Franke Global Leadership Initiative (GLI) Oral Presentations
Local Interactive Food Education (LIFE) Series
Presentation Type
Presentation
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Peter McDonough
Faculty Mentor’s Department
Climate Change Studies
Abstract / Artist's Statement
Local Interactive Food Education (LIFE) Series
Local food systems are an essential component of creating a robust, sustainable, and resilient community. In the face of climate change, it is even more important to maintain and utilize these resources and networks. We identified numerous barriers to local food access including stigma, comfortability and convenience, lack of transportation, cost, and education about existing resources. Our goal is to connect the Missoula community to local food resources to address access barriers. Missoula has numerous resources that help make local food more accessible, but they struggle to connect with people, which is what we will do with our Local Interactive Food Education (LIFE) Series. The LIFE Series will include four events designed to address the identified barriers. We will host tabling events to break down stigma and create interactions, a bike tour to provide familiarity of the resources, a visit to the PEAS Farm to increase confidence in growing local food, and a trivia night to cultivate knowledge of organizations and local food benefits. The LIFE Series aligns with local organizations’ goals, and we will cooperate with them to ensure their needs are being met. We will measure success by the participation we receive during our events, as well as the connections we form between resources and community members. We will distribute a survey to the participants of our events that will evaluate their experience to determine if the event was successful in removing their personal barriers to food access.
Category
Franke Global Leadership Initiative
Local Interactive Food Education (LIFE) Series
UC 333
Local Interactive Food Education (LIFE) Series
Local food systems are an essential component of creating a robust, sustainable, and resilient community. In the face of climate change, it is even more important to maintain and utilize these resources and networks. We identified numerous barriers to local food access including stigma, comfortability and convenience, lack of transportation, cost, and education about existing resources. Our goal is to connect the Missoula community to local food resources to address access barriers. Missoula has numerous resources that help make local food more accessible, but they struggle to connect with people, which is what we will do with our Local Interactive Food Education (LIFE) Series. The LIFE Series will include four events designed to address the identified barriers. We will host tabling events to break down stigma and create interactions, a bike tour to provide familiarity of the resources, a visit to the PEAS Farm to increase confidence in growing local food, and a trivia night to cultivate knowledge of organizations and local food benefits. The LIFE Series aligns with local organizations’ goals, and we will cooperate with them to ensure their needs are being met. We will measure success by the participation we receive during our events, as well as the connections we form between resources and community members. We will distribute a survey to the participants of our events that will evaluate their experience to determine if the event was successful in removing their personal barriers to food access.