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DAISA and WHOLESOME WAVE RELEASE NEW RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTING MODEL GROWTH & OPPORTUNITIES FOR US PRODUCE PRESCRIPTION PROGRAMS

6/21/2021

Wholesome Wave, a national 501(c)3 non-profit that addresses nutrition insecurity by making healthy produce available and affordable for people who need it most, released the first-of-its-kind research report, “Produce Prescription Programs: US Field Scan 2010-2020.” Wholesome Wave engaged DAISA Enterprises in 2020 to conduct the national field scan research.

“Wholesome Wave helped pioneer produce prescriptions back in 2010, encouraging healthcare providers to prescribe the fruits and vegetables needed to help someone prevent or manage diet-related diseases, having a significant impact on people’s health,” said Michel Nischan, co-founder, Wholesome Wave. “We’ve worked hard the last eleven years to launch more than 100 Produce Prescription Programs around the country, empowering low-income families to make smart food choices by closing the nutrition gap with affordable fruits and vegetables.”

DAISA identified and researched more than 100 new Produce Prescription Programs which began between 2010-2020 for this report, examining data related to program eligibility and operations, partnership development, program longevity, prescription redemption mechanism, funding sources and more, as well as conducting interviews with 19 of the program operators and reviewing news articles, reports and policy briefs and program implementation guides.

High-level research findings include:

Between 2010 and 2020, about 100 new programs housed within or partnering with healthcare entities began operations throughout the United States, with the fastest growth occurring within the last five years.
To redeem prescriptions, 48% of programs partner with farmers’ markets and 68% utilize a paper voucher. However, partnership with retail grocery markets (29%) as well as on-site produce distribution (20%) are also growing in popularity as programs seek to diversify access.
The top three health factors used to screen eligible produce prescription patients include food insecurity (38%), unspecified diet-related chronic diseases (51%), and diabetes/pre-diabetes (33%). To increase equity and access, many programs are shifting away from requiring a diagnosis of a diet-related condition and instead screening more broadly for food insecurity or being at risk for diet-related disease.
Inconsistent or insufficient funding leaves programs at risk of failure and hinders efforts to grow and innovate. With only 16% of the examined programs citing federal funding as their primary source, there is a resounding call to integrate produce prescriptions as a preventative healthcare service within Medicare, Medicaid, and insurance plans.
The pandemic has exacerbated food insecurity especially within BIPOC communities and the need for nutrition incentives is higher than ever. In pivoting operations, some programs have increased efficiency through delivery, drive-through markets and virtual educational offerings, while acknowledging the effects of inequitable Internet access and fewer opportunities for social interaction.

“The role that nutrition education plays increasing redemption and produce utilization underscores the importance of embedding produce prescription programs holistically,” said Benjamin Perkins, CEO, Wholesome Wave. “This research showed that 70% of programs named nutrition education or culinary instruction as a crucial component to this program as a whole. Similar to medication adherence, if we do not factor in the context in which participants live their lives, the likelihood of uptake diminishes.”

The DAISA team is grateful to play a role in advancing the understanding of the Produce Prescription Program landscape and why this powerful model is experiencing a groundswell of interest from communities as another path towards health and well-being through nutritious food.

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Making a Mark: Fresh, Local and Equitable

6/2/2021

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Christa Drew, Principal, DAISA Enterprises

2017 FreshLo Convening in Memphis, Tennessee.

Many people have heard the phrase, ‘that really left a mark’ to indicate a memorable or significant event. While reflecting on my work with DAISA Enterprises over the past 6.5 years I have also been thinking about mark making, as in an artistic term typically used for the creation of different textures, lines, patterns, and shapes. During acrylic painting class a few years ago my instructor repeatedly challenged me to use my fingers, brush handles, and old combs and to add molding paste, coffee grounds, and sand to the paint to vary the traces and textures of color across the canvas, to leave my unique touches. While I did not initially find this easy nor enjoy the visual results, I could feel myself soften and shift through the process and so I’ve continued mark making in my painting, mindful there and in life that making marks goes both ways and it’s both difficult and liberating. DAISA’s work with the Fresh, Local, and Equitable (FreshLo) initiative of the Kresge Foundation is a perfect example in my life.

