FEATURED NEWS & UPDATES
May 17, 2024
All over Colorado, farmers’ markets are starting to pop up with local growers ready to sell their farm-fresh produce! These markets are a vital part of our food systems, serving as a way for community members to access local, nourishing foods while also providing income opportunities for farmers, ranchers, and other producers.
May 15, 2024
House Bill 2024-1301, with a focus on time to eat and play in Colorado public schools, did not advance during the 2024 state legislative session. While the Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger and Nourish Colorado are disappointed in the outcome, both organizations will continue to advocate for time-to-eat policies in Colorado. Together, we plan to create our own opportunities to evaluate best practices and policies, which will kick off this summer with ample options for network input.
May 14, 2024
This month, the Blueprint recognizes Asian American, Native Hawai’ian & Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month. It’s a time to reflect upon and celebrate the many contributions of the AANHPI community – consisting of culturally and linguistically diverse people representing many countries and islands of origin – throughout our nation’s history. It’s also a time to recognize the many challenges that these communities have endured and continue to face today in Colorado and beyond, including access to nourishing and culturally relevant food.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
PARTNER STORIES
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.
“I think because we’re a community center, people trust us,” she said. “They come for a variety of services, [and] we see ourselves as a bridge to those services.”
So, when the Arapahoe and Adams counties’ offices for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants & Children (WIC) were approached to come to the center, in coordination with open hours of their food pantry to support WIC enrollment, they were an immediate yes.
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.
Forty-one dining hall staff and managers serve breakfast and lunch for a district of a little more than 4,600 students. Since the start of Healthy School Meals for All, the voter-approved initiative to provide no-cost lunch and breakfast in Colorado’s public schools, Main’s staff has been serving an increasing number of students.
And that means, they’ve had to up their game.
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.”