Needs Assessment

In response to an increasing amount of funding requests for various projects related to food and gardens in schools throughout Santa Barbara County, the Orfalea Foundations decided to address the underlying issues surrounding school meals. The first step in determining their course of action was to conduct a comprehensive Needs Assessment of the county’s schools.

The Needs Assessment set out to determine:

1. the extent to which each Santa Barbara County school district’s were able to meet the goals of the s’Cool Food Initiative with existing resources;
2. what additional financial and other resources will be needed by Santa Barbara County school districts to meet said goals; and
3. how those resources may best be obtained and utilized.

Site visits were designed to assess the many variables directly and indirectly related to a district’s ability to move from a system that serves heavily processed foods to one that serves cooked-from-scratch meals. Such variables include, but are not limited to:

• the size of the district in terms of both number of students and number of schools
• the number and skill level of kitchen staff members and whether they are unionized
• the type and condition of the kitchen equipment and how the kitchens are physically laid out
• numerous budgetary matters including how revenues and expenses are allocated and spent

At least as important as such objective factors is the mind-set of the district’s administrators, parents, and food service director regarding the issue of school food reform, as it is these people who must commit themselves to ensuring that positive change occurs despite the inevitable challenges.

See below for a public summary of the Needs Assessment.