Camden Food Security Collective

2021 - present

Camden Food Security Collective

Addressing the systemic factors that drive food insecurity in Camden

Community & consumer engagement Strengthening ecosystems of care Food insecurity Policy & advocacy Public benefits SDOH & health equity

Camden Coalition CHWs hand a cookbook to a community member

Convened by the Camden Coalition and the Food Bank of South Jersey, the Camden Food Security Collective is a group of local healthcare and food systems providers, public agencies, healthcare payer entities, community-based organizations, public officials, local corporations, business owners, safety-net food distributors, workforce system representatives, and most importantly Camden residents.

Building off a decade of collective work led by the Campbell Soup Company through the Campbell’s Healthy Communities program, the group’s aim is to create lasting solutions for food security in the city of Camden by addressing existing structural inequities.

The problem

As in many communities in the US, longstanding structural racism in public and private decision-making in Camden has resulted in:

Over one-third of Camden residents experiencing persistent poverty
Wages and benefits that are insufficient to meet the high cost of living
Highways dividing the city and lack of access to reliable transportation
No supermarkets, only local small grocers that lack the purchasing power to offer affordable prices on healthy food options
A confusing-to-navigate network of food aid