Final report for ENC21-207
Project Information
This project created a multi-state, virtual professional development community of practice (CoP), bringing together diverse leaders working on the North Central region's current and emerging food system plan/charter efforts. Together, we sought to address common challenges and strategies to foster more equitable, sustainable, diverse, and healthy local/regional food systems within and among our states.
We established the CoP with a planning committee composed of representatives from all North Central states. The planning committee included participants in food system plan/charter efforts, such as extension educators, farmers, food council members, statewide food, agriculture, health networks and organizations, and local and state policymakers and agency staff. This group collaboratively developed a series of four learning sessions, co-led by CoP members and their colleagues, allowing participants to share their knowledge and explore opportunities for collaboration across the region. Later, we developed an online hub website to house our recorded learning sessions, an interactive resource database, and a story portal. This hub will continued to be updated in the second phase of the project.
Our ultimate goal was to increase our collective knowledge and capacity to collaborate across states and strengthen local and regional food systems using an equity approach. As we neared the end of the project, we secured additional funding to continue it, building on what we've learned and opening it up nationally, inviting colleagues from other states and regions beyond the North Central to join. That project will officially launch in the fall of 2024.
Activity Outputs
- Overall participation of approximately 70 individuals representing all 12 North Central states in a community of practice.
- Establishment of the online community of practice Hub, housing all the materials generated and shared throughout the project.
- Participation of five farmers from North Central states in farmer discussions and at least one farmer engaged as a workshop presenter. We were able to speak directly with five farmers from Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri and Minnesota. And we utilized pre-existing documentation from farmer and food systems practitioners from Michigan and Iowa.
- Exploration of new partnerships between North Central States with possibilities for seeking collaborative funding; coordinated regional outreach, communications, and/or advocacy; and data collection and/or sharing.
- One hybrid meeting with virtual attendance of 12 people and 10 people in-person, who also attended the 2023 Michigan Good Food Summit and a meeting with a national cohort of food hub leaders.
- Approximately 20% participation response in evaluation surveys. Lesson Learned: this is a figure far lower than we hoped. We are looking into ways to make evaluation a faster process, integrated into the learning session itself. That way, folks aren't having to navigate to something after a long learning session or be reminded via email multiple times. We have had some success with this method for other events.
Materials Outputs
We developed the following materials through this project:
- The farmer feedback report: A summary brief of learnings from farmer feedback focus group.
- A description of our collaborative model
- Four learning sessions: Four recordings of educational presentations, to be made available publicly.
- A resource hub: a curated list of resources used or developed by North Central state food system plans/charter initiatives
- A story hub (which we hope to continue with more support offered to participants)
- A policy action bulletin board
- An online hub to house all related material
Cooperators
- - Technical Advisor
Education
Community of Practice Development
The primary approach is an adaptation of Wiggins and McTighe’s, “Backwards Design.” In this process, an essential question is identified from which lines of inquiry and learning goals are drawn. The first three large group sessions built on each other in a process to identify highly relevant topics and essential questions to collaboratively design a series of four learning sessions.
We launched the project with activity during our first large group informational session to gather feedback from around 40 potential CoP members on our proposed topics of interest and to solicit ideas for additional topics. After establishing the Planning Committee, the first two meetings were focused on developing an understanding of the collective experience in the group as well as a honing the four-session series topics. Two additional stages followed to further refine and plan facilitation for each Learning Session.
- Identifying Our Strengths & Experience (June 3, 2022): The first full Planning Committee meeting began with a comprehensive overview of the learnings from the Farmer Discussion Sessions. That was followed by an activity designed to identify what knowledge, skills, and resources members of the Community of Practice already hold in relation to the primary topics. These topics included: Working with Interest Groups & Network-Building, Food System Plan Development, Food Policy Advocacy & Organizing, Tracking and Sharing Progress, and Other Ideas/Gaps.
