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.
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.
Morgan County Colorado is, quite simply, giving every urban area in Colorado a run for its money when it comes to racial and ethnic diversity. That’s not a statement everyone would expect when the term rural is also used to describe this county that sits in the state’s northeastern corner. Yet, over the last two decades, the county has become a magnet for many who have immigrated for work or family as well as those who are seeking a more rural, farming-based lifestyle.
At Boulder Food Rescue, they take the dynamics of power and access seriously. In fact, they spend considerable time every day trying hard to stand the traditional charity model on its head. It is true that the underpinning of the food rescue is an attempt to fill gaps left by traditional food access agencies and minimize the food waste, particularly with fresh fruits and vegetables, in the overarching food system.
When Ricardo Rocha tells you Bondadosa is a people first organization, believe him. There is literally no way Denver metro based Bondadosa could do what it has without that foundational belief. For frame of reference, in 2018, the organization’s first year, they delivered 380 orders for food from families who needed them.
