Sign-up to Hear From Us
Current Newsletter
Become A Member
RESOURCES
Public Markets and Vendors
For Farmers
For Volunteers
Gorge Grown Farmers' Market
What's Fresh This Season
Contact Us
Education Series
Upcoming Events
Sponsors
Members List
GORGE GROWN FARMERS' MARKET:
Thursdays
June 19 - Oct 2, 2008
4:00 - 7:00 PM
Hood River Middle School
Fresh food, Local farmers,
Live music, Activities
Contact GGFN -
993A Tucker Rd.
Hood River, OR 97031
541.490.6420
info@gorgegrown.com
Hood River County Community Food Assessment GGFN has received a $25,000 USDA Community Food Projects Grant to conduct a comprehensive Community Food Assessment for Hood River County. This is a huge undertaking and we're looking for volunteers to help us get it going and to gather information from Gorge residents about our food system – what works, what’s missing, and what resources (people, existing programs, etc.) are present in the region to fill in what’s missing. ----------This site is meant to serve as a source for information on the CFA process and will be updated frequently. Use the list of options below to navigate on this page.
UPCOMING MEETINGS
January 2008, date/time TBA: USDA Project Partner Meeting
2. What is a CFA?A Community Food Assessment is a collaborative, participatory process that systematically examines a range of community food issues and assets with the goal of improving food security and community health and education. In Hood River County, GGFN and its community partners will work together over the course of one year to identify both community assets and needs in regards to the regional food system. We will conduct surveys, facilitate focus groups, and do extensive research for this assessment; knowledge gained in the process will be used to work toward meeting the following goals:
3. Why are we doing one?For example, we’d like to expand the number of community gardens in the region as a way to increase residents’ self-reliance and our regions’ food security, but first we must gather information on how many people are interested in growing their own food, cooking with it, and how many would like to learn how to preserve some of the excess produce from their garden for the winter or for sale at a local farmers’ market? Who has land available for a community garden, how many people have interest in the vicinity of that land? The community food system assessment workshop scheduled for November 7 will lay the foundation for the work ahead: figuring out how to answer these questions, collecting responses from the community, analyzing the responses, and drafting a plan for future projects to increase our community members’ and our region’s food security. This process will also help Gorge Grown Food Network prioritize its future work.
4. How can I get involved?Anyone who is interested in food issues in Hood River County and the broader Columbia Gorge region - from farmers to food pantries, from consumers to restaurateurs - is encouraged to participate in the Community Food Assessment project. Will you join us to learn about the current state of our food system and our food system planning project? We need your input to help shape this project. We need to hear from you that your neighborhood doesn’t have access to fresh produce or a community garden, that you’d like to learn how to cook with local food, or you’d like to have enough food to make it through the month. We need to hear from you so that we may work toward change together. Will you share your insight as a consumer in the region, as a farmer, as a business owner, a county commissioner, healthcare professional, educator, as a member of our community?
If you’ve been looking for a chance to get your feet wet as a GGFN volunteer, now’s the time!
There are several ways large and small to get involved in our CFA project and we will update this list continually as we start data collection in earnest in January 2008. SMALL WAYS:
1. Get on our CFA news email list! Read about the project's progress and the latest ways to get involved. 2. Attend a small group meeting (see Upcoming Meetings) in November! 3. Fill out a Food Access Survey! (Starting in January 2008) 4. Distribute Food Access Surveys to your friends, family, church members, and co-workers (and collect them again)! (Starting in January 2008)
LARGE WAYS:
1. Facilitate a focus group of citizens, farmers, kids, parents, seniors - anyone - to talk about local food and food access in the county. 2. Distribute surveys door-to-door or at grocery stores, downtown, and public events. 3. Help enter survey data. 4. Help us create a survey database! 5. Help conduct secondary research (demographics, etc). 6. Help draft narrative text for the CFA report.
... and that's just a start! A Community Food Assessment is a community process and we're excited to have you on board!
5. Meeting Notes
Email sarah@gorgegrown.com if you would like more information or notes from these meetings.
On November 7, 2007, GGFN conducted a Community Food Assessment training workshop with Sharon Thornberry of Oregon Food Bank to get the process started.
At our kickoff workshop, attendees broke into four small groups to focus on several key areas of our Community Food Assessment. Those small groups met once more before the holidays to discuss these issues and how to collect the data we need.
COMMUNITY GARDENS (community gardens, self-reliance): MONDAY NOVEMBER 19. 10 AM -12 PM.
FOOD ACCESS (low-income food security, new food bank site, local produce availability): TUESDAY NOVEMBER 20. 3-5 PM.
FARMS/MARKETS (who are our small farmers?, farmers' markets, farm product distribution/processing): TUESDAY NOVEMBER 27. 10 AM -12 PM.
SKILLS/EDUCATION (health education, canning, cooking): WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 28. 3-5 PM. |