Extension would like your stories!

Dear Extension colleagues:

Hope you are doing well and can have a restful weekend and holiday break with family and friends!

Crystal Tyler-Mackey and I would like to request your help with a communication project. In collaboration with you, we would like to highlight how Virginia Cooperative Extension is engaged in improving food access and working to alleviate issues of hunger and food insecurity across the state.

If you are engaged in educational programming efforts to increase access to healthy foods in your communities and localities through projects and initiatives such as:

·       Gardening, farmers’ markets, community supported agriculture

·       Food preparation and preservation, including cooking demos

·       Food waste/recovery

·       Food safety

·       Increasing EBT/SNAP acceptance at Farmers’ Markets, corner stores, etc.

·       Hosting meetings, conferences, listening sessions, etc. around collaboration, food access issues, etc.

·       Stretching your food dollars

·       Gleaning

·       Prescription produce

·       Food security at the household and community level

·       Food and agriculture policy

·       Institutional food procurement and preparation (e.g., farm-to-school, -university, and -hospital)

·       Nutrition education and health promotion

·       Others?

Virginia Cooperative Extension needs your stories and input! The goal would be to have 8 to 10 good solid stories by February 1, but certainly the more, the merrier!

As you may know, close to 1.5 million individuals in Virginia struggle with limited food access. Hence, the Virginia General Assembly commissioned Virginia Cooperative Extension in 2013 to study the issue of limited food access and food deserts in Virginia. A report was developed and submitted to the General Assembly in 2014. The full Food Deserts in Virginia report can be accessed at: http://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/VCE/VCE-294/VCE-294.html .  

Crystal and I know many of you are working and collaborating to address improve and enhance food access in the communities and localities you serve. Such a complex issue requires input and collaboration across all of our programming areas (i.e., 4-H, ANR, CV, FCS and FNP) and with our local partners.

The story also needs to be shared more widely. It’s time to capture the good work happening across the state and share those stories with our stakeholders!

Recently, on a work trip to Ohio, Crystal came across an Ohio State University publication that inspired this idea and effort. The publication shared how the university and its Extension programs are addressing and working to alleviate hunger. https://www.osu.edu/alumni/news/ohio-state-alumni-magazine/issues/july-august-2016/ .

We know Virginia has similar good programs and collaborations working to address such a serious issue. Therefore, we would like to showcase and share some of your stories and our organization’s efforts. 

Please share your stories and ideas of programs that should be highlighted here: https://vce.az1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_5huUrSKVl8TdE8J

From these stories and ideas, CALS Communications and Marketing will follow-up up and refine the stories to show how we are working to address food access/food security in Virginia.

Again, we need your stories and input to tell our overall story!

Best regards,

Eric Bendfeldt and Crystal Tyler-Mackey