In 2015 at DAISA we accepted the invitation to serve as the National Program Office for the unique FreshLo initiative, blending neighborhood transformation strategies across health, arts & culture, and economic development all while advancing equity in practice and outcomes. An initial task was to help design and implement an equitable review and selection process for the record-breaking 550 FreshLo grant proposals which arrived. I read, organized, and discussed applications for many, many hours and in doing so gained access and perspective on systemic and nuanced urban neighborhood-based challenges and community-driven innovations from across the United States. We brought the initial 26 grant recipients together in Cleveland, OH shortly after the awards were announced and began an unforgettable journey of discussing struggles, joy, strategies, and questions – together.

2018 FreshLo Convening in Denver, Colorado. Community Visit to Re:Vision, Westwood neighborhood.

At that first Convening I will never forget how people so willingly and humorously responded to our invitation to self-introductions through an “I get fresh by…” prompt nor how a discussion of governance models quickly surfaced discussions of power and wealth in communities. It was immediately apparent that the candor and agile leadership, born of necessity and perseverance, within the FreshLo cohort is dynamic, inclusive and highly effective.

Across the years our DAISA team visited all of the FreshLo groups and communities that moved through the 2-year then 3-year implementation phase of FreshLo – prompting us to share in local, cultural food delicacies, stand in the bitter rain gazing at vacant lots and social enterprises-in-the-rough, share in distinctive community-based lodging, participate in unique cultural festivals and local events, and become immersed in raw and dynamic learning. In visiting parts of the U.S previously unfamiliar to me, and traveling alongside my colleagues at DAISA, the Kresge Foundation and our Learning for Action evaluation partners, we witnessed divestment in the physical and social infrastructure of neighborhoods. And yet, we saw people coming together through art, creative processes, food and celebration to both defend and to celebrate their unique neighborhood identity. I will never forget the pride I witnessed while a neighborhood gardener in Detroit, MI talked about sharing her freshly grown tomatoes with her neighbors, sampled wild herbs while on farmland rich with crops grown from saved-seeds and cultivated through Indigenous practices, and saw small food-oriented enterprises in Seattle and Oakland. These communities and the community leaders within each left a mark on my mind and heart; it is impossible to imagine otherwise how I would have had this experience and the opportunity to respond and support across the 5 years.

2020 FreshLo Virtual Convening, select attendees.

The work with FreshLo, partnering with the teams at the Kresge Foundation and with evaluation and communication consultants, working with and for the leaders of 26 distinct communities has been among the most multi-faceted and very favorite parts of my entire career. I am forever changed, with a much more real sense of the struggles and inequities, and of the immense creativity and strength in community residents’ vision and action. The national FreshLo journey in so many ways has both contributed to and exemplified the heart of DAISA Enterprises. It has left indelible marks on who we are individually and collectively.

2021 FreshLo Cohort Mark-Making Activity, led by artist Virginia Fitzgerald.

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Press Release: DAISA invests into equitable tea company

5/7/2021

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DAISA Capital is proud to announce its first equity investment and Venture Building Partnership, into Young Mountain Tea, an Oregon-based tea company that partners with smallholder farmers in the mountain communities of India and Nepal. This investment is anticipated to be the first of a small DAISA portfolio of high-impact companies, all forging opportunities and increasing equity through healthy foods and value chains.

Gustavo Mamao, who led the creation of DAISA Capital says, "We believe we need a new model for investing in and building a sustainable, and regenerative food system. There are certain types of organizations that do not fit necessarily in the CPG growth model because they want to do more than sell their products; they want to be part of systemic change. Young Mountain Tea goes beyond labels such as 'fair trade' or 'organic' to having authentic partnership and investment with smallholder farmers, understanding and connecting to what makes community real and sustainable. These true relationships and systemic understanding is what we seek to invest in as DAISA."

“We’re excited and honored to partner with DAISA” said Raj Vable, Founder and CEO of Young Mountain Tea. "Their commitment to value-driven businesses, their experience as successful entrepreneurs, and their relationships with other food system innovators make them ideal partners as we take our next steps to grow our business and impact.”

The mountain regions of India and Nepal are facing economic and climate crises. Raj Vable, born in Michigan to Indian immigrants, came to understand these issues first-hand after multiple trips and projects across India. In 2013, while on a Fulbright Fellowship in the Himalayas of Northern India, Raj founded Young Mountain Tea to create sustainable communities through exceptional tea, with clear purpose from the beginning to invest in the smallholder farmer communities and people.

“Himalayan farmers are already incredibly gifted at growing tea," Raj said. "They just lack the resources and market access to translate those skills into sustainable livelihoods. I founded Young Mountain Tea to bridge the gap between these farmers and the growing American specialty tea market.”

