Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
While progress has been made in recent years, food insecurity continues to challenge Maine residents. Food insecurity is driven by poverty, limited community resources, and the lack of economic opportunities. The urban core of Lewiston-Auburn encompasses three of Maine's most impoverished census tracts, one of the highest concentrations of refugees/immigrants, and many households experience food insecurity and other socio-economic challenges. For over 23 years, the St. Mary's Nutrition Center (NC) has helped build a stronger, more just food system in greater Lewiston-Auburn, Maine to address the needs of its community. Recognizing that the problem was larger than access to food, the NC has established deep community relationships, strong partnerships, recognized expertise, and a track record of leading collaborative planning efforts to reimagine and build a just food system and in turn improve the quality of life in the Lewiston-Auburn community.The Growing our Local Food Economy Together in Lewiston-Auburn Maine project is the next phase in a long-term plan to address food insecurity in the region and to improve the quality of life for the local communities. The project's aim is to bring people together and to strengthen community assets towards cultivating more equitable and resilient access to food and land in Lewiston-Auburn. The project will build upon the NC's proven strategies of its previous "Growing Food Together" project and existing community capacities to shift resources and decision-making to community-led efforts including majority BIPOC organizations. Project goals include:Strengthen existing community food resources and markets towards more equitable access to healthy, local food.Launch and grow the Lewiston-Auburn Community Market (LACM) - a community-run cooperative - to provide low-cost grocery shared commercial kitchen spaces; dry/cold storage to serve area small-scale farmers and food producers; and a community event space.Expand access to urban spaces for food production as well as food, agriculture, gardening, and nutrition education opportunities across multiple settings and age groups.Engage community members, farmers, and partner organizations in assessing and advocating for planning and policies that are supportive of local agriculture, farmland access, and food businesses.The project will reinforce and develop linkages between multiple sectors of the food system - from farmers and gardeners to consumers; develop connections between for-profit and non-profit food sectors; support the development of entrepreneurial projects; encourage sustainable approaches and build the long-term capacity and stability of the food system; develop new resources and strategies to reduce food insecurity and prevent it in the future by leveraging existing nutrition education programs; and increase the community's capacity by utilizing a systems approach to address social determinants of health and increase the capacity of all stakeholders to increase their food security.Project partners anticipate a number of positive outcomes in the community as a result of this project that are intricately intertwined and multi-faceted. In addition to creating new jobs, teaching new skills, maximizing local supply chains, reducing food waste, offering a low-barrier access to local foods and improving peoples' health through improved access to healthy food, this CFP will help to instill a sense of pride in the community as all community members will be able to contribute to the improvements in the community and quite literally own part of the local food economy.The centerpiece of the project is ultimately the establishment of the Lewiston-Auburn Community Market (LACM). The quality of life in downtown L-A will be improved with the establishment of a low-cost, culturally and linguistically supportive retail experience that will be provided through the LACM. Based on a careful review of preexisting model structures, best practice research, and localized community needs and market assessments, the LACM will be a transformational milestone for the development of Lewiston-Auburn that will serve as a living monument to the power of community engagement and cooperation that will ultimately improve the quality of life for the local population. LACM will be a community-owned multi-stakeholder cooperative - an environmentally sustainable and affordable grocery store; shared kitchen and storage space as well as a community gathering space that will anchor all of the project activities and become an example for other small cities across the United States.
Animal Health Component
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Research Effort Categories
Basic
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Applied
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Developmental
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Goals / Objectives
The overarching goal of the Growing our Local Food Economy Together project is to improve the Lewiston-Auburn community's food system by bringing people together and strengthening community assets to cultivate more equitable and resilient access to food and land. Project objectives include:Strengthen existing community food resources and markets towards more equitable access to healthy, local food.Launch and grow the Lewiston-Auburn Community Market (LACM) - a community-run cooperative - to provide low-cost grocery shared commercial kitchen spaces; dry/cold storage to serve area small-scale farmers and food producers; and a community event space.Expand access to urban spaces for food production as well as food, agriculture, gardening, and nutrition education opportunities across multiple settings and age groups.Engage community members, farmers, and partner organizations in assessing and advocating for planning and policies that are supportive of local agriculture, farmland access, and food businesses.
