Performing Department
GaMEP
Non Technical Summary
There is a strong need for low/no-cost, targeted, food safety (FSMA) and business development training for small food producers across underserved communities in Georgia and Puerto Rico where the number of food start-up businesses has increased since the pandemic. This Collaborative Education and Training project will form a multi-state collaboration between the Georgia Institute of Technology, Fort Valley State University, and Puerto Rico Manufacturing Extension, Inc., leveraging existing outreach relationships to traditionally socially disadvantaged and insular communities. The curriculum that will be developed will encompass a majority of food safety (FSMA) topics with some supplimental business development topics. Complementary training will be deployed via onsite classes and virtually to small food processors across these states in English and Spanish. This will be paired with capacity building efforts in the form of Train-The-Trainer (TTT) classes to produce competent trainers in GA and PR who will continue to deliver this training far past the original project parameters. The training effectiveness will be evaluated, and impacts collected for both the entrepreneurial and TTT participants. There will be no charge for both the entrepreneurial and TTT classes under the direct scope of this project. Project materials (English and Spanish) will be shared with the project partners, the Southern Regional Center, USDA NIFA, and recordings shared with the general public through several digital channels. The ultimate goal is to generate the training and trainers needed to provide underserved food entrepreneurs with the knowledge to produce safe foods, understand their food safety regulatory compliance responsibilities, and have the basic business development skills needed to succeed and thrive in today's competitive marketplace.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Project Goal: Fulfill the need for targeted, food safety (FSMA) and business development training for small food producers across underserved communities in Georgia and Puerto Rico by offering both complementary classes for entrepreneurs in these areas and Train-The-Trainer classes to further disseminate this training beyond the project parameters. This will be accomplished through three objectives:After conducting a needs assessment, develop and deploy a curriculum for live and virtual food safety/FSMA and business development training and short promotional/informational videos targeting entrepreneurs in under-served communities who are involved with small food processing operations and farms.Develop and deploy an effective Train-The-Trainer model to expand capacity across under-served communities in Georgia and insular areas of Puerto Rico.Develop and conduct evaluations to determine knowledge retention and collect impact information via surveys, which will be reported to NIFA and shared with project stakeholders.
Project Methods
Year 1 will begin with virtual project planning between all project partners, including the PD and Co-PDs from Georgia Tech, Fort Valley State University, and PRiMEX. An English and Spanish needs assessment will be developed and initiated across both Georgia and Puerto Rico to understand the specific needs of food entrepreneurs in these underserved communities and the potential trainers. The entrepreneurial curriculum and Train-The-Trainer (TTT) curriculum will be developed from new and previously created materials and learnings from the needs assessments. Pre- and Post-assessments will be developed to ascertain knowledge retention, and the TTT survey will be developed to understand the TTT materials have been used and how many classes have been taught, outside the scope of the project. The impact survey to determine economic impact for the entrepreneurs have already been developed.The entrepreneur classes will include food safety basics, regulations, hazard and control identification, and business development topics to expand their knowledge in these vital areas. The TTT students attend all two days, including the Day 1 PM and Day 2 AM portions, which are targeted to the entrepreneurs. TTT students will attend three repetitions of this 2-day class, so that they can 1) be exposed to the material 2) conduct practice teach-backs with other TTTs and 3) conduct teach-backs in the entrepreneur classes. The TTT-dedicated agenda content will change slightly during the three different repetitions, but food safety topics will always be the primary focus.End of Year 1/start of Year 2, will also include outreach and student recruiting (both entrepreneur and TTT trainers) for the first onsite TTT cycle, which will be held in the metro Atlanta, GA area. A one-day beta entrepreneur class will be taught, and any adjustments made to the curriculum, prior to beginning onsite classes.Year 2 will include the student recruitment and delivery of the onsite, middle Georgia TTT cycle (includes three separate entrepreneur classes). In addition to the onsite classes, virtual entrepreneur classes will also be conducted to accommodate the business schedules of these individuals. These virtual entrepreneur classes will only be 1-day in length and not associated with the TTT classes. Knowledge assessments and initial class feedback will be collected immediately after the trainings, and the economic impact of the Atlanta classes will be collected towards the end of Year 2. During this time, there will also be a focus on translating materials into Spanish and student recruitment in preparation for the Year 3 PR classes. Also, short videos in English and Spanish will be developed and made freely available on YouTube.Year 3 will focus on delivering the onsite TTT cycle for entrepreneurs and trainers in Puerto Rico. Virtual entrepreneur classes, independent from a TTT cycle, will continue to be delivered during this time. Knowledge assessments and initial class feedback will be collected immediately after the trainings, and the economic impact of the Middle GA classes will be collected towards the end of Year 3. TTT surveys will be conducted to understand how the curriculum has been utilized and what additional food safety classes have been further taught by those trainers that successfully completed a TTT cycle in Year 1 and 2. Year 3 TTT students and the entrepreneur economic impacts will be collected from the Puerto Rican classes after the project ends in Year 4 and 5.Project Efforts include the entrepreneur and TTT class materials and online videos. The Project Evaluations include initial needs assessments, pre- and post-knowledge assessments, economic impact survey, and long-term TTT surveys. All entrepreneur training materials will be shared with TTT students that successfully complete a TTT cycle. Project reports will be submitted to NIFA. Learnings and materials shared with other PDs at all appropriate deadlines and meetings.