Today Young Mountain Tea sources some of the best teas in the world from over 850 smallholder tea farmers in five primary regions. Through these purchases, Young Mountain Tea creates opportunities for Himalayan women to achieve financial freedom. For seven years, the company has worked with tea farmers in India’s Kumaon region, where 90% of tea farmers are women. Today, Kumaon tea farmers earn 4x the industry average and many are experiencing financial independence for the first time. Now Young Mountain Tea is partnering with smallholder farmers and NGOs to build additional opportunities, launching new tea processing factories in the area, which will enable women farmers to 1) have incomes 10x the norm, 2) participate in a profit-sharing plan beyond their paycheck, and 3) grow their skills via empowerment training.

Young Mountain Tea is growing as a business as well as an impact engine. It is addressing the $2.7B US specialty tea market, and it is also positioned to capture some of the fast-growing health and wellness market opportunities. The company has a strong brand and ecommerce presence, and is now focusing on increasing its volume through developing its B2B sales. Due to founder Raj’s farmer relationships, the company’s work to launch a state-of-the-art tea processing facility in partnership with farmers, and its consistency of quality, Young Mountain Tea has an expanding list of bulk tea and private label customers, generating larger and larger orders for farmer suppliers and still maintaining healthy gross margins for the company. Sales have grown each year of the company’s existence, and are on track to grow 100% in 2021.

Young Mountain Tea's growth strategy and impact thesis is being fine-tuned and the company will be approaching other potential business partners and investors over the next few months.

About Young Mountain Tea
Young Mountain Tea was launched in 2013 when Founder Raj Vable made a promise to a Himalayan non-profit: if they would organize local mountain farmers to grow high-quality tea, he would set up a company in the US to sell it. The company’s mission is to develop a market that raises up emerging tea makers, creating vibrant mountain economies and healthy lands across the Indian subcontinent. The company specializes in sourcing single-origin, organic, loose-leaf teas direct from smallholder farmers. Their collection of 25+ teas is available through the company’s website and sold to bulk and private label companies.

About DAISA and DAISA Capital
DAISA Enterprises was founded by Daniel Ross in the fall of 2015. It works at the intersection of food, health and economic development. DAISA provides strategy consulting, initiative design and management services, for national and regional philanthropic foundation and impact investor clients, as well as high-impact social enterprises, working in community food systems, health, and community development.

DAISA Capital is a branch of DAISA Enterprises and was co-founded with Gustavo Mamao, a serial entrepreneur who came to join DAISA as part of a plan to prove a new model for investing in and building the Sustainable Food and Agriculture space. DAISA Capital expects to support a small portfolio of inspiring food companies, and it is looking for other Investors partners in the Food and Impact Investment field to grow its model / approach.

For more information, contact gustavo@daisaenterprises.com

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Listen Now: Podcast Series Featuring the Equitable Food Oriented Development (EFOD) Collaborative

12/23/2020

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Over the last year and a half, DAISA Enterprises has been a supporting partner of the Equitable Food Oriented Development Collaborative (EFOD), a network of organizations and leaders using food to create economic opportunities and build community assets and power. This Fall, in collaboration with the Duke World Food Policy Center’s “Leading Voices in Food” podcast series, members of the EFOD leadership team spoke with host and WFPC Director Kelly Brownell about the EFOD Collaborative’s history and approach, highlighted specific community projects, and framed their visions for community financing through the paired lens of community wealth and health. The conversations span five episodes, which Duke released weekly starting on October 15th.

Photos: Rudy Espinoza, Inclusive Action for the City and Camryn Smith, Communities in Partnership

Each of the conversations touches key elements of the EFOD Collaborative’s work, which is driven by a critical need for communities themselves as the drivers of local economic development. The organizers featured in the podcasts say this in a multitude of ways. In the third of five episodes, Lorena Andrade of La Mujer Obrera in El Paso, Texas, describes how the work of EFOD is as much about defending community as it is creatively bringing new communities into being. Rashida Ferdinand of Sankofa Community Development Corporation in New Orleans joins Lorena in that perspective, naming how EFOD’s collaborative, equity- and community-driven nature enables the network to be a pathway for lasting change.

