Finding Success for Your Food Council with a Regional Focus—Anne Massie and Virginia Pleasant from the NWI Food Council deliver why a regional approach for your food council can be advantageous. Watch the recording. [APR 2022]
Leveraging Livestock for Local, State and Regional Agriculture Transitions
Pete Huff, co-Director of the Wallace Center and IU O’Neill School alum, shared about the Pasture Project work in the Mississippi watershed, including the Blue River watershed in Indiana. Learn more about how regenerative or adaptive grazing and grass-fed beef production can be a part of sustainable land and food solutions. Watch the recording [NOV 2021]
Food is Medicine - exploring new leverage points for community health and wellness
Sarah Wilson of Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana lead a discussion around how limited access to nutritious foods and poor health outcomes intersect and how healthcare professionals can play a role in effective intervention in both spaces. Learn more about Gleaners' Food is Medicine Project in this video, and visit the Gleaners' Nutrition Hub for a wealth of downloadable and online resources relating to food and health. Watch the recording. [OCT 2021]
Navigating Food Security with Community Compass™: a look at how technology can help connect the dots in your community.
Community Compass™ is a free, quick, and easy way to help people find food assistance in their community. Available as a mobile app, website, and texting service, Community Compass is an invaluable tool for those working to address food insecurity in their communities. Watch the recording. [SEP 2021]
Leveraging Capital to Expand Your Reach - an exploration of the funding landscape and primer on why "not all debt is bad debt."
Amandula Anderson, Director of Real Estate Solutions at IFF
- Assessing opportunities and access to capital
- Understanding asset-based community development
- Getting to know the Five Cs of Credit
- Recognizing the times and strategies for taking calculated risks
- Examples of non-profits leveraging loans for long-term success
Watch the recording. [MAY 2021]
Growing Christmas Trees in Indiana with Dr. James Farmer, Indiana University
Presentation of research with Indiana Christmas tree growers and consumers, exploring the challenges of an increasingly competitive marketplace as well as the surprising opportunity it presents for local farmers to add Christmas trees as a low maintenance, high value crop to their operations. You can explore the data and reports on our website and watch the recording. [DEC 2020]
Country Fresh Stops, Carrie Carson, ACENet
Carrie Carson from ACEnet in Athens, OH presented about a number of local initiatives addressing access to healthy, local, and affordable food in rural, Southeastern Ohio. Topics covered include Country Fresh Stops, a program working with businesses such as corner stores, gas stations, and roadside markets or “pop-up” markets in rural communities to source fresh products and offer them on a consistent basis, as well as the newly launched Veggie Van, Buying Club, and Donation Station projects. Watch the Recording Here [OCT2020]
Hear from Orange County's Lost River Market and Deli in Paoli about some new initiatives they rolled out this summer to make healthy, local food accessible to community members accross the socioeconomic spectrum. Strategies include a store-pickup CSA, a community box program, and a produce prescription collaboration with local healthcare providers, as well as offering online cooking classes following the Cooking Matters model. Watch the Recording Here. [JUN 2020]
Kyla Cox Deckard, from IU's Center for Rural Engagement, led us through an overview of social media and other communication strategies to reach customers or other audience bases. We talked about how to communicate new market rules using various communication methods and how to explore the community partners who can help with COVID related messaging for farmers and market shoppers. Watch the Recording Here [APR 2020]
Resources shared with attendees included:
Facebook Business Beginner’s Guide to Ads
How to Set Up Facebook
Free design software for social media
Free email marketing systems
