government provides a significant amount of support for the emergency food network, particularly in New York State. New York State’s Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program provides a relatively stable source of funding for Syracuse’s food pantries and soup kitchens. This support has helped to institutionalize the local network and bolster the relationship between the regional food bank, which administers the state funding, and its eligible member programs. Even with a relatively stable funding environment, however, workers in food pantries and soup kitchens have been forced to develop limiting mechanisms to help manage their finite resources. These limiting mechanisms restrict the ability of the network to function as an adequate, charitably-based safety net. This dissertation also suggests that activities in the local network in which this study took place are becoming increasingly coordinated due to funding relationships, particularly with the regional food bank. Most of the approximately 70 food pantries and soup kitchens in Syracuse are “member programs” of the regional food bank, and as such, they agree to participate in a complex, but hierarchical relationship whereby the food bank guides, coordinates, and monitors much of the activity happening on the ground. While much of this coordination that has sought to improve local services, this complex network is still failing to serve as an adequate response to hunger and food insecurity. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! “It’s the Resources”: Work, Governance, and the Institutionalization of an Emergency Food Network By Stephanie Crist B.A. The Pennsylvania State University, 2001 M.A. Syracuse University, 2004 DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology in the Graduate School of Syracuse University May 2011 Advisor: Marjorie L. DeVault Committee: Steven R. Brechin Madonna Harrington Meyer Donald M. Mitchell Arthur Paris ! Copyright 2011 Stephanie Crist All Rights Reserved ! ! TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface…………………………………………………………………………………….x Chapter One Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..1 I. Introduction 1 II. Institutional Ethnography and the Problematic 4 III. Theoretical Background 7 A. Accountability and Governance 8 B. Organizational Theories 12 IV. Food Insecurity in the United States 16 V. What is Food Assistance? 21 A. Emergency Food Assistance 21 i. Food Pantries 23 ii. Soup Kitchens 24 iii. Food Banks 25 iv. Food Rescue, Food Not Bombs, and Food Sharing 26 B. Strengths and Weaknesses of Emergency Food Assistance 28 C. Federally Funded Food Assistance Programs 31 i. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program 31 ii. National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program 35 iii. Child and Adult Care Food Program 37 iv. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children 37 v. The Emergency Food Assistance Program 38 D. The Impact of Public Assistance 39 E. Intersections in Food Assistance 42 VI. Other Directions 43 VII. Organization of Chapters 47 Chapter Two Methods…………………………………………………………………………………..48 I. Research Questions 48 II. Method 48 A. Participant Observation 50 B. In-depth Interviews 51 C. Textual Analysis 52 III. Description of Organizations 53 A. Food Pantries in Syracuse 54 B. Soup Kitchens in Syracuse 59 C. The Food Bank of Central New York 62 IV. Sampling Procedure 64 A. Phase I 65 B. Phase II 68 V. Recruitment of Participants 69 v! ! VI. The Local Context 71 VII. Data Collection 75 VIII. Data Analysis 78 A. Ethics of Representation 79 Chapter Three “A Distinct Satisfaction”: The Work and Its Motivations……………………………….81 I. Introduction 81 II. Resourcefully Gathering Resources 82 A. Source Matters 82 i. Purchasing Food 84 ii. Using Donated Foods 88 B. Getting Foods, Getting Funds 91 i. Fundraising 91 ii. Soliciting and Receiving Food Donations from Businesses 95 iii. Relationships with Churches and Personal Support 97 iv. Grants and Paperwork 99 v. Relationships with Other Organizations 106 C. Maximizing Strategies 107 i. Stretching Dollars 107 ii. Sharing Resources and Creating a Supportive Network 110 III. The Work of Distributing Food 115 A. Soup Kitchens 115 B. Food Pantries 118 IV. Volunteers 126 V. A Religious Context 130 A. Religion and Spirituality in Emergency Food Work 131 i. Religious Impact 132 ii. Missions and Organizational Goals 135 iii. Religion and Everyday Operations 139 B. Unity Kitchen Community of the Catholic Worker 142 C. Religion in the Broader Anti-hunger Movement 146 VI. Small Local Influences: The IFC & The EFA 147 VII. Conclusion 150 Chapter Four The Influence of Food Banking, Best Practices, and Policy on Syracuse’s Food Pantries and Soup Kitchens………………………………………….154 I. Introduction 154 II. The Food Banking Industry 155 III. The Food Bank of Central New York 159 A. Best Practices 165 B. Monitoring 169 C. Professionalization at the Food Bank 171 IV. Feeding America 174 V. Policy Influences 176 vi! ! A. The Emergency Food Assistance Program 177 B. Emergency Food and Shelter Program 181 C. Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program 186 D. Federal Tax Law 193 E. Faith-based Initiatives 194 VI. Conclusion 196 Chapter Five The Impact of Resource Scarcity on Syracuse’s Emergency Food Network…………...199 I. Introduction 199 II. A Picture of Resource Scarcity 200 III. The Limitations Produced by Resource Scarcity 203 A. Managing Resources through Maintaining the Rules 203 i. Geographic/Service Areas 204 ii. Documentation 212 iii. Number of Visits 215 iv. Hours of Service 216 v. Breaking the Rules 217 B. Managing Resources through Tracking 219 C. Managing Resources through Limiting Food 224 D. Duplication, Double-dipping, and Catching People 230 E. Competition 236 IV. Fragility and Instability 239 A. Volunteer Driven 240 B. The Aging Out of Volunteers? 241 C. Vulnerable Churches 245 D. Vulnerable to Economic Swings 246 V. Conclusion 247 Chapter Six Conclusion………………………………………………………………………...……251 I. What Gets in the Way of Providing Food? 251 II. Coordination and Governance 254 III. Missions Sustained? 262 IV. Limitations and Future Directions 263 V. Hunger and Food Justice 266 Appendices……………………………………………………………………………...275 Appendix A: Interview Guides Appendix B: Lists of Organizational Documents Appendix C: Informed Consent Appendix D: Food Pantry Map Appendix E: Intake Form Appendix F: Suggested Food Package Guidelines Appendix G: Guest and Program Bill of Rights Appendix H: Timeline of Significant Dates in Emergency Food vii! ! Appendix I: List of Acronyms Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………291 viii! ! LIST OF ILLUSTRATIVE MATERIALS Table 1.1: Household Food Insecurity, 2000-2009……………………………………...17 Figure 3.1: The Donation System………………………………………………………..83 Figure 3.2: Purchasing Food……………………………………………………………..83 Figure 3.3: Food Bank Sources…………………………………………………………..84 ix! ! PREFACE So many people have helped me throughout the different stages of my graduate student career and this

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