Photo: Neelam Sharma, Community Services Unlimited

2020 has been both challenging and dynamic for the EFOD Collaborative, which is excited to be underway with its first cohort of a pilot Loan Fund. The EFOD Fund, comprised of both grants and patient loans, will fund EFOD-aligned projects, while also providing comprehensive skilled technical assistance and facilitating a shared professional network in support of the inaugural cohort. EFOD leaders know the EFOD Fund can serve as an alternative model to extractive community financing, and see the Fund as part of a long haul toward disentangling financing from systemic racism. EFOD leaders will manage the loan fund, with support from financing allies.

DAISA is thrilled to support the EFOD team, and hopes you enjoy this thoughtful collaboration between the EFOD Collaborative, Duke’s “Leading Voices in Food” podcast and World Food Policy Center, and DAISA Enterprises. You can find the conversation and transcript for each episode in the 5-part series below:

Episode 1: Defining Equitable Food Oriented Development - EFOD 101
Neelam Sharma, Community Services Unlimited and Trisha Chakrabarti, DAISA Enterprises
Episode 2: Digging into Equitable Food Oriented Development
Neelam Sharma, Community Services Unlimited and Trisha Chakrabarti, DAISA Enterprises
Episode 3: Developing through Community Identity and Sense of Place
Lorena Andrade, La Mujer Obrera and Rashida Ferdinand, Sankofa CDC
Episode 4: Los Angeles and Durham Reimagined Through EFOD
Camryn Smith, Communities in Partnership and Rudy Espinoza, Inclusive Action for the City
Episode 5: EFOD Impact: Aligning Financial Support with Community Wellbeing
Camryn Smith, Communities in Partnership and Rudy Espinoza, Inclusive Action for the City

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STORIES & STRATEGIES FOR ARTS-INFUSED FOOD SYSTEMS CHANGE: DAISA CO-HOSTS NATIONAL WEBINAR

10/23/2020

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Co-hosted by Maria Elena Rodriguez (DAISA Enterprises) and Annalina Kazickas (Wallace Center’s Food Systems Leadership Network) this August 2020 webinar explored the possibilities that exist at the intersection of arts, culture, and food systems.

Over 150 webinar participants heard from Ka Oskar Ly from ArtCrop and Brandi Turner from SippCulture and discussed strategies for developing arts-infused food systems within their community. Our ongoing reality of the COVID-19 crisis and struggles for racial justice illuminate how artistic and cultural practices are more critical than ever in envisioning and realizing resilient food systems.

The webinar was opened with a powerful spoken word performance of “Black Gold” by Naima Penniman of Soul Fire Farm and Climbing PoeTree. Ka Oskar Ly shared about how ArtCrop has used community murals and a communications campaign to tell the story of urban Hmong farming communities, a people who are historically nomadic and do not traditionally own land.

"Art and food are accessible ways to experience culture without judgment."
Ka Oskar Ly, ArtCrop

Brandi Turner discussed how the pandemic has illuminated long-standing social issues but also opened up new opportunities for change. Food and art are both tools many are turning to now as they look to and envision the future.

“Normal was not a sustainable practice.”
Brandi Turner, SippCulture

DAISA ENTERPRISES & FIELD-BUILDING
DAISA has been very moved by years of work supporting and witnessing the power of arts-infused food systems change, including our five-year trajectory as the National Program Office for the Kresge Foundation’s FreshLo Initiative. DAISA serves as conveners and weavers of this effort, uplifting what's happening on the ground, gathering stakeholders across sectors, fostering innovative partnerships, and connecting artists and community leaders with resources.

In 2018 ArtPlace America engaged DAISA to conduct field scan research on the community development sector of food & agriculture which specifically integrated or intertwined with arts & culture. The national research and Cultivating Creativity report reveals what was already happening in the field, what types of projects were being funded, and how infusing artistic and cultural practice shifts the experience, process, and food systems change outcomes.

DAISA is currently exploring the possibilities that exist to continue exploring and supporting arts-infused food systems transformation. We will be hosting an Affinity Group discussion at the upcoming ArtPlace Virtual Summit (see Take Action section below for how to join!) to discuss what resonates around creating a practitioner-led Community of Practice on work at this intersection. Also, acting on a recommendation from the Cultivating Creativity report, we are engaged in leading an upcoming federal briefing on rural placemaking and the intersection of arts, agriculture and economic development.

