Sandusky Community Hub

Food Forward Lorain

Sandusky Community Hub

Second Harvest is a regional nonprofit committed to fighting hunger. It has served its community for forty years by distributing over 145 million meals throughout Crawford, Erie, Huron, and Lorain Counties through its network of partner programs and mobile pantry distributions. Second Harvest provides food and resources to fifteen partner programs in Erie County.

Second Harvest’s work has evolved beyond distributing food to include examining the root causes of hunger. Food remains a critical need and will always be at the core of Second Harvest’s work. But, we must concurrently focus on creating long-term food security for families in our region. A successful strategy to address the root causes of food insecurity and poverty is to build inclusive and robust collaborative environments where people and organizations can come together to create impact in meaningful and measurable ways. One way to establish such an environment is through a community hub space.

A Community Hub is a public space bringing multiple community agencies, neighborhood groups, and resources together to offer a range of activities, programs, and services to increase long-term food security and family stability over time. As part of its mission to serve the community, Second Harvest has embarked on a multi-stage process to determine how best to bring a Community Hub to our service region.

Process & Vision:

Community Hub project has one ambitious long-term goal and some important short-term goals. The long-term goal of the Sandusky Community Hub is food security for individuals and families in the City of Sandusky.

Volunteer registering cars at a mobile food pantry

Short-term Goal 1:

Residents of the City of Sandusky have a safe space to ask questions about supportive programming & a direct link to people and organizations administering service.

Short-term Goal 2:

The ability of City residents to have food and other basic needs met immediately.

Short-term Goal 3:
 

Educational programming schedule created and informed by the needs and voices of the Sandusky community. Increased participation in program events.

Sandusky Community Hub
Outreach Findings

Phase 1:

To move this idea forward and determine if a Community Hub is viable for the Sandusky community, Second Harvest conducted significant localized outreach through stakeholder and community member interviews and a community-wide survey. Care & Share of Erie County, a long-time partner of Second Harvest, was a logical collaborator as an existing downtown food pantry and joined the effort to investigate bringing the concept to fruition. 

Second Harvest shared the data and findings with stakeholders and community members in Sandusky at the end of January of 2023 with the support of Erie County Commissioner Steve Shoffner and Sandusky City Commissioner Dennis Murray Jr. You read our entire report below along with the presentation slides from our event. The sharing of the report completes Phase 1. 


VIEW SANDUSKY COMMUNITY HUB OUTREACH FINDINGS


Phase 2:

This stage will include acquiring the location, understanding local needs and demand, establishing a clear mission and vision with the community, developing partnerships and building relationships, and operating and sustaining the hub.

To learn more and get involved in the Sandusky Community Hub please contact Samantha Flores at sflores@secondharvestfoodbank.org