Informing the design of a food security and public health nutrition pilot intervention for clients of a community-based organization contending with urban poverty

This article examines services offered by a community-based organization (CBO) in New York City and informs the development of a multiphase public health pilot intervention targeting social and environmental determinants of food security, hunger, and health. We report demographics most characteristic of clients (n = 14,062) who utilized meal and social services, with food being the primary reason for client visits. Our results highlight the need to engage in a formative assessment as the first necessary step to effectively tailoring a pilot program sensitive to the modern racialized and gendered portrait of urban poverty.