• Value Chain Coordination

  Next meeting 02/15: VCC and Federal Funding Opportunities

  Posted by Elizabeth Atwell on February 11, 2022 at 9:35 AM

  Hey folks –

  You may have noticed, there is a TON of federal funding opportunities coming out these days that are focused on building up local and regional food systems. For instance, the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (say that five times fast) is a $400M program designed specifically to serve socially disadvantaged farmers and underserved communities (USDA’s words, not mine) by channeling local (in-state or within 400 miles) food into food assistance programs like food banks, schools, and other food access programs. Sounds great, right? But we know that supply and demand of local products don’t just magically intersect like those graphs we saw in Econ 101. More than ever, we need value chain coordination professionals to help identify opportunities, forge relationships, build capacity, and help state agencies and Tribal governments make the most of these massive opportunities.

  Our next VCC Community of Practice call is taking place next Tuesday, the 15th, from 3 – 4:15pm EST. (Register here.) We are joined by OG Austin-based value chain coordinator, Sue Beckwith who is going to lead us in an interactive conversation to help you identify the gaps in your value chain that need to be filled in order to make these federal investments flow in a way that actually builds the capacity of your local and regional food systems, pays local – and especially socially disadvantaged farmers – fair prices, and gets fresh healthy food to underserved communities.

  If you want to learn more about the LFPA program, the Wallace Center’s Food Systems Leadership team has been doing our best to compile information. Click here to watch our last two webinars, and find other resources related to this program.

  Hope to see y’all next week!

  Elizabeth Atwell replied 2 years, 9 months ago 1 Member · 0 Replies
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