- Prioritizing Learning Goals (July 18, 2022): Our second full Planning Committee meeting involved a deliberative process to hone in on our shared learning goals by mapping on where we had multiple state representatives with experiences in each of the five initial categories identified. Building on previous activities, we discussed what would be most important to cover in a 90-minute learning session, and in doing so, members shared about their work and challenges. Four learning sessions were decided upon:
- 1) Models, Practices, and Progress in Centering Racial Equity in Statewide Food System Plans
- 2) Networks as a strategy to set statewide goals and advance collaboration
- 3) Data gathering and communication strategies
- 4) Advocacy Strategies & Policy Priorities
- Learning Session Development (Passive “homework”): Following the Planning Committee meetings, we synthesized the information gained from the previous activities and set up a passive “homework” activity in which we asked members to fill in further information and offer feedback for each of the draft learning sessions. The activity gave us a chance to identify more specific learning goals for each topic, highlight any gaps in the potential topic list or areas where we might want to bring in outside expertise.
- Small-Group Facilitation Planning Committees (Ongoing): In the homework, members were asked to sign up for a small-group learning session planning committee. In our first small-group planning session, we developed a facilitation template that will make the subsequent sessions a little easier to plan. The first learning session is planned for March 3, 2023 and will feature speakers from Indiana and Ohio and an opportunity to do some self-assessment with a colleague. Members were also asked to submit a brief story, outlining their approach to the topic. We will continue to gather those stories as we move through the series.
This process proved to be an affirming and asset-based way to develop a highly-relevant learning series while also getting to know our colleagues.
Related Media:
- SARE PDP - Identifying our Learning Goals, Strengths & Experiences - Padlet Export - 06-03-22
- SARE PDP - Prioritizing Learning Goals Miro Board - July 18, 2022
- Passive "Homework" - Session Planning Document with Comments
- A playlist of our meeting recordings
Learning Session Facilitation Planning Groups
When the time came to develop the learning sessions, we adopted a co-design approach, building on what the group identified as our four priority learning session topics. The first Facilitation Planning group established a process and model for us to follow as we designed the rest. That template helped us envision ways to narrow the scope of each learning topic and come up with creative ways to engage our fellow CoP members.
Learning Session Template (90 min to 2hrs):
- Welcome & Introductions: Opening things up by acknowledging our shared humanity, learning who was joining us, going over the agenda and learning objectives (overall and specific to the session).
- Grounding Activity: Usually an interactive activity, making use of a tool such as mentimeter to engage participants in a quick yet impactful information-sharing activity that grounded the session in the "why" of the topic.
- State Examples: 2-4 states would share a relevant story, experience, example, tool, and/or resource to help illustrate their approach to the topic at hand.
- Group Synthesis: A wind-down and review of the takeaways and time for Q&A with the overall purpose of making connections back to our respective work and with each other.
A few lessons learned include:
- Don't skip the grounding activity - make it fun and inviting to set the tone for the session
- Leave plenty of time for Q&A and group synthesis - overestimate how much time you think you'll need for people to talk and share
- 3-4 state examples (unless highly facilitated or given a lot of extra time) was often too much for one session. We were eager to have as many perspectives shared as possible, but quality over quantity is best. Use the interactive grounding activity to hear from multiple members.
This model worked so well, we plan to continue it for future learning sessions.
Education & Outreach Initiatives
Participants will be informed about the project, provide feedback about learning goals, and ask questions.
We launched the project with activity during our first large group informational session to gather feedback from around 40 potential Community of Practice members on our proposed topics of interest and to solicit ideas for additional topics.
Participants learned about the project and subsequently, we had representatives from all 12 NCR states expressing interest in joining the project as a planning committee member or participant in future learning sessions.
Additionally, we had the opportunity to get an updated sense of where folks were at in the development of their statewide food systems plans and what topics are important to cover in our learning series.
Participants will learn about the policy and program priorities identified by farmers in the north central region that can be addressed through state/regional food system plans or charters; and highlight where they have experience in a spectrum of activities and efforts to identify core areas of shared interest.