TAKE ACTION

Watch the webinar recording and the original spoken word performance. Take a look at the webinar and Q & A notes.
Join DAISA’s Supporting Placekeeping through Arts-Infused Food Systems Transformation Affinity Group discussions Oct 28 and 29 at the 2020 ArtPlace Virtual Summit. Registration is free and open to the public!
Contact DAISA if you’d like to get involved in future conversations as this work develops.
Read the ArtPlace + DAISA Enterprises field scan report Cultivating Creativity: Exploring Arts & Culture in Community Food Systems Transformation

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INCREASING HEALTHY FOOD ACCESS IN ‘NORMAL’ TIMES ENABLES SURVIVAL & RESILIENCY DURING AN EXTRAORDINARY CRISIS

6/3/2020

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Beginning in 2015, DAISA Enterprises, along with Catherine Sands from Fertile Ground, served as the Learning & Evaluation partners for the Healthy Food Fund (HFF) of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation. This three-year initiative provided grants in the $30,000 - $60,000 range to 25 nonprofit organizations in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire and sought to examine the impact of strategic investments in local fresh food organizations on improving access to healthy food for low- and middle-income households. The communities involved did not have adequate access to healthy, culturally preferred, and affordable foods for all residents, therefore effective, innovative and agile approaches were necessary. As such, DAISA worked closely with Foundation staff and with leaders of the funded programs and developed and tracked metrics aligned with the HFF Theory of Change. In addition, by collaborating with the grantee partners, DAISA facilitated a monthly Community of Practice to foster cross-fertilization of ideas, techniques, and actionable lessons learned. At the time, HFF aimed to have and document a measurable impact on the community food environment and increase distribution of healthy food. With the arrival of COVID-19 in early 2020, those outcomes and the infrastructure and relationships which enabled their success now contribute to effective, local responses.

Many of the grantee organizations, such as Mill City Grows Mobile Market pictured above, were already working to expand access and affordability where commercial markets had often failed or were non-existent, prior to funding. Through the initiative they continued to build community food infrastructure as well as innovative programs such as farmers’ markets, community-supported agriculture (CSA), mobile markets, town and urban farms, food banks, and gleaning programs. Meaningful partnerships also evolved that fostered and sustained this higher level of access to fresh food and ensured continued progress. Broader achievements include an expanded, collective sense of belonging and greater health equity ― both within their own organizations and communities.

After an investment of $3.7M from the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation, DAISA calculated a $9.6M return in the value of healthy foods reaching households in target communities; every $1 invested yielded about $2.5 in food sold/distributed. The above chart shows the initiative’s efforts and the marked increases in total food sales, access points (sales and distribution), partners and skill-building participants.

During the years with the Healthy Food Fund, grantee partners shared programmatic insights and innovations and achieved important outcomes. However, organizations were also able to achieve greater program efficacy and leverage their experiences to boost community engagement. DAISA also learned that 80% of HFF project leaders actively worked on efforts to increase racial equity and diversity within their organizations, through strategies, and via their offering to their customers.

In these times of crisis with COVID-19 and the related disproportionate harm and suffering within communities of color, and now the increase in demonstrations and destruction, it is these same organizations that have the networks, relationships and self-determination to survive with deep resilience and move towards recovery and change. These leaders remind us all that this work is complex and intersects so many aspects of health and well-being, requiring time, support and multi-year funding and investment.

“Due to Harvard Pilgrim's support over the last three years, Growing Places has been able to build capacity to expand from one focus - gardening - to becoming a fresh, healthy food access connector in North Central MA.”
Ayn Yeagle, Executive Director, Growing Places, Leominster, MA; 2019

LEARN MORE

Read the full Healthy Food Fund: Lessons Learned report to learn more about the results of the first three years of the Healthy Food Fund Initiative (2016-2018).

Check out the case study document Highlighting Impacts of Skill-building Opportunities written by DAISA and Fertile Ground to highlight the success factors and impacts of providing teaching opportunities in nutrition, cooking and other skills.

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NORTH SPORE: AN EXAMPLE OF A SUSTAINABLE FOOD COMPANY AND HOW THEY MAKE THE CASE FOR ENVISIONING A NEW FOOD SYSTEM

4/15/2020

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Over the second half of 2019, DAISA started an engagement with North Spore to support the development of the growth strategy of the company. The ultimate goal of this project is to provide access to the right capital to North Spore, allowing the company to grow while retaining their mission and values.

WHO IS NORTH SPORE?
This Maine-based company founded by three college colleagues represents how passionate entrepreneurs of the food system can create new ways to reshape the system. North Spore commercializes a variety of mushroom production tools, especially edible mushroom spawns – which are the equivalent of the seeds for the plants. Their main segment of clients are small farmers and home growers. With its strong value for collaboration and knowledge sharing, North Spore is demystifying mushroom production for thousands of people.

