April 5, 2022
KSRE Local Foods Systems TDT to Hold Statewide Local Foods Virtual Town Hall
The KSRE Local Food Systems TDT is planning to hold its 3rd quarterly statewide local foods virtual town hall on April 27, from 11 a.m. - noon. The goal of the meeting is for people working in the area of local food systems across Kansas to be able to share what they are working on related to local food systems and learn what other organizations are doing so that we all can work together to strengthen local food systems in Kansas.
The agenda for the April 27 virtual town hall includes:
1) Five minute presentations by:
a. Russell Plaschka, Kansas Department of Agriculture, KDA’s Strategic Growth Initiative
b. Elaine Johannes, K-State Research and Extension, Hearing Voices; Seeing Signs - connections between social determinants of health and local food
c. Tori Laird, update on Kansas Food Framework
2) Open discussion about upcoming/ ongoing local food systems-related grants that anyone in Kansas is applying for and would like to get input from others on (see note on this below).
a. KSRE plans for applying for a USDA Regional Food Systems Program grant
b. Others?
3) Brief announcements of upcoming local food systems events/initiatives in Kansas that will be occurring in the next few months- everyone is welcome to share announcements that you might have in this area.
We know that there are currently many grants open related to local foods, so we want to provide a time when different groups can briefly share information about a proposal that they are working on and put out a request to others in the state for any support that they might need. The intent of this portion is to provide an interactive discussion to encourage collaboration and facilitate more beneficial proposals from Kansas getting funded. If your group has a grant proposal they would like to bring up during this time, please let us know by April 20 so that we can be sure to organize this section accordingly ahead of time.
We now have a listserv set up to share information about the town halls. If anyone is interested in being added to the listserv to receive information on the town halls, they can do the following:
Address an email to listserv@listserv.ksu.edu (and to no other email address).
In the body of the email, type SUB KSRELOCALFOODS Your Name (Ex: SUB KSRELOCALFOODS Willie Wildcat)
Please let me know if you would like the zoom information for the April 27 meeting, or you can sign up for the listserv and we will send it again that way as well. We do plan to record the session in case you are not able to make it at that time. We look forward to “seeing” many of you online on April 27 from 11 a.m. - noon. Thanks and all the best. --Londa Nwadike on behalf of the KSRE planning team