Progress 09/15/23 to 09/14/24

Outputs
Target Audience:In the first year of Guidestone's project,Expanding Land Access through Education, Matchmaking, and Network Development, Colorado Land Link hosted 14 in person workshops across 7 counties, reaching 154 attendees, including 53 landseekers and 23 landowners. During the first year of the grant period, 10 landowners registered and submitted land postings with Colorado Land Link, and 26 individuals became registered landseekers. 18 of whom received 1-on-1 consultation with Land Link staff. We also provided consultation to 9 registered land listers, 8 prospective land listers, and 7 prospective landseekers. Land Link facilitated 25 conversations between landseekers and landholders, and 2 landseekers found a match through our program, signed lease agreements, and began production on land they found through Colorado Land Link. Between our target audiences includiveof landseeker and landowner workshop attendees, registered and prospective landseekers and landholders, we provided direct service toa total of 214individuals during our first grant year. Additionally, we reached 1,101newsletter subscribers, 492 Instagram followers and 215 Facebook followers through our marketing and outreach efforts. Changes/Problems:Our only major project change was a personnel change. Starting in January, Guidestone hired a new Land Link Director, who was responsible for managing this grant and executing all relevant programming. It was somewhat challenging to build the relationships and make the introductions necessary to accomplish project goals, but we were successful nonetheless. With the staff transition and onboarding, we decided hold off on hiring a second staff person for the program, whose salary would have been partially funded by this grant award. We redirected personnel funding for a Land Link Coordinator to fund websitedevelopment costs for the new Land Access Database through Tamarack Media. The budget change request was submitted in September 2024 and approved in October 2024. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?All 154 attendees of 14 Land Link workshops received training on land access topics, including land loss and land transfer, utilizing Colorado Land Link and the Land Access Database, finding creative solutions to land access, preparing for land access, financial readiness for land access,finding and assessing land, and leasing and purchasing land. Additionally, 1-on-1 consultation with landseekers and landholders included technical assistance and resource support. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Guidestone reports annual accomplishments to its supporter network at the end of each fiscal year. We've also shared success stories through quarterly newsletters and a local news station feature to be aired in December 2024. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to continue hosting workshops for landseeker and landowners as outlined in the grant proposal, taking lessons from year one to improve the value of our educaitonal programming in year two. We hope to recruit more next generation and beginning producers to participate in workshop offerings next year by distributing honoraria through grant funds. We will be launching a new and improved Land Access Database and marketing its services to our Land Link network to increase its utilization. We will continue to invest in social media marketing efforts and grow our collaborative network of support organizations to grow our audience and improve the value of Colorado Land Link to its users.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? To (1) expand awareness and utilization of the Land Access Database as a primary land access resource, Guidestone added 10 properties to the Land Access Database and provided database access to26 new, registered landseekers in the project's first year. We visited 4 sites to ensure database postings were high-quality and appropriate. To (2) establish a collaborative network of ag land holding organizations and land trusts and (3) improve opportunities for viable agricultural careers through improved technical assistanceand resource support,Colorado Land Link partnered with 10 organizations to market and facilitate 14 workshops across the state to share land access opportunities with154 landseekers and land holders. Ag landholders-serving organizations included Keep it Colorado,Sangre de Cristo Acequia Association,La Plata Open Space Conservancy, andSalida Sunrise Rotary.Beginning farmer support organizations including the Rio Grande Farm Park/San Luis Valley Local Foods Coalition, Valley Food Partnership, Fort Lewis College's Old Fort Farmer-in-Training Program, and National Young Farmers Coalition, the Treehouse Collective, and Veterans to Farmers. We also shared job opportunities, funding opportunities, and land access opportunities 1,101 newsletter subscribers, 492 Instagram followers and 215 Facebook followers. To, (4) provide direct funds to next generation producers for conference participation, we provided $400 honoraria to 4 next generation produer speakers to host land access and beginning farmer workshops at Guidestone's 2024 AgriSummit conference.

Publications