Building Successful Community-Based Food Initiatives

Posted by on July 14, 2008

BUILDING SUCCESSFUL COMMUNITY-BASED FOOD INITIATIVES:

A Community Food Initiatives Workshop
Friday, July 18th, 2008. 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM

Have you started a project that involves gardening, small-scale farming, food processing, nutrition education, farmers’ markets, or similar community endeavors?

Are you planning to organize a food policy council, a farm-to-school program, a beginning farmer training initiative, food processing incubator, or a similar program?

Are you a non-profit organization (or similar entity) that wants to be more involved with developing successful community-based food and farm programs?

This workshop is for you!

Join us to build your project planning skills and learn to develop successful new projects. Through a USDA Community Food Projects grant, Tufts University in Boston is offering this full-day training on design and
development of community-based food and farm initiatives.  Tufts is also offering a one-on-one ‘hands-on’ technical assistance to any group with specific needs, including help with Community Food Projects proposals for 2009 and beyond.

LOGISTICS

Your Local Hosts:
Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC)
http://www.dvrpc.org

Philadelphia Urban Food and Fitness Alliance (PUFFA)
http://www.phillyfoodandfitness.org

White Dog Community Enterprises
http://www.whitedogcommunityenterprises.org

Date: Friday, July 18th, 2008. 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM

Location:
Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission

Located in the American College of Physicians (ACP) Building on the southwest corner of 6th and Race Streets.
190 N. Independence Mall West, 8th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19106-1520

Directions and parking instructions are available at:
http://www.dvrpc.org/about/directions.htm

One-one assistance: Thursday, July 17th – one hour meetings scheduled in advance.
Location: To be announced
Times: One hour slots, to be requested in advance.

Workshop Presenter:
Hugh Joseph, PhD, is an assistant professor at the Agriculture, Food & Environment Program at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition in Boston and a long time trainer and technical assistance provider for community food projects. He has prepared several guides on Community Food Projects, and on related topics such as community food assessment.

Workshop Content:
This participatory workshop will help participants to plan a new or emerging project, or improve an existing one. All participants will receive a Community Food Initiatives Planning Guide to accompany the presentations. Topics covered:

• Creating a shared project vision: Steps in getting started on community food or farming projects. What levels of planning, time and resources are needed?

• Community-oriented needs assessments: Strategies to identify your community’s needs. Identifying and involving stakeholders in the assessment process.

• Assessing the potential viability / success potential of a project: Assessing your organizational size and capacity (resources, infrastructure, personnel, etc.).  Environmental scans / SWOT analysis and similar tools to identify where you need to build organizational capacity.

• Leadership: Building a leadership team and a culture of shared leadership with multiple partners. Assessing partner capacities and deciding everyone’s organizational roles. Linking components of a multi-faceted project for each partner.

• Strategic Design Approaches: Establishing realistic goals and focusing on outcomes with SMART strategies. Defining clear workplans to achieve desired outcomes before you start.

July 17th – Individualized Consultations:
In-person technical assistance will be available for up to one hour for 6-8 organizations that request it in advance (to allow for scheduling). Organizations can bring multiple members – staff, board, etc. – and use the time for individualized planning, to discuss CFP proposals, or for any related assistance. First come, first served. We cannot promise we can accommodate all requests. Location to be determined.

Questions or for more information about the workshop including registration:

Please contact Hugh Joseph: hjoseph@tufts.edu (617-636-3788).  Emails should have the heading “CF Workshop Registration”.

Registration fees: The advance registration fee for the workshop is $25 per person, and $20 for any additional persons from the same organization. Lunch and other refreshments are included. There is no cost for the one-to-one meeting.

Pre-registration for both events is required and space is limited.

Registration fee includes a copy of the Community Food Initiatives Planning Guide by Hugh Joseph and Barbara Rusmore.