Who Are We?
The Regional Food System Assessment and Planning project is part of the Moving Forward Together Initiative. Moving Forward Together is one action by the Western New York COVID-19 Community Response Fund, a collaborative philanthropic effort launched in March 2020 to address the COVID-19 crisis in our community. Moving Forward Together includes over a hundred partners representing the entire spectrum of the food system in our region working cross-sector and cross-county to address the entrenched and chronic conditions that have perpetuated long-term food insecurity and hurt food-based economics.
As of December 31, 2020, the Western New York COVID-19 Community Response Fund has awarded over $8.1 million to more than 400 nonprofits through three rounds of emergency grant funding, a microgrants program and the Moving Forward Together initiative, including a grant to partially support this food security effort. Other funders include the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation and the Western New York Foundation. Additional Moving Forward Together efforts of the Western New York COVID-19 Community Response Fund include: Digital Equity & Inclusion, Public Policy and a Request for Ideas. Learn more at www.WNYResponds.org.
The SCALE team of consultants is leading a highly participatory process that meaningfully engages the full spectrum of WNY food system stakeholders, both rural and urban, across the nine counties of the project’s focus. The engagement of farmers, businesses, food justice activists, non-profits, consumers, and others will enable the development of a plan that recognizes the many complex challenges within the region yet focuses on opportunities for real change. Broad-based community outreach and participation strategies will be culturally- and community-appropriate, inclusive, and centered around an ethos of “Engage, Listen, Learn.” Community participation is a key element of the project’s authenticity and the development of realistic change and growth strategies. While this is a consultant led initiative, the research, assessment, and response strategies all develop in partnership with local people. Building stronger connections among farm and food stakeholders within the region helps to build a stronger, more resilient food system in Western New York.
A Regional Advisory Council (RAC) is composed of food system stakeholders and advocates who hold expertise of some element of the region’s food system. The RAC is the primary partner to the SCALE team, providing both guidance to the food system assessment and critical feedback to the consultants throughout the project. RAC members have truly contributed to shaping this ambitious and comprehensive effort and can assure the overall effort is inclusive and representative of the diversity within the region’s food system. RAC members provide value and support not only to the SCALE team but also to all partners and stakeholders involved in this project.
Works Groups are charged with being action-oriented with a focus on a particular issue, opportunity, or element of the region's food system. Five Work Groups have launched to delve deeper in key areas or issues of the region's food system: Access, Equity, Sovereignty; Farmers and Producers; Finance; Infrastructure; and Markets and Buyers. Several of the Work Groups have formed sub-groups that are focused on a very specific need or issue, such as the bottleneck in accessing meat animal processing, or developing sub-aggregation hubs to seamlessly move food from local farms to end users. The Work Groups work synergistically with SCALE, the Regional Advisory Council, and project co-leaders and also provide a way for more community members to particpate in strengthening the food system. Members for the Work Groups are representative of those who are working as closely to the issue at hand, deeply grounding the role and function of the WG with the ongoing work of food system leaders/stakeholders in the WNY region. The WGs function in a culture of action, meaning the efforts are geared toward assisting with a full understanding of the existing regional food system and then motivating action for sustainable changes and positive impacts.
Community meetings, listening sessions, individual interviews, site visits, virtual meetings, and surveys – these are just a few of the other ways that local participation has been accommodated during this project. The SCALE team has logged hundres of hours of interaction with food system stakeholders at all levels and roles, especially people who have been historically disenfranchised or eclipsed from participating in guiding food system functions and development.
As of December 31, 2020, the Western New York COVID-19 Community Response Fund has awarded over $8.1 million to more than 400 nonprofits through three rounds of emergency grant funding, a microgrants program and the Moving Forward Together initiative, including a grant to partially support this food security effort. Other funders include the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation and the Western New York Foundation. Additional Moving Forward Together efforts of the Western New York COVID-19 Community Response Fund include: Digital Equity & Inclusion, Public Policy and a Request for Ideas. Learn more at www.WNYResponds.org.
The SCALE team of consultants is leading a highly participatory process that meaningfully engages the full spectrum of WNY food system stakeholders, both rural and urban, across the nine counties of the project’s focus. The engagement of farmers, businesses, food justice activists, non-profits, consumers, and others will enable the development of a plan that recognizes the many complex challenges within the region yet focuses on opportunities for real change. Broad-based community outreach and participation strategies will be culturally- and community-appropriate, inclusive, and centered around an ethos of “Engage, Listen, Learn.” Community participation is a key element of the project’s authenticity and the development of realistic change and growth strategies. While this is a consultant led initiative, the research, assessment, and response strategies all develop in partnership with local people. Building stronger connections among farm and food stakeholders within the region helps to build a stronger, more resilient food system in Western New York.
