Aitkin County Public Health has launched a community outreach initiative called "100 Cups of Coffee" to collect one-on-one accounts of how residents access food, the barriers they face and local ideas for improvement. The project, led by community health specialist Hannah Savinski, began in September and aims to hold 100 conversations across the county.

"We're not gonna do a survey this time around," Savinski said in a county podcast interview. "The 100 cups of coffee model is all about relationship building — 1 on 1 conversations until we've gathered insights from a diverse mix of voices in the community." She said the county has completed roughly 40–50 conversations as of December and expects to reach the goal by continuing pop-up coffee bars, visits to local events and meetings at libraries and food shelves.

Aitkin County Public Health is carrying out the assessment with technical assistance from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA). Savinski said the work pairs the one-on-one conversations with a literature and data review compiled by the Fine Food Aitkin County network, which maintains a project website. The effort is intended to produce a themed report that the team will share with residents at places where conversations occurred, local media and the Aitkin County Board of Commissioners.

Savinski stressed the outreach is meant for all residents, not only people who are food insecure. "We want to know all about that — where do you shop, where are you learning about nutrition, where would you access food if you were in need?" she said. The conversations are also designed to surface practical access issues such as distance to farmer's markets and other local resources.

Residents can find upcoming pop-up dates on the Fine Food Aitkin County website (as listed in the recording) or use a QR code on community flyers. Savinski also offered a work cellphone for scheduling: (218) 839-1549, and said she will meet in person, by phone or virtually according to participants' needs.

The county plans to classify and theme the conversation notes, produce a summary report and pursue solutions that can be implemented locally while acknowledging some issues may require state or federal action. "We're really focusing on what we can control at the local level," Savinski said.

The project is ongoing; the immediate next steps are to complete the 100 conversations, finalize the report and return findings to community venues and the Board of Commissioners for consideration.