The Regional Food System Partnerships (RFSP) program supports partnerships that connect public and private resources to plan and develop local or regional food systems. The program focuses on strengthening the regional food economy through collaboration and coordination. The goal of the program is to catalyze developments or enhancements to the local or regional food systems.
Feed Our Future was recently notified that we are one of of 36 awarded projects for the 2022 RFSP grant opportunity and are the only funded project in Ohio.
Feed Our Future: Planning, Partnerships and Projects to Increase Local Food Spending leverages local and regional partnerships to advance the collaborations necessary to build a regionally innovative and responsive farm to school (F2S) initiative that serves school-aged children across Northern Ohio.
The Cuyahoga County Board of Health (CCBH) serves as the backbone organization for Feed Our Future (FOF): Local Foods for Growing Minds, convening individuals and stakeholders throughout Ohio to advance the policy, environmental, and systems changes needed to drive systemic change and build a more resilient food system.
The project goals are:
- Strengthen the mid-tier value chain to effectively serve K-12 school systems by increasing the number of producers in the supply chain;
- Increase local food purchasing by K-12 school systems through the execution of a farm to school bid;
- Increase the knowledge and skills of school meal program staff to menu, serve, and teach about local foods through the creation of two new curriculums; and
- Expand organizational capacity to support regional local food system efforts, planning, partnership, and advocacy by hiring an equity consultant, facilitating ongoing meetings of the Feed Our Future Leadership Council, and engaging in new and enhancing existing partnerships to generate a regional farm to school strategic plan.
We are so excited about this award and what it will do for school aged children. Be sure to take the pledge and sign up for our newsletter to learn more about the ways you can get involved with us.
Congratulations to all of the other grantees!