Connecting community to traditional foods, strengthening local food systems in southwestern Colorado
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 the Four Corners Food Coalition, and a joint food distribution by two of its members, Good Sam’s Food Pantry and Dolores Family Project, in Cortez.
Here’s a little more about each community-based group’s efforts to address hunger, along with some photos from Dana’s visits in mid-August:
Pine River Shares believes “the people most affected by a problem are the most qualified to solve it.” They’re a community-based leadership project in the Pine River Valley of southwestern Colorado, stretching from Vallecito to Arboles. The group, based in Bayfield, unites people in the valley to share knowledge, skills, and resources so they can increase their collective power and bring about positive social change for their communities.
Current food-related efforts include a weekly food share program, food delivery to smaller communities, Bayfield Kids 4 Kids backpack food program, and monthly community dinners. Community leaders also coordinate a Plant-A-Row project for local gardeners, along with a Field2Fork project to encourage local production, purchasing, and consumption of healthy foods right in the valley.
The below photos are from Dana’s visit with Pine River Shares on August 10, 2023.
Pine River Shares is a community-based leadership project in the Pine River Valley of southwestern Colorado, stretching from Vallecito to Arboles.
The group believes “the people most affected by a problem are the most qualified to solve it.”
Community leaders coordinate a Plant-A-Row project for local gardeners, along with a Field2Fork project to encourage local production, purchasing, and consumption of healthy foods right in the valley.
Current food-related efforts include a weekly food share program, food delivery to smaller communities, Bayfield Kids 4 Kids backpack food program, and monthly community dinners.
The Montezuma School to Farm Project, based in Cortez, partners with three rural school districts to offer educational experiences at the crossroads of food production, food preparation, nutrition, and resource conservation. Their school gardens, supported by students from ages 3 - 18, produce thousands of pounds of fresh food, which are donated to local food pantries. Experiential learning opportunities for students range from the Garden Explorers program for pre-kindergarten through 5th graders to STEM in the Garden lessons in middle school and paid summer internships for those in high school.
They also offer professional development workshops and collaboration opportunities for teachers. Such efforts have resulted in the introduction of new lessons that focus on Indigenous agricultural techniques in the Four Corners region.
The below photos are from Dana’s visit to one of their school gardens on August 10, 2023.
The Montezuma School to Farm Project partners with three rural school districts to offer educational experiences at the crossroads of food production, food preparation, nutrition, and resource conservation.
Their school gardens, supported by students from ages 3 - 18, produce thousands of pounds of fresh food, which are donated to local food pantries.
Experiential learning opportunities for students range from the Garden Explorers program for pre-kindergarten through 5th graders to STEM in the Garden lessons in middle school and paid summer internships for those in high school.
They also offer professional development workshops and collaboration opportunities for teachers. Such efforts have resulted in the introduction of new lessons that focus on Indigenous agricultural techniques in the Four Corners region.
The Four Corners Food Coalition is a collaborative group in the Mancos Valley that takes a regional approach to ensure equitable food access, production, distribution, and education, advocate for food justice, and support Indigenous food sovereignty. Some of their current efforts include a food systems fellowship program and a microgrant program, with funding support from the Blueprint.
Two of the involved organizations are Good Sam’s Food Pantry and Dolores Family Project, which partner to provide traditional Navajo food options to families and individuals in their areas. The Good Samaritan Center is a food pantry and emerging community food center in Cortez. They provide food assistance to anyone who needs it through market-style shopping for supplementary groceries and opportunities to grow food for personal use. The Dolores Family Project aims to strengthen the community by providing food support to local families.
The below photos showcase the Dolores Family Project’s Díne Traditional Foods distribution at the Good Sam’s Food Pantry in Cortez on August 11, 2023.
Good Sam’s Food Pantry and Dolores Family Project are two of the organizations involved with the Four Corners Food Coalition.
They partner to provide traditional Navajo food options to families and individuals in their areas.
They hosted a joint food distribution in Cortez on August 10, 2023.
The Four Corners Food Coalition is a collaborative group in the Mancos Valley that takes a regional approach to ensure equitable food access, production, distribution, and education, advocate for food justice, and support Indigenous food sovereignty.