From left to right: North Spore Founders Jon Carver, Matt McInnis, and Eliah Thanhauser, with
DAISA Capital Director Gustavo Mamao.

North Spore stands for a world of people consuming healthy and delicious mushrooms. During their work with the DAISA Capital team, led by Gustavo Mamao, the company’s founders got conscious on how the company impact thesis is related to some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The potential for mushrooms to be a key meat replacement – which has been one of the forces for plant-based alternative products – and all the scientific progresses into the health benefits of some mushroom species are key market forces driving North Spore’s fast growth over the last few years.

North Spore Sustainable Development Goals

FACING COVID-19 PANDEMIC
As any individual or organization of this planet at this point, North Spore has also been impacted by coronavirus health and economic challenges. On the one hand, the company is adjusting to some of its small farms’ customer demand decreasing, like local restaurants. On the other hand, the company's online sales are booming to address home growers' demand, especially due to the fact that people are spending more time at home and want activities to do during their spare time as well as guaranteeing their supply of food.

DAISA, through its special initiative DAISA Capital, is looking forward to move to the next project phase and start approaching patient capital investors in order to raise the right capital to allow North Spore to keep “spreading the spore” and supporting more farmers and people to have good food locally, and, sometimes, at home.

Take a look at the North Spore website: www.northspore.com

If you want to know more details about this project, or to consider investing in North Spore, reach out to Gustavo Mamao at gustavo@daisaenterprises.com

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PRESS RELEASE - DAISA ENTERPRISES SELECTED TO MANAGE CONVENING OF ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION GRANTEES

2/19/2020

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DAISA Enterprises, a food systems and community health strategy firm based in South Hadley, Massachusetts was selected by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to design and facilitate a convening of the Healthy Children and Families grantees for 2020.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is the United States' largest philanthropic foundation focused solely on health; it is based in Princeton, New Jersey. The Foundation's goal is to improve the health and well-being of all in America." RWJF aims to advance policy, systems, and environmental changes that create the conditions to foster families’ opportunities to promote healthy child development. The Healthy Children and Families convening will be a forum for sharing learnings and leveraging insights among grantees, partners, stakeholders, and RWJF staff around strategies to achieve this goal and prioritize health equity. More than a hundred health leaders are expected to attend this engaging event in spring or summer 2020.

DAISA Enterprises works at the intersection of food, health, economic and community
development, building cutting-edge initiatives and enterprises. It has quickly established itself as a key partner to national health-based philanthropic foundations, helping them design and implement field-building events and programs.

DAISA CEO Daniel Ross expressed commitment to the mission and values of the HCF initiative, “DAISA is honored to support the work of RWJF grantees, help them connect and learn from each other, and build a greater movement for the health of children in our country. This is amongst the most powerful work we can do.”

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CULTIVATING COMMUNITY: A FIELD SCAN EXPLORING ARTS & CULTURE IN FOOD SYSTEMS

1/21/2020

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Clemmons Family Farm - Charlotte, Vermont

As part of their ongoing research to better understand how arts and culture play an intentional role in place-based community development, in 2018 ArtPlace America commissioned a field scan about the food and agriculture sector. DAISA Enterprises was selected as a research, facilitation, and thought partner to lead this work. DAISA’s deep food systems knowledge and consulting experience, including role as National Program Office for the Kresge Foundations’ Fresh, Local and Equitable initiative, made us a natural fit.

The research report - Cultivating Creativity: Exploring Arts & Culture in Community Food Systems Transformation - informs current knowledge and practice around how arts and cultural approaches can be better leveraged to create equitable and place-based food systems change across the country - spanning rural, tribal, and urban settings. Launched at the 2019 Artplace Summit, the field scan is contributing to building the fields of arts and culture and community development, informed by creative placemaking and grounded in the experiences of artists and community change-makers.

