Cultivating Community
Cultivating Community
Improving Health in the North Valley
Cultivating Community is a multifaceted project supported by a 2011 California Department of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crops Block Grant. It aims to increase food security by serving the Specialty Crop food economy and system needs of low-income residents, local growers, and service agencies. (Food Security refers to a household's physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that fulfills the dietary needs and food preferences of that household for living an active and healthy life.)
The project will create and expand community gardens to supply local help agencies and offer workshops in low-cost, high-yield organic gardening in limited-space urban environments as well as on larger plots.
Cultivating Community is directed by Dr. Lee Altier, professor in the College of Agriculture at Chico State. The project has been in existence since October 2011. According to Dr. Altier, “It’s very rewarding to have the opportunity to contribute to the viability of our local food system by promoting the production and consumption of local fruits and vegetables.”
Cultivating Community’s goals are to:
- Strengthen Local Food Security
-Increase community education and direct participation in our local farm-to-fork food webs
-Collaborate with local organizations devoted to food security, with community service-learners, and with experts in organic growing, edible city building, and fresh food preparation
-Link local growers, under-resourced populations, and help-agencies in a collective effort
- Support Community Gardens
-Help expand existing community gardens, and start new ones
-Enliven derelict and unused urban properties - Support Small Farmers
-Provide outreach to new and young farmers
-Assist small farmers markets serving low-income growers and areas with up-front operational costs - Provide Workshops
-Offer on-site instruction in high-yield, low-cost organic farming in urban and rural environments
-Bring culinary exhibitions to urban farming workshops and to farmers markets to demonstrate low-cost, ethnically rich techniques to prepare and preserve produce - Promote Local, Healthy Use of Nutritional Assistance Funds
-Provide technical assistance to farmers markets and Community-Supported Agriculture businesses (CSA’s) in becoming EBT-enabled (i.e., to accept CalFresh cards)
-Provide a variety of incentive events and activities to bring CalFresh/EBT recipients to farmers markets and CSA’s - Support Lower-Income Residents
-Creatively increase the availability of locally grown produce
-Promote participation in Farmers’ Markets and CSA’s
-Provide nutritious food to those most in need
-Decrease isolation associated with economic stress
Dr. Altier says, “As a home gardener and former Peace Corps volunteer, I know how much growing one's own vegetables and fruits is linked to quality of life. Having a close connection with the source of one's food is also an important link to one's cultural roots. Local food is associated with local cooking styles, traditions, and what binds us together as family and community. The protection and enhancement of our local food production is an often overlooked and fundamental aspect of what constitutes social sustainability.”
“As an educator, I would like to continue to find ways to promote student engagement in agriculture in connection with its diverse civic ramifications. As students learn how to grow fruits and vegetables, I want them to appreciate the connections with human health and the wellbeing of their community.”
Cultivating Community’s primary partners include GRUB Education Program, OPT for Healthy Living, CSUC’s Organic Vegetable Project, and cChaos, a small farmers market network.
For more information, visit Cultivating Community on the web.