Community food security is a condition in which all community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice.  

Dr. Ardyth M. H. Gillespie, PhD served for 32 years on the faculty of the Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University Community Nutrition Program. She has bridged academic research, extension, and practice through her work in family food decision making, community collaboration and engagement, and nutrition communication.   

Through Collaborative Engaged Research – partnering with community food system stakeholders, change leaders, and scholars – she has focused on the complex relationships and dynamics of change in both food systems and food and eating practices. She seeks to create generative environments that foster innovative leadership for promoting more sustainable food systems that (1) foster improved health and well-being and (2) build family and community capacity for nourishing and nurturing children and their families across generations.