Community Food Security Initiative (CFSI)

Helping nonprofit groups, faith-based organizations, state and local government agencies, tribes, and individual citizens fight hunger, improve nutrition, strengthen local food systems, and empower low-income families to move toward self-sufficiency

The USDA's Community Food Security Initiative seeks to cut hunger in America in half by the year 2015 by creating and expanding grass-roots partnerships that build local food systems and reduce hunger. USDA is joining with states, municipalities, nonprofit groups, and the private sector to strengthen local food systems by replicating best practices of existing efforts and by catalyzing new community commitments to fight hunger.

Goals:

Creating new — and enhancing existing — local infrastructures to reduce hunger and food insecurity
Increasing economic and job security by helping low-income people obtain living-wage jobs and become self-sufficient
Strengthening the federal nutrition assistance safety net by supporting the full and efficient use of programs such as food stamps, WIC, school meals, summer feeding, and TEFAP
Bolstering supplemental food provided by nonprofit groups by aiding food recovery, gleaning, and food donation programs
Improving community food production and marketing by aiding projects that grow, process, and distribute food locally
Boosting education and awareness by increasing efforts to inform the public about nutrition, food safety, and food security
Improving research, monitoring, and evaluation efforts to help communities assess and strengthen food security

Methods:

Catalyzing the development of new partnerships on the local, state, and federal levels to help communities reduce hunger
Improving the coordination between existing USDA programs — such as nutrition assistance programs, community food grants, ongoing research, farmers' markets, and food recovery projects — and related federal, state, and community initiatives
Expanding technical assistance to states, communities, and nonprofit groups to build long-term local structures to increase food security
Increasing public awareness of the causes of food insecurity and highlighting innovative community solutions to hunger

Project Examples
The Florida Certified Organic Growers and Consumers, Inc. of Gainesville, FL, was awarded $175,000 for 3 years to facilitate linkages between the public school system, social service agencies, farmers, local businesses, and private citizens to address their food, farm, and nutrition needs. Activities include local farm and farmers' market tours; a local farm awareness campaign; a food and garden production school-based curriculum that includes principles of math, science and language arts; nutrition and food preparation education; and a farm apprenticeship program. Partners will also explore expanding direct farm marketing to schools and other local markets.

The Mississippi Food Network of Jackson, MS, was given a grant of $110,000 for 2 years to provide income and means for self-reliance for low-income households by breaking down cultural barriers in the African-American community to growing one's own food; by teaching sustainable agriculture practices suited to low-income growers; and by increasing community gardens, market gardens, and a student-run seedling project. New farmers' markets will be setup and linked with the WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program. Community gardens in Head Start Centers will be linked with nutrition education. Best practices models will be evaluated for replication in other sites. Bolviar and Holmes Counties in the Mississippi Delta will be served by this project. More than 40 percent of the residents live in poverty and many suffer from serious diet-related diseases.

Bounty in the County, Inc., of Hudson, NY, was awarded $180,000 for 2 years to create a direct marketing opportunity for the 464 farms in the county, while economically disadvantaged residents of Hudson will gain walking-distance access to a nonprofit cooperative food store. Hudson has lacked a supermarket since 1995. The project will link farmers, Workfare, job training programs, education, and creative partnerships with diverse parts of the food system, including private, public, for-profit, and not-for-profit groups. The community will increase its self-reliance through economic development and support of local agriculture through showcasing locally grown products.

Contact
Joel Berg
Coordinator of Community Food Security
USDA
Room 536-A
14th and Independence SW
Washington, DC 20250
Phone: (202) 720-5746; Fax: (202) 690-1131
E-mail: joel.berg@usda.gov

Internet
www.csrees.usda.gov/hungerfoodsecurity.cfm

Last Updated June 16, 2007