The first full Planning Committee meeting began with a comprehensive overview of the learnings from the Farmer Discussion Sessions.
That was followed by an activity designed to identify what knowledge, skills, and resources members of the Community of Practice already hold in relation to the primary topics. These topics included:
- Working with Interest Groups & Network-Building;
- Food System Plan Development;
- Food Policy Advocacy & Organizing, Tracking and Sharing Progress; and
- Other Ideas/Gaps.
SARE PDP - Identifying our Learning Goals, Strengths & Experiences - Padlet Export - 06-03-22 Padlet
We were able to use this information in the next meeting to further refine our learning goals and plans for the Learning Session series.
Members were able to clearly state where they have experience they would be willing to share with others. It was a boon to see how many of us were working on similar issues.
Participants will collaboratively refine the choices for the four learning session series.
Our second full Planning Committee meeting involved a deliberative process to hone in on our shared learning goals by mapping on where we had multiple state representatives with experiences in each of the five initial categories identified.
Building on previous activities, we discussed what would be most important to cover in a 90-minute learning session, and in doing so, members shared about their work and challenges.
Four learning sessions were decided upon:
- Learning Session 1: Models, Practices, and Progress in Centering Racial Equity in Statewide Food System Plans
- Learning Session 2: Networks as a strategy to set statewide goals and advance collaboration
- Learning Session 3: Data gathering and communication strategies
- Learning Session 4: Advocacy Strategies & Policy Priorities
Again, this session built on the previous to further get to know what assets exist within in the group, but also offer time for CoP members to identify issues and challenges they would like to tackle with the help of their colleagues.
This passive activity was designed to give members more time to think carefully about their own learning goals and help refine the final session.
We synthesized the information gained from the previous activities and set up a passive “homework” activity in which we asked members to fill in further information and offer feedback for each of the draft learning sessions. The activity gave us a chance to identify more specific learning goals for each topic, highlight any gaps in the potential topic list or areas where we might want to bring in outside expertise.
In this document, we created four draft outlines of learning sessions. We asked Committee members to review each section in the following steps:
- Draft Essential question: Please comment/suggest if you have ideas, questions, or suggestions for changes to refine that essential question
- Scheduling: Add your availability/preferences
- Summary of our Experience: Review and add your own experience if it’s not reflected there.
- Focus: If you have particular items or topics you hope we can address in this learning session, note it here
- Outside Resources: Are there any tools, speakers, or other resources you find helpful for this topic we should consider or that you would like to share?
- Sign Up: If you want to help plan/facilitate this discussion, add your name! We’ll work with everyone to schedule a planning session.
The feedback here was the most crucial as we began facilitation planning for our first learning session. This allowed the small-group learning session planning committee to consider the best activities and format to address the goals.
Learning Objective - Participants will: Explore models, practices, and progress in centering racial equity in statewide food system plans; Assess our roles in addressing racial and structural inequities through our respective food systems plans or statewide and regional efforts.
The SARE PDP Learning CoP is designed to facilitate sharing among colleagues working to foster local/regional food systems throughout the North Central Region, especially through the development and/or implementation of collaborative statewide food systems plans or Charters.
As we began our Learning Session Series, we start with the foundational concept of addressing racial equity in our food systems work.
The goals of all learning sessions are to help participants:
- learn from and highlight challenges, opportunities, ideas to support our collective and individual efforts;
- identify possible partnerships or opportunities for sharing and collaboration; and
- contribute tools, resources, or other models we can build from.
Presenters:
- amaha sellasie
- Lindsey Scalera
Facilitation Team:
- Dr. Brittany Jones
- Naima Gardener Rice
- Rhoda Burrows
- Lindsey Scalera
In this session, we heard from representatives from two north central states on the importance of shared language and practical approaches to racial equity and food sovereignty in a community-led food systems effort. Prior to the meeting, we asked participants to share their story using this form. We provided an example and had one additional member share their own.
