Weekly Objectives and Achievements
Week 3 (Sept. 17 – 23)
Objectives:
- Arrange a meeting with our community contacts, Anne and Rani, to gain a better understanding of this project and our responsibilities
- Write and post blog 1
Achievements:
- Had an initial meeting with Anne and Rani on September 20, 2017 at Richmond Public Health
- Learned the goals, objectives and expected outcomes of our project
- Learned demographics of Richmond and how our project ties to the improvement of food security in Richmond during the meeting
- Posted blog 1
Week 4 (Sep 24 – 30)
Objectives:
- Learn how to write a proposal, as well as the significance of a proposal
- Learn how income and class relate to food insecurity
- Discuss and develop a draft of project proposal
Achievements:
- Discussed the different aspects of our proposal and established the difference between objectives and goals
- Developed a draft proposal during tutorial
Week 5 (Oct 1 – 7)
Objectives:
- Present the draft of our proposal to Ali and other groups and get feedback
- Make changes to the draft after the presentation
- Determine roles and responsibilities for writing the proposal
- Write proposal
Achievements:
- Rachelyn did a presentation on project proposal during tutorial
- Our group received feedback from Ali regarding the presentation and answered questions from her and other classmates
- Wrote and submitted our project proposal
Week 6 (Oct 8 – 14)
Objectives:
- Obtain feedback on our project proposal from Anne and Rani
- Discuss and reflect on received feedback as a group
- Obtain access to documents related to our project
- Establish future deadlines and future meetings with Anne and Rani
- Fnish writing blog 2
Achievements:
- Attended a meeting with Anne and Rani to receive their feedback on our project proposal
- Fine tuned and edited our proposal according to their suggestions
- Gained access to the google drive containing all documents needed to conduct our project
- Determined the deadline of submitting the excel sheet: November 1, 2017
- Determined the time and topic of our next meeting with Anne and Rani: November 3, 2017, to prepare for the next step of the project, namely interviewing trial users of the Food Asset Map
Moments of Significance
What:
Here we will talk about several moments or obstacles thus far that have been pivotal for our improvement and efficiency as a group moving forward.
At the outset of this project, our knowledge about the Food Asset Map was limited to what we read in the synopsis. At our first meeting, our community partners ( Anne and Rani from Vancouver Coastal Health in Richmond) gave us a presentation with an overview of the project and some information about what they expect as deliverables. It also took some time for all of us to master the document sharing tools we’re now using, however we now have all the required documents! Having all the necessary documents helped us gain clarity on our methods. Lastly, regarding our functioning as a group; there is a learning curve that comes with all group work, and this manifested itself in our first blog post. There was a slight disagreement on which approach we would take, and this left us little time to rearrange our post and submit it.
So What:
By reflecting on our progress so far, we believe there’s room for improvement, but we have also pinpointed those specific areas that need work and gotten clarity and motivation for moving forward, which is key to carrying out our responsibilities effectively.
During our first meeting with dietitians at VCH (Anne and Rani), we realized that we are all new to this, and that asking questions and taking initiative will get us places. Through the presentation given by our community partners and subsequent meetings, we have become excited about this opportunity as we learn more about its implications on health in our community.
The significance of being on the same page was made clear to us through our mistakes. From beginning to end, from the vision and goals to the due dates and deliverables, all parties must see the same finish line and the steps in between, otherwise disagreement and conflict are invited.
Now What:
Now with the second meeting behind us, our methods and objectives are clear. Receiving the google doc with all the relevant documents means that we are ready to start the first phase of our project which is collecting data!
Between learning from our mistakes on the first blog post, and collaborating with our community partners, it is no doubt that this experience will enhance our ability to work well with others of various backgrounds. To improve the presentation of our group work and assignments, we have made an agreement to meet up more often and post our decisions on the facebook group and calendar. This way, no one will be left out and we will all be on the same page. We also have a date set for our next meetings and a deadline for our excel sheet to be completed by.
Upcoming Objectives and Strategies
There are two upcoming main objectives for us. The first one being data collection. We will gather information about kitchen programs and community access in Richmond, starting of by using the ‘LowCost NoCost2 Cooking Prgms 2016.pdf’ provided by our community partners. Then we will seek out less advertised/known food skill workshops or available kitchens for community use and contact these organizations for consent (consent is required to use their information in the map). We plan to phone and email community centers as well as use all the assets that are known to Anne and Rani. The information will be compiled in an excel sheet and our community partners from VCH will input them into the food asset map. Our second main objective is teaching and receiving feedback on map usability from select community stakeholders. In groups of 2, we will interview around 15 people involved in public health and the community. These comments will be submitted to the dietitians from VCH to improve the food asset map.
