Rural Food Access

Access to healthy and affordable food can be a major challenge for rural families. Many rural communities lack food retailers and are even considered food deserts despite typically being areas where farming is all prevalent and important to the local economy. As the NWI Food Council continues to grow, our reach is expanding beyond urban food access initiatives to address the unique needs of rural communities.

Rural Food Access Grant

Through an Indiana Department of Health Rural Food Access Grant, The NWI Food Council is expanding value chain coordination efforts to connect Starke County’s K-12 school lunch programs to local food and farmers. By piloting and developing a local food procurement strategy, the NWI Food Council is well-positioned to improve rural food access for Starke County’s schoolchildren.  Funds will be used to allocate our Value Chain Coordinator (VCC) Dr. Virginia Pleasant’s skillset to focus on developing relationships with Food Service Directors in the Starke County School Districts of Oregon-Davis, Knox, and North Judson-San Pierre.  

Dr. Pleasant has been heavily involved in developing and authoring the Indiana Grown for Schools Toolkits Suite which provides a roadmap for food service directors looking to procure local food. Dr. Pleasant will engage with food service professionals in Starke County through in-person meetings, school visits, school food service buyer/procurement training, introduction to the IN Grown for Schools toolkits and additional technical support as needed. 

 A portion of funds will also be used to: 1) compensate local farmers for in-school support programming such as Harvest of the Month farmer visits, presentations, panels or workshops; and 2) provide professional development training for food service staff through online courses.

Indiana Department of Health logo

This program is made possible through a grant from the Indiana Department of Health.

 

Future Rural Food Access Initiatives in Northwest Indiana:

Our future initiatives include:

  • Migrant farmer worker food access

  • Improved SNAP/WIC access at farmers markets and farm stands

  • Home delivery of food benefits purchases

Our Partners in Rural Food Access:

Our rural food access work is made possible by funding from:

the Indiana Department of Health SNAP-Ed Division