Takeaways: We asked what concepts participants were taking away from the session. People mentioned appreciating the grounding exercise we conducted, the discussion of "collective impact 3.0", the importance of understanding and using the term food apartheid instead of using the term food deserts, which asks us to reconsider the systemic roots of the lack of food systems resources and sovereignty. One person remarked, "In [my state], we have very much felt this food system plan is growing from grassroots. Amaha's presentation challenges me to hold the course and confirm that we are being intentional to carry that out in the capturing of our priorities and action strategies."
Future Topics: We asked participants what they would like to learn more about. Participants reiterated the desire to continue the discussion and link it to the previous, with one person stating they'd like to see, "More discussion and examples around this topic and the how collective impact framework can support advancing racial equity..." Others added suggestions sharing more on high-level understandings of the food system, managing diverse parties in a collaborative setting, and the integration of food system sustainability and environmental concerns into our discussion of networks.
To view the learning session and its materials, visit this link: https://sites.google.com/msu.edu/statefoodsystemsplans/learning-sessions#h.o2qum4je1r
To view the stories, click here: https://sites.google.com/msu.edu/statefoodsystemsplans/stories
Learning Objectives - Participants will: Gain an understanding of components that contribute to the development of networks supporting statewide food system plans/charters at different stages; Explore a continuum model for collaboration that supports network development, and hear real-world examples and insights about networks in early stages as well as further along.
As we continued our Learning Session Series, we moved onto the concept of networks. In this session, we kicked things off with an interactive activity and discussion. We also heard from representatives of four north central states sharing their insights from research and community-driven experiences developing statewide and regional food systems networks.
Presenters:
- Catie DeMets
- Abby Gold
Facilitation Team:
- Geb Bastien
- Stephanie Blumhagen
- Catie DeMets
- Abby Gold
- Sarah E. Smith
- Sarah Buranskas
- Lindsey Scalera
This learning session was conducted as a hybrid segment (in-person in Michigan with a virtual option), held in conjunction with the 2023 Michigan Good Food Charter Summit. Hosting the learning session in-person allowed our members to not only meet each other in person, but also to connect with others attending the summit, including many Michigan-based practitioners as well as a cohort of Food Hub leaders from around the United States.
To view the learning session and its materials, visit this link: https://sites.google.com/msu.edu/statefoodsystemsplans/learning-sessions#h.o2qum4je1r
Learning Objectives - Participants will: Hear examples of measurement projects that are further along; Reflect on the challenges and successes of different approaches; and Understand how on-the-ground projects and systems or policy change can result from data gathering and storytelling.
In this interactive learning session, we focused on how to incorporate data strategies into impactful storytelling as part of statewide food systems plans. Participants heard from practitioners in our network who shared their experiences and strategies for data gathering for impactful storytelling. Examples were intentionally chosen to offer ideas for initiatives just starting out or already working on tracking progress toward statewide goals.
Facilitation Team & Presenters:
- Abby Gold
- Dr. Brittany Jones
- Lindsey Scalera
- Sarah Buranskas
Takeaways: We asked what concepts participants were taking away from the session. One person commented, "It is imperative to determine a common language so everyone is on the same page, which would help with funding and project management." Others felt there were many resources shared and an appreciation that presentations illustrated the possibilities.
Future Topics: We asked participants what they would like to learn more about. Some indicated a desire for a "data 2.0" discussion, due to there being so much more to cover. Others were curious about the process of collaboratively developing a theory of change and/or evaluation plan, and how to link data and storytelling with funding.
To view the learning session and its materials, visit this link: https://sites.google.com/msu.edu/statefoodsystemsplans/learning-sessions#h.o2qum4je1r
Learning Objectives - Participants will: Learn about the essential components of advocacy, including different roles people can play in advocacy processes; Explore at least two state examples of “successful” advocacy pathways; and Feel empowered and inspired to engage in food systems advocacy.
