Above: Christina Barkel, Groundwork, and Sam LaSusa, of East Bay Charter Township.
“Often, our neighbors do not know how to make dishes with fresh produce.”
“Having a garden at our center will help children learn many skills, including about the environment, healthy eating, and how to care for living things.”
“In Leelanau County alone, over 40% of the population is living within the ALICE limit [Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed]. These people are choosing between putting food on the table and putting gas in their car or going to the doctor’s office. With this project grant, we can increase our reach and visibility to continue to reach more people who are experiencing food insecurity and/or homelessness AND to do it with intentionality and compassion.”
These quotes illustrate some of the challenges that communities face while providing fresh, healthy food access to those in need. Groundwork is excited to support people in Michigan who make a difference in their neighborhoods, schools, farms, food pantries and more, through our Building Resilient Communities program. This spring, we’re onboarding over 50 new sites throughout the state to the program, and we’re excited to share a little bit more about who they are and what they hope to accomplish over the next year in the program.
Groundwork has deep roots in food systems work, and the Building Resilient Communities program emerged from this experience supporting local farmers, advocating for strong food economies, and highlighting the connections between health and fresh, nutritious local food. From 2015 through 2020, Groundwork participated in the Building Healthy Communities program – a Michigan Department of Health and Human Services program that gave resources to community organizations like Groundwork to work with partners on projects that increased health outcomes in their areas. At the same time, Groundwork deepened its partnerships with food access organizations like the Northwest Food Coalition, Food Rescue of Goodwill Northern MI, and Manna Food Project, and helped lead efforts to purchase local healthy food directly from farmers to be distributed to food insecure people and their families.
In 2020, funding for Building Healthy Communities was removed from the state budget. At the same time, the Covid 19 pandemic deeply accelerated the need for both food at food pantries and meal sites, and new market outlets for farmers and food producers. Groundwork stepped in with the Local Food Relief Fund, which raised a tremendous amount of money for our partners to support local farmers through food purchases, but we also saw the continued need for both infrastructure and education to support the increased amount of fresh food in the emergency food system.
Enter Building Resilient Communities – a program that helps connect farmers, food pantries, meal sites, schools, community gardens, medical clinics, and more to funding and support from Groundwork’s team of experts to increase the amount of healthy food available in their communities. This year, thanks to funding from the Kellogg Foundation and the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, Groundwork has been able to expand this program from its pilot phase in Northwest Lower Michigan to over 50 sites across the state.
Funds from Building Resilient Communities helped increase access to SNAP benefits at the farmers market in East Bay Charter Township.
One of this year’s project sites is the East Bay Corners Farmers Market, now in its second season operating near the busy intersection of Three Mile and Hammond Road in Grand Traverse County. According to the market’s leadership team, its purpose is to “to provide fresh and locally grown products to the public, educate the public on the importance of farming best practices, promote local agriculturally based business development, forge partnerships with local farmers and community partners, create a community gathering space at the Township Hall, and create an agribusiness incubator with green-collar professional development opportunities.” The market is one of several initiatives that make up the township’s Food Security Incubator. Through Building Resilient Communities, Groundwork will support the market’s Power of Produce program, which will connect around 100 families with children aged 0-13 with vouchers to purchase fresh food and participate in hands on activities, like Taste the Rainbow challenges, market scavenger hunts and make your own smoothie demos.
Building Resilient Communities also aims to support farms across the state that want to grow more food and distribute more food, especially those food insecure in their communities. Farms like Good Stead Farm in Hope, Michigan, whose goal is to make fresh, organic food available to all, regardless of income. Running a small farm business is challenging enough, but there are additional barriers to selling or donating food to people in need. These barriers include the need for additional equipment, like card readers that accept SNAP/EBT cards and the staff to operate them, as well as the signage that advertises the ability to accept SNAP and educates people on how to complete those purchases. As a Building Resilient Communities participant this year, Good Stead Farm will be able to purchase the equipment and the signage needed to participate in food assistance programs, and will be able to educate their staff on how to use this equipment. The result? More fresh food access at their farm stand in rural Midland County, especially for food insecure people using food stamps.
Here at Groundwork, we’re looking forward to working with these and many more sites across the state through our Building Resilient Communities program. We will share stories of the amazing people working hard to increase food access in their communities, and the impacts of our collective efforts, throughout the year. Stay tuned! 
Christina Barkel, Groundwork’s Food Equity Specialist. christina@groundworkcenter.org