THE RESEARCH PROCESS
In what types of community-based effort is artistic and cultural expression contributing to food and agricultural outcomes? Research included examining grant databases of ten relevant federal agencies and foundations and identifying 180 projects integrating arts and culture with food and agriculture. Projects included community gardens & farms, community gathering spaces, community & incubator kitchens, culinary arts projects, food & agricultural tourism and celebration efforts, and food markets. Interviews with thirty-one food systems practitioners, artists, and field thought leaders from communities across the country illuminated powerful wisdom and lived experience:

“Art and culture is really compatible with the food and agriculture sector, because they are both really creationary. [...] Because you can approach agriculture from a systematic mentality that is extractive or you can approach agriculture from a perspective or mentality that is creationary and diverse. So bringing arts and culture to agriculture is a way to restore a more regenerative agriculture system.”
Lehua Simon, Artist, Mālamalama Maui Project

Desert Botanical Garden Spaces of Opportunity - Phoenix, Arizona

THE WORKING GROUP: TESTING OUR FINDINGS
In early March 2019, DAISA and ArtPlace - along with co-conveners Rural Coalition and Farm Credit Council - held a working group meeting to discuss initial research findings and to craft potential steps forward. A total of forty-one participants convened in Albany, Georgia, hailing from twenty-two different states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. Among the group were farmers, community practitioners, artists, community organizers, funders & financers, chefs, government and policy representatives, media, and academic leaders. Participants came from both rural and urban geographies, as well as numerous racial and ethnic communities from across the country.

The Arts, Culture & Food/Agriculture Working Group Meeting was held at Resora on Cypress Pond, a 1638-acre former plantation in southwest Georgia currently owned by black-led grassroots organization New Communities and operated as a retreat and conference center and a working farm. The space was chosen to host the Working Group meeting in order to honor the history of black farmer-led civil rights activism and to support New Communities’ mission of providing a restorative space for environmental and economic justice and racial healing.

Working Group Participants at Resora - Albany, Georgia, March 2019

Meeting participants heard inspiring work from three community practitioners - representatives from La Mujer Obrera, Wormfarm Institute, and Inner-City Muslim Action Network - presenting “Stories of Change” that brought to life the vibrancy of arts and culture-infused food and agricultural efforts. Participants delved deeply into the draft key findings to identify gaps and opportunities for refinement. Grounded in the power and beauty of the Resora farm, the group identified critical needs that exist to continue uplifting equity, social justice, and community healing through arts & culture-infused food systems transformation.

WHAT WE FOUND
The report reveals that arts-integrated food systems work provides a uniquely accessible and effective way to:

Bridge and heal divides
Drive equitable food oriented development and rural vitality
Transform community spaces and celebrate identity
Promote secure land tenure
Ignite creative, community-led processes
Preserve and reclaim food & farming traditions

What specifically about the intersection of arts and culture with food and agriculture allows for these powerful change-making processes to occur? We found that integrating arts and culture with food and agriculture enables a creative and inclusive visioning and planning process, and ensures community members see their identities, histories, and interests reflected in the work. Eating and growing practices often connect to the very center of who we are as individuals and communities. Food and agriculture both articulate with our connections to history, place, environment, sustenance, joy, and communion. Integrating eating and growing practices with creative reflection and action enables people to see themselves reflected in the work, and drives home the potential for personal and community change.

Utilizing creative placemaking strategies encourages community members to join their neighbors in identifying and creating relevant and innovative responses to local challenges. Creative placemaking that connects intentionally to food and agricultural practice provides a tangible and deeply interconnected way to drive food systems change and shape the future of a community. Community development efforts within the subsector of food and agriculture that lift up the importance of arts and culture provide a unique opportunity to improve quality of life in connected, meaningful, and equitable ways for community residents.

Thunder Valley CDC - Porcupine, South Dakota

WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW?
DAISA and ArtPlace have recently committed to further collaboration on disseminating these findings and recommendations to spark new and deeper partnerships between stakeholders in food systems, arts and culture, community development, government, and philanthropy. Through conference presentations, public webinars, regional briefing calls, and other targeted outreach, DAISA will advocate for the role of artist-practitioners and artist-facilitators and demonstrate the power and efficacy of arts and cultural practices in helping create equitable and place-based food systems change across the country. DAISA will also coordinate and support artists direct participation in typically food-focused conferences and is working with ArtPlace to design a Federal briefing for US Federal agencies which examines this intersection within rural communities.

TAKE ACTION
Read the field scan to learn more about the key findings, recommendations, and initial thoughts on evaluating the success of this work.

Share the field scan and brainstorm how to better support artistic leadership and creative practice in your network and community!

Stay tuned to DAISA’s blog and Instagram for future announcements of webinars, presentations, and other opportunities to engage with the research.

Visit the ArtPlace Agriculture & Food page to read case studies and also check out their other community development sector field scans.

