Last month we wrapped up an important planning initiative. Our goal: to reimagine our organization’s mission in the aftermath of the pandemic, and develop new community programming and software solutions to help community food enterprises scale and succeed. 

Understandings needs and challenges

The first critical step in this process was to better understand the unique challenges and pain points that are faced by grassroots community food projects. Over the course of a year, we held consultations with representatives from over 25 grassroots organizations, including volunteer-driven ‘buying clubs,’ social good focused food hubs, community food centers, and co-ops. Through focus groups, surveys, workshops, and strategic planning sessions we gained insights into the distinct challenges of these groups. 

Developing new software features

Our engagement process demonstrated that community food organizations have technology needs that are not being well served by today’s software providers. We are taking a number of steps to address this issue.

Our first response has been to begin work on some of the key features that participants requested, starting with the ability to apply complex voucher functionality at checkout. This functionality will assist community food projects in enhancing their fair food access programs by facilitating the delivery of services such tiered ‘social pricing,’ pay-it-forward programs, and integration with timebanking tools. 

Collaborative community development programing

Along with technology solutions, we have also begun work on a community development program that speaks to some of the broader challenges that early stage community food initiatives identified as key barriers to their success. 

With this focus in mind, we are excited to begin partnering with Colleaga and the Network for Optimizing Food Impact on the launch of a new collaborative FoodConnectsCa Program. This program is designed to provide early stage community food initiatives with support in key areas such as fundraising and proposal writing, volunteer engagement, supply chain coordination, and the use of effective marketing and sales metrics.

In collaboration with Colleaga and our long time partners at the St. James Town Community Co-operative we have initiated a pilot project designed to finetune our program offerings ahead of a broader launch. Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting initiative in the coming months. 

Next steps