Project Methods
Approach: The project's approach and methods are in alignment with and contribute to NIFA's Community Food Project's primary goals. In particular, this project will:Reinforce and develop linkages between multiple sectors of the food system and other sectors - linking local farmers and gardeners to consumers and entrepreneurs as well as to civic leaders and organizations.Support the development of entrepreneurial projects as community members will be able to utilize dry/cold storage and commercial kitchens through the Lewiston-Auburn Community Market.Develop innovative connections between for-profit and non-profit food sectors in part by integrating Androscoggin Gleaners into both emergency food and retail market sectors.Encourage long-term planning activities and sustainable approaches by working in close collaboration with multiple stakeholders such as the Good Food Council of Lewiston-Auburn, the Lewiston Farmers' Market, and multiple local producers to continue to build the long-term capacity and stability of the local food system.Develop new resources and strategies to help reduce food insecurity and prevent it in the future by leveraging existing nutrition education programs for vulnerable populations and continue to support SNAP program participants with additional incentives to purchase healthy foods through the Lewiston Farmers' Market and other food access sites.Utilize a systems approach to address the social determinants of health (SDOH) and increase the capacity of local communities to increase their food security by ensuring that BIPOC farmers and other stakeholders continue to be fully engaged in activity planning and decision-making.Evaluation:The NC approaches evaluation to not only measure progress, but so that listening to community members and participants can inform a strategic approach to expanding leadership and engagement opportunities. Improvement plans, areas of promise and annual goals are formed as a result of integrated evaluation and planning sessions.Within the CFPCGP, the NC looks forward to the possibility of participating in a program-wide evaluation structure and working with the T&TA provider and our own evaluation consultant to build from the logic model to incorporate IOS measurements in line with Whole Measures. The NC also can offer to share our experience working in diverse immigrant and refugee communities and explore with other CFP projects more innovative and engaging evaluation and data collection methods that that are culturally and linguistically accessible, acknowledge systemic bias, and build connection and relationships rather than more "transactional" approaches.The Growing our Local Food Economy Together project set aside five percent of the budget to engage a professional evaluator familiar with food systems, youth leadership, and community organizing to help us develop a more comprehensive approach to evaluation. Additionally, in co-developing the Lewiston-Auburn Community Market, the Cooperative Development Institute and the NC have engaged experienced advisors with on-the-ground expertise as well as an understanding of evaluation frameworks. Combined, this will help us build from current evaluation methods and include new tools for evaluating results as well as progress towards long-term outcomes. The evaluation plan will be further developed and updated with support of the evaluation consultant. Primary Efforts and Initial Measures include:Provide capacity, sustainability, and "backbone" support for critical existing community food resources including the Lewiston Farmers' Market, Kennedy Park Market, and Androscoggin Gleaners.LFM Measures:Board member engagementNumber of vendorsLocation securedSound organizational systems establishedAndroscoggin Gleaners measures:Pounds of food gleanedNumber of volunteersNumber of outlets for foodNumber of farm partnersExpand Maine Harvest Bucks (MHB) and other nutrition incentive programs reach and impact. Measures include:Number of SNAP customers and transactionsAmount of SNAP salesAmount of incentives redeemedProvide culturally preferred foods through Food Pantry and asylum seeker and refugee response efforts. Measures include:Number of households utilizing Food PantryPounds and/or dollars spent on cultural foodsDevelop LACM as a worker-owned cooperative business that has a financially sustainable model. Measures include:Number of community members trainedNumber of jobs createdNumber of incorporated businesses kept in good standingAmount of financing and fundraising secured5-year pro forma projections metCentrally locate LACM as a walkable/bikeable, culturally supportive and accessible food center and grocery. Measures include:Number of consumer ownersNumber of farmers and food stores vending through groceryNumber of active shoppersBuild a shared facility with dry & cold storage, community kitchen; & processing infrastructure to serve small-scale farmers and producers; and a community education & event space. Measures include:Booking rates of kitchen space and storage spaceNumbers of producers and businesses represented by membershipSteward and improve existing community garden programs and expand utilization and partnerships. Add one new community garden in downtown neighborhood. Measures include:Number of community gardeners% of gardeners who report eating more vegetables% of gardeners who report feeling more connected to communityNumber of new gardens/garden plots createdLead garden and food education opportunities for community gardeners and neighbors. Measures include:Number of gardeners and community members participating in programming% of participants who report increased knowledge of growing/preparing fresh foodFacilitate leadership and garden programming for young adults. Measures include:Number of young adults per year participating in stipended programs% of youth who report they are more confident in ability to make changePartner with Good Food Council of Lewiston-Auburn (GFCLA) to lead Local Foods, Local Places (LFLP) "Phase 2" into a living, responsive Action Framework. Measures include:Number of partners engaged in LFLPNumber of LFLP Action LeadsNumber of land seekers interviewedNumber of land seekers matched with land opportunityAmount of investment in identified food infrastructure needs securedImplement "Growing Our Tree Streets (GOTS)" Transformation Plan food access and garden access strategies including: 6.4a (Secure Farmers' Market location); 6.4c (Develop healthy food store in Choice neighborhood); 6.4d (Increase # of garden plots). Measures include:Number of partners engaged in meeting GOTS strategiesProgress on meeting the three community-identified goalsPlease see the logic model included in the proposal for more details - it includes both process and outcome indicators.