TY - JOUR AU - Banks, Alyssa AU - Saito, Rebecca AU - Adameck, Margaret PY - 2019/08/19 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Building Grantee Capacity as a Core Strategy to Improve Local Food Systems JF - Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development JA - J. Agric. Food Syst. Community Dev. VL - 9 IS - A SE - PBFS Conference Snapshots DO - 10.5304/jafscd.2019.091.020 UR - https://foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/726 SP - 253-254 AB - <p>Greater Twin Cities United Way (GTCUW), Minnesota’s largest nongovernmental social services funder, connects local people and resources to change systems that limit our potential. Hunger and food insecurity require a spectrum of holistic responses that address emergency and root causes, while advancing long-term solutions for individuals, families, communities, and systems. To that end, GTCUW launched Full Lives, an innovative grantmaking strategy fostering a healthy and equitable community food system where all residents can thrive. This two-year, US$1.5 million effort employs a place-based approach to community and economic development to reduce food insecurity by improving food access, food affordability, and food justice for a low-income Minneapolis neighborhood facing systemic food security issues. Full Lives grantees focus on diverse aspects of the local supply chain that strengthen North Minneapolis’s local food system.</p><p>Full Lives further augments this effort through grantee learning focused on increased organizational capacity and strengthened connections among grantee organizations, with a cross-cutting theme of commu­nity development. GTCUW partners with local technical assistance providers to implement flexible, innova­tive, responsive, and targeted capacity-building strategies and services. This strategic investment generates cross-agency collaboration, active networking, organizational development, and enhanced food systems tech­nical expertise. A robust evaluation—including qualitative and quantitative elements—reveals successes, chal­lenges, and lessons learned from the design and execution of these capacity-building strategies. Practice and measurement of this grantee capacity-building investment suggests strategies and considerations for partner­ship development, incorporation of grantee and community voice in planning, and delivery of ongoing educational activities for grantees.</p><p>GTCUW would like to thank the General Mills Foundation for its generous support in making this work possible.</p> ER -