WKCTC Chosen to Conduct Food Insecurity Study

West Kentucky Community and Technical College has been chosen to participate in a study to help eliminate food insecurity.

The college was recently picked as one of two community colleges in the nation to participate in the League for Innovation in the Community College's Innovative Solutions for Hunger Relief and Student Success project. Northeast Texas Community College was also selected to participate. 

For the hunger relief project, teams from the school will be trained in the Innovation Engineering (IE) process with its developer and internationally recognized Eureka! Ranch. IE teaches problem-solving through strategic thinking, which is sometimes done independent of the specific issue. The principles and techniques on how to think smarter and more innovatively can apply to other problem-solving situations, too. 

Earlier this month, League representatives and Eureka! Ranch chairman/founder, Doug Hall, met with a team of WKCTC faculty, staff, students and community members to begin the 18-month IE training process. They visited several community partners, including food pantries and other non-profit support agencies to learn the needs of those they support. The site visits included Need Line in Mayfield and Paducah's Family Service Society, Paducah Cooperative Ministries (PCM) and PCM's Fresh Start Village, and Project Ponoma. During the 3-day training, Hall led in-depth exercises to teach the WKCTC team how to think more innovatively and creatively through the IE process.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life, and a lack of available financial resources for food at the household level.

The League's President and CEO, Dr. Rufus Glasper, praised the community support and organization dedicated to meeting the needs of its citizens.

WKCTC President Dr. Anton Reece, said the innovative, collaborative project addresses a timely and critical need to alleviate food insecurity.