USDA Grant Press Release
"Missoula Community Food Solutions: Farm Viability and Food Security in Missoula County," a grant proposal submitted by a coalition of Missoula groups interested in bringing long-term capacity and local self-reliance into the local food system, has received funding from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Community Food Projects Competitive Grant Program.
The project is a collaborative effort by the Missoula Food Bank, the North Missoula Community Development Corporation, the University of Montana's Environmental Studies Program and Department of Social Work, and the Missoula Office of Planning and Grants' Crime Victim Advocate Program.
The recently-formed Community Food and Agriculture Coalition and the future North Missoula Food Cooperative will utilize the $200,000 in grants funds to: establish a Missoula County Food and Farm Policy; bridge the gap between local producers and consumers; build capacity innovatively through community organizing and outreach to underserved populations, targeting domestic violence victims living in economic and food insecurity in Missoula's Northside neighborhoods; and address the need for increased knowledge about the food and agriculture system of Missoula County.
Bonnie Buckingham with the Missoula Food Bank, along with Neva Hassanein of UM's Environmental Studies program, is helping to guide the newly-created Community Food and Agriculture Coalition (CFAC). The USDA funding will help CFAC to incorporate policy and planning mechanism intended to build long-term capacity and local self-reliance into the local food system through inter-agency planning activities and approaches.
Molly Moody and Bob Oaks with the North Missoula Community Development Corporation (NMCDC) will use the funds to help with the creation of a locally-owned and managed food coop that it that will link local producers and consumers. To be located on Missoula's Westside, the coop will target low-income consumers.
A Women's Economic Justice group, led by Shantelle Gainer and Leslie McClintock with the Crime Victim Advocate program, will work with low-income domestic violence victims to provide linkages to the economic and market opportunities to be provided by the Missoula Food Coop. Maxine Jacobson and students from the UM Social Work Department will provide research on food and nutrition information as it relates to low-income women.
According to Buckingham, "this one-time seed money from the USDA is providing the funding needed to initiate efforts to make Missoula County's food system self-reliant, increasing farm and ranch vitality, creating opportunities for local food production and providing nutritious, locally-grown low-cost food to the community."
Descriptions of all the grant winners funded in fiscal year 2005 can be found online at: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/newsroom/releases/fs/cfp_fs.doc (Word File).