In this learning session, we explored the elements of policy advocacy - a broad spectrum of action to shape policy - and heard from two states on the pathways their statewide food systems plans have provided to engage in policy advocacy.
Prior to this meeting we invited members to add to and review our Policy Action Bulletin Board or share their favorite toolkits for communication and advocacy to the Resource Hub.
Facilitation Team & Presenters
- Erin Melton
- Jan Libbey
- Tommy Hextler
- Lindsey Scalera
- Sarah Buranskas
- Geb Bastien
Takeaways: We asked what concepts participants were taking away from the session. One participant remarked, "That advocacy takes a community and that we're stronger when we have a shared message/idea on how to progress." Others found it helpful to consider how to work hand-in-hand with partner organizations to collaborate on advocacy, and that it's imperative to, "encourage nonprofits to have clear and candid conversations about policies and expectations for employees advocating and lobbying - clarity will help demystify and hopefully encourage participation!" Yet another participant was struck by the, "...the importance and time it takes to build robust and resilient collaboration infrastructure"
Future Topics: We asked participants what they would like to learn more about. Topics included:
- how to integrated Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives in the food and farming space;
- how to navigate organizational leadership transitions;
- addressing harm and conflict in coalition spaces;
- Identifying opportunities for regional cross-state collaboration on policy action
And one participant helpfully pointed out that in future sessions, it would, "...still be super helpful to keep learning about tangible, initial steps for getting a statewide food system planning process/charter going in states that haven't made a lot of progress on this front." This speaks to a concept that came up often in planning our learning sessions, driving us toward the need to have differentiated content for states/regions in different stages of development.
To gather one last time for a review of what we'd accomplished and where things are heading next.
After our welcome & introductions, we offered some gratitudes for all of the amazing work and insights that went into forming and shaping this Community of Practice. We reviewed the many outputs we had generated through this project, talked through our evaluation, had a final small group reflection discussion, and talked about next steps.
This project will continue, opening up nationally thanks to additional funding leveraged. We will continue to build on this model with new partners and linking up with another nationally-focused effort led by our partners at University of Hawai`i'.
In this planning committee meeting, we reviewed outputs generated through this project, including:
- The farmer feedback report
- A description of our collaborative model
- Four learning sessions
- A resource hub
- A story hub (which we hope to continue with more support offered to participants)
- A policy action bulletin board
- An online hub to house all related materials
We went over our SARE PDP Final Eval Survey and its preliminary results.
We held a small group discussion, summarized here: SARE PDP Virtual Whiteboard
The slides with details are included here: PDP Planning Committee_Final Debrief
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
Learning Outcomes
Project Outcomes
This project established a Planning Committee composed of representatives from all 12 North Central States. Through a collaborative process to identify shared learning outcomes, members created a model for a series of four learning sessions led or co-led by members of the Committee, which also drew in other colleagues in our respective states.
In our logic model, we emphasized knowledge, action and conditions outcomes:
- Share promising practices from state food charters
- Learn and share promising practices for the development of statewide/regional food charters or food system plans
- Explore how to prioritize racial equity in their food system plans; Increase engagement in developing a racial equity lens approach with their work
- Learn what priorities farmers identify as most impactful for their businesses and communities over the next 5-10 years; Ensure that state food system plans take into consideration farmers' priorities
Our first three full Committee meetings allowed CoP members to broadly share their experiences on a set of topics related to the development of food systems plans and local/regional food systems in general, as well as learn what farmers from 7 of the 12 states prioritize as key to the development and viability of local/regional farm businesses. The resulting four learning sessions built on the planned and collaboratively generated outcomes by offering opportunities for members to share their on-the-ground experiences at different stages of statewide/regional food systems planning.
Overall, 80% of participants responding to our evaluation agreed we'd achieved our learning goals for the learning sessions, and 80% agreed that topics, speakers, and resources shared were relevant and able to be incorporated into their work. Some helpful feedback was provided through evaluation and discussion that would assist us to improve future communities of practice, including:
- Clearer goals and format will help recruit and engage the right people and would help to ensure relevance of content & format(s).