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Equitable Food Oriented Development: A Justice-Forward Framework For Community Change

12/18/2019

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Local food ventures and healthy food access projects have gained considerable traction in underserved neighborhoods in recent years. However, many of these initiatives often exclude local residents in their planning, execution, and ownership; structures that can have significant negative health and economic impacts in these communities, and even exacerbate injustices. In response, a new framework of resident-led initiatives promoting equity in community-level food systems projects is emerging.

Equitable Food Oriented Development (EFOD), is an innovative approach that aligns food and economic development models, with an explicit aim of building community power. EFOD specifically helps historically marginalized communities maintain leadership, pride, and voice in their resident-centered food and agriculture initiatives; and ensures vulnerable communities can create food systems that reflect culture, promote health, and build community wealth.

EFOD organizations around the country have long sought to explain the transformative nature of their work to audiences that still see health equity, economic opportunity, and community leadership as distinct fields of practice. Beginning in 2015, organizations began meeting to discuss a research and evaluation agenda that would uplift the creation of community-led, food-based economies. Supported by visionary philanthropic leaders who saw the connection between community ownership and the success of place-based public health and economic initiatives, a formal group began to emerge - The EFOD Collaborative and Steering Committee.

Sankofa CDC - New Orleans, Louisiana, EFOD Steering Committee Member

The origins of the term “Equitable Food Oriented Development,” and the desire to articulate the vision of organizations using such a framework, reflects the importance of co-creation between practitioners and key allies in the health and development fields. After several months of EFOD Steering Committee meetings, research and drafting by DAISA, and building upon a white paper written by Dana Harvey, the following working definition of the EFOD practice was co-developed:

Equitable Food Oriented Development is a development strategy that uses food and agriculture to create economic opportunities, healthy communities, and explicitly seeks to build community assets, pride, and power by and with historically-marginalized communities.

In October 2019, the EFOD Collaborative along with DAISA, and with support from The Kresge Foundation, released Equitable Food Oriented Development: Building Community Power - a white paper based on fresh, new research that lays out the EFOD framework - its origins, defining criteria, and impacts. The paper also provides well-researched recommendations for sustainable field-building developed from years of community-based practitioner expertise.

Impacts and outcomes attributed to EFOD are distinct from those of traditional community development or food oriented development (FOD). While conventional food systems work may unintentionally cause harm to communities through gentrification, displacement, or extraction of local resources, EFOD instead fosters strong social capital networks, equitable asset development, increased civic engagement, and decreased displacement.

EFOD IN ACTION: THE POWER OF FOOD-BASED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Ashland Market & Cafe, a project of Mandela Partners (Oakland, CA)

“It was a very focused effort to work with community to determine food access gaps and economic development opportunities… through that process we were not only able to launch a community-directed project, but we also deepened our own connection with the neighborhood we serve.”
- Mariela Cedeño, Interim Executive Director, Mandela Partners

Long-time community organization Mandela Partners worked alongside local residents and stakeholders to develop the Ashland Market and Cafe, a 2,100-square-foot food hall, incubator, and community space on the ground floor of an affordable housing complex. The project was catalyzed in partnership with a resident-led advisory committee that eventually selected four local food entrepreneurs as the facility’s inaugural tenants. Ashland Market & Cafe vendors live in the surrounding neighborhoods and sell foods that reflect their heritage and family histories. To support and encourage community-based entrepreneurship, kiosks rental rates are kept well below market and tenants are offered business development workshops, micro-loans, and legal assistance. Ashland Market & Cafe was funded using an innovative, but cumbersome, mix of financial instruments including revolving loans, $360,000 in federal Healthy Food Financing Initiative funds, and $1.3M in public and private investments.

Ashland Market & Cafe, Mandela Partners - Oakland, California, EFOD Steering Committee Member

TAKE ACTION
Read the white paper and share it with your networks.
Visit EFOD.org to learn more about Equitable Food Oriented Development and the EFOD Collaborative.
Join the EFOD mailing list to stay up-to-date on happenings in the field.

The white paper was jointly produced by the EFOD Collaborative and DAISA Enterprises, with support from The Kresge Foundation. EFOD Collaborative Steering Committee members include Community Services Unlimited Inc., Nuestras Raíces, La Mujer Obrera, Mandela Partners, Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, Inclusive Action for the City, Planting Justice, Sankofa Community Development Corporation, La Semilla Food Center, and allies from Capital Impact Partners, Self-Help Federal Credit Union, and The Wallace Center at Winrock International.

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