Community Food Access Consulting

Over the past few years, the Farm to Plate Network Local Food Access Planning Task Force has brought together a wide variety of expertise on how communities and municipalities can work to increase food access and recently released Local Planning for Food Access: A Toolkit for Vermont’s Communities. In this guide we identify and discuss a wide variety of food access strategies, potential partners and allies, and case studies from around the state. We’ve also collected dozens of other decision making guides and resources for the implementation of specific types of project, available in the Appendix. We’re so impressed with the number of communities who are thinking about food access, for the long term as well as filling urgent needs, in this current pandemic. While we hope our Toolkit will be useful, we also want to be able to help even more communities, more rapidly. So, our project team is making ourselves available for one-on-one consultations with communities who are starting to think through a food access project -- whether that’s starting a community garden or farm, helping your food shelf connect with local producers, supporting home food production, or any other innovative strategies you’re thinking of. Or if you want to start developing a long-term food resilience plan! In these consultations we can help you think through some of the steps you’ll need to take and decisions you’ll need to make, and direct you to additional experts, resources, and potential funding sources. This is quick, informal, and flexible to your needs – just send Kelly (kellydolan@vsjf.org) and Emily (emily@vsjf.org) an email with brief description of the kind of project you’re considering, or even if you’re weighing several options. We’ll see who else from our team of experts is relevant to join the preliminary call and we’ll schedule a time with you ASAP. We’re also going to be collecting and profiling success stories to share back out with other communities, so if you don’t need help but want to share what you’re doing, we would love to hear from you as well. We’re really looking forward to hearing all the wonderful work happening in communities around the state, and to helping in any way we’re able.