12:00pm-1:40pm, 2234 W Market Street

Attendees: Andrew Kang Bartlett, Rachel Brunner, Caroline Durr, Amanda Fuller, Stacey Gray, Lilias Pettit-Scott, Bethany Pratt, Melissa Schreck

Networking

The gathering started with networking, music, lunch for some, and snacking for others. Thanks to all those who brought treats to share!

Welcome

Rachel welcomed the group and reminded us that FIN gatherings are an opportunity to learn from each other, share ideas to improve food in our neighborhoods, and get involved with new and existing efforts. Plan is to have quarterly gatherings. The meeting format has changed to include time for Sharing, Food News, Offer & Ask, and Breakout Conversations.

Sharing

This is a time for attendees to share community food stories.

Rachel started us off by highlighting the FIN Calendar on our website and encouraging folks to post upcoming activities and events. A few items highlighted:

• Ongoing farmers markets in Louisville — Bardstown Road and Douglas Loop
• Compost “church” every Sunday at 12 at  U of L Community Compost, 227 E Bloom St. 
• Growing microgreens workshop on Nov. 27
• Urban Agriculture Coalition Meeting next Wednesday., Nov. 28 at 12:00.

Andrew shared that he was in Durham, NC for a faith gathering hosted by the new World Food Policy Center at Duke University. They prioritized starting out by listening to stakeholders, which was a diverse gathering of 40 to 50 people. The center’s focus is on sustainability, equity, and racial justice;

Lilias discussed the presentation she attended by the Hunger Innovation Fellow (Monique Quarterman) who worked with the Community Foundation of Louisville. Materials are available on the CFA website. She presented on her fellowship activities, which included: creating/posting a PDF that is a collection of 300+ different activities/projects happening throughout the country; and, creating/posting a directory of contacts made in the past year – anyone doing health and food. (Link is also on the FIN Community Forum).

Rachel said  that there are a lot of people coming together in her neighborhood, Schnitzelburg/Germantown. There are a lot of food and drink options – people can sit down and enjoy meals. It’s also easy for people to access because things are close. Neighborhood is doing things like progressive dinners as a way to visit different houses.

Amanda visited the Somali Mall Grocery Store last week – 8th and York (greens, beans) – lots of lively conversation happening

The 7th Street Community Garden has started a fishing group and they bring their catches back to the garden to clean/fry it up to share with 200 other people. Because of this, a couple of other gardeners brought their grills and grilled corn to share.

Melissa shared that Georgia’s Sweet Potato Pie Co. is doing a “Pie/Dessert” pick up at the UofL School of Public Health and Information Sciences building on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Georgia’s is a vendor at the Gray Street Farmers Market and this was a way to extend the relationship after the season ended.

Stacey, a new attendee, introduced herself. She and a friend (Tess Harmon, a nurse practitioner) are interesting in offering programs in critical access areas/food deserts. SNAP doesn’t work for meal delivery systems. And delivery services have fees. They want to figure out how to get that fee lowered/waived. Ultimately, they want people fed and fed good food. Looking at options for free food delivery services and want to promote plant-based eating. She has an RV and has been planning to go into underserved communities and offer cooking demos. She has the RV near Newburg (in trailer park). She shared her experience of connecting with youth over the summer. They are seeking grants, donations, non-profit creation to be able to deliver food.

As a group we discussed the transportation issues and grocery store access, and time limitations. Also suggested that the Louisville Community Grocery may be a great connector because they share the goal of figuring out the food delivery service.

 

Food News

Andrew will be presenting at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 24) in Katowice, Poland on Dec. 2. He will discuss the relationship between farming and climate change. He is planning to write about his experience on the Food & Faith Blog hosted by the Presbyterian Hunger Program. (Link is also on the FIN Community Forum).

As part of organizing this community-owned grocery store, Louisville Community Grocery, they have been doing market research. They are going door-to-door on Dec. 1 (9 a.m. to 12 noon) in Shelby Park and could use help with surveys. The goal is 800 surveys completed.

Urban Ag Coalition is a working group of FIN that has been gathering for two years. On Friday, Jan. 11 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. the coalition is meeting to do goals/planning for 2019. It’s an informal group (just come and participate). The location will be the Louisville Grows Healthy House – 1641 Portland Avenue. Participating is a great way to learn about different activities and organizations

Environmental Justice Conference is next week at Simmons College on Nov. 27 hosted by the West Jefferson County Community Task Force . Event info available on EventBrite or Facebook page. Event is free and includes breakfast and lunch.

Sowers of Justice has set FOOD JUSTICE as their new theme for 2019. They are looking to do a conference in October about food justice and health. They are being encouraged to engage community stakeholders in West Louisville to have a better engagement.

There is a Home-based Processing Workshop on Feb. 28, 2019. There is a $50 state registration fee. For folks interested in selling jams, jellies, salsas, etc. The workshop is offered by UK Food and Consumer Science on behalf Dept. of Agriculture.

On Thursday, 11/21, Community Charities hosts a community Thanksgiving meal. All are welcome; starts around 11 a.m., Mayor Fischer will speak; food at 11:30 – it will be in the big gym. All refugees are invited

 

Offer and Ask

Bethany introduced this new feature of the gathering. Each attendee will be invited to respond to these questions;

• The offer: What is one thing you can offer up to the FIN community as something to do?
• The ask: Is there a burning question or something that still needs to be answered at the end of discussions?

Discussion: Do we need a Commissioner of Agriculture who is sympathetic to our causes? Brian Quarles is the current. Doesn’t have much to say about small farms or urban agriculture

 

Breakout Conversations

We stayed in one large group to discuss Food Access and related issues. However, in the future, we plan to split into smaller groups and follow a World Café style – that it’s okay to get up and move to new tables if want without worrying that you will hurt anyone’s feelings.

Current Topics/Breakouts:

• Urban Ag Coalition – discuss urban farms, community gardens, orchards, compost projects – all of this is very connected to people Urban Agriculture (Lilias) and orchard (Bethany)
• Food Policy (Andrew) – Activities that involve several organizations (metro govt); Presbyterian Hunger Program; Farm Bill; etc.
• Food Access – grocery; farmers markets, SNAP; shop local; grocery store delivery project (NEW)

Future Topics

• Louisville Food Policy Council (with a different approach). Note: Eric Friedlander is interested in this. He is the chief resilience officer at the Louisville Metro Office of Resilience and Community Services.
• School-based projects
• Composting
• Community Foundation of Louisville Report – Hunger Fellow

 

Meeting adjourned at 1:40ish.