- More (and possibly structured) opportunities to connect or collaborate with each other on relevant topics may be appropriate
- Further exploration of topics we started to cover in this series. There never seems to be enough time!
When we received this grant in the fall of 2021, we did not anticipate several challenges that significantly slowed our progress to establish the Community of Practice, collaboratively set learning goals, and implement our cooperative learning plan. These challenges included:
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In late 2021, CRFS Director Rich Pirog had announced his transition out of his role. This required a shifting of staff responsibilities throughout the Center and resulted in a large draw on staff capacity as they had put together a national search for a new director. An additional full-time staff person had also transitioned to a new position elsewhere in 2022.
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The COVID-19 Pandemic had still posed significant limitations to in-person meetings, so our initial plan to meet in-person to connect with the 12-state planning team was transitioned to fully online. We adjusted by planning to host our second Learning Session in conjunction with the Michigan Good Food Summit in May of 2023, which allowed a hybrid model (some in person and some virtual) and for folks to attend the Michigan Good Food Summit, which was also held with a virtual option.
- Organizing food systems leaders from 12 states to meet proved to be an additional challenge. While did our best to work out a plan that accommodated having at least one person from each state present at initial planning meetings, it did slow our progress to getting started and keeping the momentum going. Members were very understanding and encouraging, indicating their continued interest in establishing this CoP.
These challenges notwithstanding, the CoP moved forward and we were able to achieve most of our objectives. We had trouble getting engagement outside of the planned learning sessions for some activities, but new opportunities sprang up that have now made their way into the "2.0" version of this project. It turned out that allowing for one-on-one options between states was very valuable. Michigan and Iowa met up several times to discuss various aspects of the stages of Iowa's second food system plan development as Michigan had recently completed their own update during the course of the project.
Thanks to funding from the WK Kellogg Foundation, we are now in the planning stages of a phase two of this community of practice. That allows us to open the CoP to a national audience and engage partners throughout the US. Ideas for future components of the next iteration of the community of practice include:
- Continuations of the Learning Session topics we established in this CoP (Racial Equity, Networks, Data & Storytelling, Policy Advocacy).
- Learning Sessions on other/additional relevant topics
- Time to connect with CoP members from other states such as through one-to-one/small group Zoom-meetups
- Time to connect with stakeholders and/or CoP members from my state such as through one-to-one/small group Zoom-meetups
- Mentorship between practitioners with specific experiences related to my work/goals
- Support to develop advocacy stories (i.e. a workshop or series, having someone interview me to develop a story, etc.)
- Workshops developed by practitioners outside of the CoP (i.e. guest speakers)
- Continue to develop and add to the online hub
- Time to work on campaign/policy advocacy strategies with other states
- At least one full-group in-person gathering
- Site visits with other states (visiting another CoP member in-person)
- Time to learn from food systems stakeholders (such as farmers, food producers, local/regional organizations) doing food systems work
Time spent together - in planning, implementing, conducting and debriefing learning sessions, meeting in-person and online for one-on-ones turned out to be the most valuable aspect of this project. Time is a difficult resource to come by and we have found in our own food systems work that it is one of the key factors when folks talk about frustrations with lack of capacity to collaborate for change. This project allowed us to prioritize time together and the value of that is evident in both the evaluation responses and the outputs generated.
Two states involved in this community of practice completed their updated food systems plans: Michigan and Iowa! Being able to connect with each other during this stage of food systems plans development was very helpful to both parties and we plan to continue our partnership even as we expand the larger CoP network.
Information Products
- Farmer Conversations 2022 (Conference/Presentation Material)
- Statewide/Regional Food Systems Plans Community of Practice Hub (Website)
- Community of Practice Summative Evaluation Survey Tool (Decision-making Tool, Manual/Guide, Workbook/Worksheet)