Agency Tiering in Food Banking Networks

Keywords: food banking, agency tiering, regional food systems, food systems
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

Regional food banks are expanding across the United States buoyed by public and private investments. The organizations they depend on to distribute free food remain largely dependent on voluntary labor. The diversity of material assets, governance mechanisms and ideological motivations at the local food shelf is prompting food banks to engage in a practice known as “agency tiering” to increase the legibility of their network for planning purposes.
This paper presents findings from a tiering analysis of the 460 agencies across the Mountaineer Food Bank network. It reveals internal tensions and contradictions within a food banking economy that must measure the efficacy of its goals in relation to organizations in which it has very little direct control of such an exercise within the food bank. Survey questions were organized into three categories: stability, capacity, and future growth. Subcategories were developed for each main category for a more specific analysis. Subcategories that were considered to inform a stability score are: governance, funding, planning, communication, and availability. To assess capacity, subcategories that were derived from the survey are: infrastructure, people served, staff, and food distribution. Limitation and future desire to grow informed the future growth score. This research aimed to inform Mountaineer Food Bank on where resources may be expended to aid in the growth of food assistance programs or help maintain programming. More importantly, it revealed that charitable food networks are disorganized and food assistance resources are uneven available across West Virginia based on seventy one variables.