Angelika Gasior
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Carissa Knox
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Center for Sustainable Systems / SNRE
Program: UROP
Session: Session 1 (9:00am – 9:50am)
Authors:
Abstract
The Flint Leverage Points Project (FLPP) is a five year research collaboration between Michigan State and the Community Foundation of Greater Flint (CFGF) to increase understanding of the Flint food system and identify opportunities for positive change. For residents of Flint who are most at risk of lead exposure and diet-related illnesses, food access is limited due to a shortage of grocery stores and an increase in unhealthy corner shops. FLPP consists of three core research teams: resilience analysis, fuzzy cognitive mapping, and system dynamics modeling. The resilience analysis conducted workshops with Flint residents and identified key food system values for desirable outcomes of the food system. These values included affordability, availability, nutritious foods, education, partnerships, community empowerment, and quality of life. Fuzzy cognitive mapping allowed for the aggregation of collective intelligence from food system experts. As a community engaged research project, science communication and information accessibility is central to the project’s goals. Science communication depicts the practice of sharing data and knowledge, and informing the public about scientific findings. To further the reach of FLPP, we created an Instagram account, produced reels, posts and created stories while sharing useful resources from similar accounts in the Flint area. During the course of this project, we posted three reels, five posts and six stories; interacting with similar organizations like Edible Flint. In total we reached over 300 active user accounts and gained 60 followers.
