The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank (CPFB) recently announced that it had completed Phase 2 of A Seat at the Table: Ensuring a Seat for all York County Residents in Need, a project funded by the Memorial Health Fund at the York County Community Foundation (YCCF). The YCCF provided a grant of nearly $200,000 to help the CPFB and its partners transform youth programs, establish mobile pantries, and develop a collaborative network to help close the meal gap in York County during Phase 2.

The YCCF also granted $250,000 for the initial phase of the Seat at the Table project in 2017, which funded a multi-year research project so the charitable food network could make data-driven decisions to better serve York County neighbors experiencing hunger. The improvements made in Phase 2 were based on the research from Phase 1.

The initial Seat at the Table grant established a partnership between the CPFB, York County Food Bank, New Hope Ministries, York County Food Alliance, and Catholic Harvest Food Pantry to better serve York County residents. Phase 2 added representatives from York County Human Services, The Salvation Army, Mason-Dixon Community Services, and Northeast Neighborhood Association - Chrystal's Place. This partnership established collective impact projects in York County and serves as a model moving forward.

These partnerships sought to create a more equitable system of evaluating food assistance programs in the county, combine duplicative services and resources to better serve neighbors in need, enhance backpack programs to models such as school pantries to better serve students and their families, open communication channels to other social service organizations, and improve organizations' ability to provide food assistance to specific underserved areas through mobile distributions, including mobile food pantry and home delivery innovations.

For more information on the CPFB and its mission to reduce hunger in Pennsylvania, visit http://www.centralpafoodbank.org or call 717-564-1700.