A Regional Advisory Council (RAC) is composed of food system stakeholders and advocates who hold expertise of some element of the region’s food system. The RAC is the primary partner to the SCALE team, providing both guidance to the food system assessment and critical feedback to the consultants throughout the project. RAC members have truly contributed to shaping this ambitious and comprehensive effort and can assure the overall effort is inclusive and representative of the diversity within the region’s food system. RAC members provide value and support not only to the SCALE team but also to all partners and stakeholders involved in this project.
Works Groups are charged with being action-oriented with a focus on a particular issue, opportunity, or element of the region's food system. Five Work Groups have launched to delve deeper in key areas or issues of the region's food system: Access, Equity, Sovereignty; Farmers and Producers; Finance; Infrastructure; and Markets and Buyers. Several of the Work Groups have formed sub-groups that are focused on a very specific need or issue, such as the bottleneck in accessing meat animal processing, or developing sub-aggregation hubs to seamlessly move food from local farms to end users. The Work Groups work synergistically with SCALE, the Regional Advisory Council, and project co-leaders and also provide a way for more community members to particpate in strengthening the food system. Members for the Work Groups are representative of those who are working as closely to the issue at hand, deeply grounding the role and function of the WG with the ongoing work of food system leaders/stakeholders in the WNY region. The WGs function in a culture of action, meaning the efforts are geared toward assisting with a full understanding of the existing regional food system and then motivating action for sustainable changes and positive impacts.
Community meetings, listening sessions, individual interviews, site visits, virtual meetings, and surveys – these are just a few of the other ways that local participation has been accommodated during this project. The SCALE team has logged hundres of hours of interaction with food system stakeholders at all levels and roles, especially people who have been historically disenfranchised or eclipsed from participating in guiding food system functions and development.
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SCALE Team Members
The four members of SCALE’s team – Anthony Flaccavento, Euneika Rogers-Sipp, John Fisk and Michael Shuman have a broad, diverse base of experiences, along with a strong overlap in our values and beliefs about how best to build more just, inclusive and sustainable food systems. Our team brings:
All four consultants have considerable experience and outstanding skills in community facilitation, across rural and urban communities, and all four will bring those skills to bear during the project.
- a commitment to participatory research, where action and experiences on the ground deeply inform our understanding and recommendations;
- community engagement processes that are clear and straight forward, and help ensure that folks from all walks of life meaningfully participate;
- strategies that enable diverse community stakeholders to co-design the process with us, and to more fully ‘own’ the outcomes;
- a focus on action, on real change that makes the food system better for farmers, for eaters and everyone in between.
All four consultants have considerable experience and outstanding skills in community facilitation, across rural and urban communities, and all four will bring those skills to bear during the project.
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Anthony FlaccaventoTeam Leader
flaccavento@ruralscale.com Anthony, founder of SCALE, Inc. (Sequestering Carbon, Accelerating Local Economies) leads the team in their work in WNY. His experience as a farmer, rural development consultant, and founder of several food system businesses and infrastructure enterprises contributes to the team being able to effectively connect with and engage farmers, food system stakeholders, and rural, small-town folks who might normally feel disengaged from having a voice in food system matters.
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John FiskTeam Co-Leader
jwfisk@gmail.com John brings the widest range of knowledge about food system issues, innovations, and models. He is deeply grounded in the technical and ecological dimension of farming and can advise WNY stakeholders on farming best practices. John draws from his more than 20 years of recent leadership at the Wallace Center and previously from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. John will draw on his relationships with individuals, organizations, and businesses across the spectrum of food systems, to connect WNY collaborators with other food system leaders and success models.
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Euneika Rogers-SippCommunity Outreach & Engagement Leader
e.rogerssipp@ddesschool.com Euneika applies her experience in founding and building the Destination Design School of Agricultural Estates and regional wealth-creation models in sustainable rural economic development to inform highly-effective and inclusive community outreach and engagement processes, particularly focusing on segregated and long-distressed neighborhoods. Euneika's approach reinvests stakeholders' role within the food system addressing root causes of structural inequities and paves sustainable paths for making healthy food available to all. Her work as a Harvard Loeb Fellow strengthens her framework for community engagement and connects WNY stakeholders with a diverse food system and social justice network.
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Michael ShumanCommunity Economics Leader
shuman@igc.org Michael is one of the country's premier thinkers, writers, and consultants on the development of diverse and resilient economies. He regularly puts his visionary thinking to test in small towns and urban areas across the country, assisting local communities in designing, testing, and implementing a range of strategies that build strong local economies. Michael brings his expertise on mobilizing local capital to benefit local food system enterprises and will lead the design and recommendations for building wealth in the WNY regional food system.
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Western New York Project Contacts
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WESTERN NEW YORK FOUNDATION
2495 Main Street, Suite 464, Buffalo, NY 14214 716-839-4225 Beth Kinsman Gosch, Executive Director bgosch@wnyfoundation.org Lauren VanOsten, Program Officer Lvanosten@wnyfoundation.org |
NY SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE WORKING GROUP
4039 Route 219, #200, Salamanca, NY 14779 716-945-5301 x2211 Kimberly LaMendola, Food System Projects Manager klamendola@southerntierwest.org |