Chico Food Network - What We're All About

Making Good Nutrition & Exercise the Dominant Paradigm

Events
There are no upcoming events

Topics
Home Real Food (5/0) Community Outreach (11/0) GardensInTheClassroom (0/0) OrganicFarm&FoodConference (1/0) Real Food News (12/0)

User Functions
Username: Password: Lost your password?

Welcome to Chico Food Network
Sunday, September 05 2010 @ 10:27 AM MST

What We're All About

Monday, February 02 2009 @ 03:48 PM MST
Contributed by: Jeremy
Views: 558

The Chico Food Network is a federally-recognized 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization (EIN# 31-1776669) and is registered as a charitable organization with the State of California.

CONTACT INFORMATION: Jeremy Miller, President (530) 966-0239, jeremyATjeremymillerDOTorg

MISSION STATEMENT:
The purpose of the Chico Food Network is to foster a local food system that contributes to the long-term viability of farms in our region, provides Chico-area residents with fresh, healthy food choices, provides education regarding local food systems, and creates an awareness and interdependence between Chico consumers, food businesses, and local farmers.

ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE:
Chico Food Network meetings are held quarterly. Decisions are made by consensus. Officers include a president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. All officers are board members; including the officers there are nine total board members. Our board consists of university professors, K-12 educators, chefs, farmers, and interested citizens. With the exception of GRUB activities (see below), all Chico Food Network programs are conducted on a volunteer basis. Any member of the community is welcome to participate in planning and implementing Chico Food Network activities.

BRIEF HISTORY:
Established in 2001 as the Chico Food Systems Project, the organization originally brought together local farmers, restaurant owners, and health education professionals in an effort to strengthen the bonds between individuals involved in the local food system. Early activities included the hosting of "Real Food Dinners" that celebrated the connection between local farmers and restaurants and highlight local food products. With the establishment of a Slow Food chapter in Chico (which filled this niche), the focus of the Chico Food Network shifted to cosponsoring nutrition education seminars and supporting the efforts of other food-related organizations and projects in Chico. This occurred via a web presence (www.chicofoodnetwork.org) and email lists. The Chico Food Network is presently focusing it efforts on supporting school and community gardens, and has begun an active grant-writing campaign for the benefit of these endeavors.

PAST PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES, 2006-2007:
--Annual Real Food Benefit Dinner (2004 - 2007)
--Contributer, Slow Food Shasta-Cascade Kickoff Dinner (May, 2006)
--Food Contributer, "Bidwell Parks and Creeks of Chico Cleanup" (September, 2006)
--$500 donation to the Dorothy F. Johnson Center (part of the Chico Area Recreation District) to support their Edible Garden project (September, 2006)
--Participant/Contributer, "May Magic 2007" fundraiser to support Community Collaborate for Youth (May, 2007)
--$500 donation to Community Collaborative for Youth to support nutrition education efforts and their Edible Schoolyard project (September, 2007)
--Co-sponsor, "Growing Healthy Kids" Growth and Nutrition Workshop (November, 2007)

PRESENT PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES:
Gardeners' Swap Meet Program
This program allows members of the public to share and trade excess produce (fruits and veggies) from their property with other growers every Wednesday evening during the summer. A community-building event, no money changes hands as Chico citizens are invited to celebrate with each other the joy of growing one's own food.

Coordination of Volunteers in School Gardens
In partnership with the Associated Students of CSU, Chico, the Community Action Volunteers in Education (CAVE) program allows students to gain course credit for 30 hours of volunteering in local education programs. The Chico Food Network is serving to help connect CAVE volunteers to specific gardening projects (teaching, constructing garden beds, etc.) at six different school sites.

Free Seeds for Education
In 2008 partnerships with three local nurseries led to the donation of over 500 vegetable and flower seed packets to the Chico Food Network. These have and continue to be given to local schools for use in school gardens, presently over 15 schools have been able to take advantage of this opportunity.

Restaurant Partnerships
The Chico Food Network has been contacting local restaurants to solicit support for school gardens. Red Tavern Grill and Bistro has donated roughly $500 to support the school garden at Chico Junior High School, three other restaurants have expressed interest in purchasing produce from school gardens for use in their menu items, thus giving the students experience in commerce as well as gardening. (Money earned would support continued gardening efforts at the school site).

Grant Writing
The Chico Food Network continues to solicit for grant funds on behalf of school and community garden projects.

GRUB--Growing Resourcefully, Uniting Bellies
The Chico Food Network voted to act as the fiscal sponsor for GRUB in February, 2008. GRUB was established in 2007 and has taken a multifaceted approach to supporting local, sustainable food systems. Their projects include:
--A Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program that distributes 40 shares (produce boxes) of locally grown fruits and vegetables to local residences each week. 4 of these shares are donated to low-income seniors. All produce is grown using organic methods on three sites all within 1 mile of the city limits.
--Restaurant Compost program, in which seven participating Chico restaurants have their food waste diverted via bicycles with trailers to the compost bins at GRUB's garden sites.
--Garden education programs at the Boys and Girls Club and a local preschool school, with plans to expand to other local preschools.
--Fruit Tree Registry, identifying the location of local "streetside" fruit and nut trees accessible to the public.
GRUB's efforts have been making both local and national headlines:
Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/29/AR2008082903447.html
Chico Enterprise - Record
http://www.agobservatory.org/headlines.cfm?refID=103581
Edible Shasta - Butte Magazine:
(Click on "Mutiny With the Bounty") http://www.edibleshastabutte.com/pages/articles/year2008/win2008/win2008.htm

FUTURE CHICO FOOD NETWORK PROJECTS
--Continuation of existing activities
--Provide a paid part- or full-time school garden coordinator for Chico Unified School District
--Establishment of one or more self-sustaining Community Gardens for the City of Chico
--Expand participation of Gardeners' Swap Meet program through publicity/advertising
--GRUB: Expansion of CSA program to 60 shares
--GRUB: Expansion of preschool garden education program to 10 sites
--GRUB: Gain additional funding support for the restaurant compost program

PARTNERSHIPS
In the past two years, the Chico Food Network has partnered with the following community organizations in various projects and endeavors:
--Chico Unified School District
--Community Collaborative for Youth (nonprofit)
--Opt For Fit Kits (a nutrition program of the CSU Chico Research Foundation)
--Sierra Cascade Nutrition and Activity Consortium (nutrition programs of the CSU Chico Research Foundation)
--Chico Grange Hall
--Chico Area Recreation District
--Local Restaurants
--Local Farmers
--Slow Food Shasta Cascade

--Community Action Volunteers in Education (CAVE), a program of the Associated Students of CSU, Chico (nonprofit)
--CSU, Chico "This Way to Sustainability" Conference

Story Options
Printable Story Format