The Poudre Food Partnership was founded out of a 2-year USDA planning and design grant that provides funding to help us assess community needs, gaps, and ideas, and create a shared future vision for our local food system. Working groups will be the primary method used to complete our community assessments. Each working group serves as a sub-committee of the Poudre Food Partnership and will help plan and carry out the work needed to meet its respective goals. The members of each working group are the collective brain and heart that helps steward our community assessments. Each working group will be facilitated by a member of the Poudre Food Partnership’s steering committee, and includes of 5-7 community members across diverse backgrounds.
The overarching and long-term vision of the Poudre Food Partnership is to “create an equitable food system, ensuring equal rights of all people within the system, prioritizing community health, and providing adequate, affordable, equitable, and socially and culturally appropriate food access and economic opportunity for all”. We know that long-term and sustainable systems change takes time, and we’re committed to taking the time needed to build a long-lasting equitable, vibrant, and resilient local food system. In this planning and design phase, we’ll be focused on discovering, learning, sharing, and ideating. This phase may include piloting some ideas as we work to refine a strategic plan for the future, but the main work to implement what we learn through these working groups and related community assessments will begin in 2024.
So, what are the working groups? The four working groups that we’ve identified are Producer Support, Community Support, Public Policy + Outreach, and Market + Infrastructure Support. Apply today to be a part of our work!
10/15 Update: Thank you all SO much for spreading the news to your networks and applying to be a part of one of our working groups. At this time, we are working to pair down the working groups and will get back to you all shortly! We did not anticipate the amount of applications we received, so our responses will be delayed at this time. Thank you all so so much!