In September 2024, Jefferson County Food Policy Council hosted their Food Policy Fair at Lakewood Park. The event’s goal was to create an interactive learning opportunity for members on the various policy processes and issues affecting local food systems. 

At the Village Exchange Center in Aurora, one reality is clear to Amanda Blaurock, the organization’s executive director. Making connections for their clients as seamless as possible is a recipe for ensuring everyone who visits the center gets what they need.

The bread is always baking at Delta County Schools on the Western Slope of Colorado. What’s also always happening is Jeri Main, the district’s food service coordinator, and her staff are always on the hunt for new recipes.

Colectivo de Paz makes food a bridge. 

The Denver nonprofit’s mutual aid program focuses on supporting people living unhoused. And a major way it builds trust between the organization’s volunteers and staff and the individuals they serve is by demonstrating an understanding of basic needs. 

“If you don’t have those basic physical needs met, there isn’t anywhere else to go. Food is always a need, and it creates trust,” said Julian Temianka, the group’s Director of Outreach and Advancement. “With that line of communication open we can do more. Maybe it’s naturalization status. Maybe it is a wound that’s just out of sight under their shirtsleeve. We can’t just come in to say, ‘Who needs legal services?’ until we establish that baseline.” 

Greta Allen, the Blueprint’s Policy Director, recently visited Leadville to celebrate with some partners in Colorado’s Lake County. Located in a mountain valley of central Colorado, Leadville is the highest-elevation incorporated town in North America at 10,158 feet.

During her time there, Greta attended a full-day celebration of food and earth, with the collective goal of creating change to see food in abundance and in ways that allow everyone to eat healthy and be well. The event called “Future Town: Lettuce Gather” was hosted by Lake County Build a Generation (LCBAG) and Warm Cookies of the Revolution in September 2023. 

In tiny Creede, where the school district is home to just 90 students, one man has a goal for himself and his team.

Malcolm Snead, the school’s nutrition director, wants his dining rooms to be considered the “best rural food service program in Colorado.” If you look at his menu and the response from the kids who come through the lunch line, he’s well on his way.

His menu features lentil stew sourced from Dove Creek, micro greens and hydroponically-grown lettuce from the San Luis Valley, and yak meat from a rancher in Saguache.

The San Luis Valley spans nearly 8,000 square miles of southern Colorado, where much of the land in the world’s largest alpine valley provides for the local community as well as people all over the state and nation. They’re the second-largest producer of potatoes in the United States and the largest supplier of native hay for Colorado. With the high-mountain desert’s climate, farmers also grow alfalfa, barley, wheat, and vegetables as well as raise livestock and use their land for grazing.

Dana Wood, the Blueprint’s Community Investment Manager, recently visited several partners in the San Luis Valley who are centering community-driven solutions to transform their local food systems and address hunger locally. This included the Valley Roots Food Hub, San Luis People’s Market, and Saguache Food Access Coalition. See her photo essay to learn more.

Greta Allen, the Blueprint’s Policy Manager, recently visited the Pueblo Food Project and RMSER in Pueblo County in late August. She also traveled to Prowers County to make a presentation and meet with Lamar Unidos. 

Michelle Ray, the Blueprint’s Visibility Manager who’s based in Colorado Springs, is becoming more active with the Southeast Food Coalition. In addition to attending coalition meetings, she recently volunteered at Solid Rock Community Development Corporation’s free farmers market and helped facilitate a small-group conversation around local food access during a community dinner at Food to Power. 

Find out a little more about each group’s efforts to build community and address hunger locally.

As part of our work, program staff for the Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger find it important to visit and connect with network partners right in their communities. We want to see what’s happening locally – especially the great work being done by community coalitions and organizations.

Dana Wood, the Blueprint’s Community Investment Manager, recently visited with recipients of Food Pantry Assistance Grants in southwestern Colorado. This included the Montezuma School to Farm Project and Pine River Shares in Bayfield, along with a joint food distribution by Good Sam’s Food Pantry and Dolores Family Project in Cortez.

It’s a known challenge within the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program in most communities. How do we get more people eligible for the program to actually use it?

The Community Food Bank of Grand Junction is tackling that question with a significant grant from the USDA. One of only 36 organizations selected to participate in the work, the food bank is certainly one of the smallest and also one of the few in a more rural part of the country.