Mission
Vision
The La Plata Food Equity Coalition
is enhancing health equity
for La Plata County
BIPOC, Senior, and Rural Residents
through healthy food
access and shared
community leadership
All residents in La Plata County
will have agency over their health, access to nutritious
foods, and the ability
to affect social change
A project of The Good Food Collective
Grow Your Vision
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About The LPFEC
The Coalition Formed...
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From March-August 2020, the Coalition hosted individual and small group conversations with community members affected by food insecurity, and asked them "What would it take to have access to food that would support your wellbeing?" The standout answers were: financial security, knowledge & resources, language access, agency, representation, and sense of belonging.
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Workgroups formed directly in response to those expressed needs. Workgroups are the place where the rubber hits the road - they are tasked with making changes in our food system in each of their respective focus areas.
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Our workgroups are:
WHO
We're composed of individual community members, groups, organizations, agencies, and institutions who are committed to collaborative leadership and centering lived experience.
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The Coalition is a multi-cultural, open community that creates space for any interested member to engage in food systems, health equity, and food justice programs and activities.
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The Good Food Collective provides The LPFEC's administrative, resource, and 'on the ground' support.
Our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Statement
The La Plata County Food Equity Coalition cultivates spaces for underrepresented communities to gain power and create meaningful solutions to food inequity. The coalition recognizes the systemic oppressions and inequities that face these communities in La Plata County. We strive to break down these barriers through understanding differences to build power, confidence, and leadership within Indigenous, Black, LatinX, Disabled, Senior, and geographically isolated communities.
WHy
11% of residents in La Plata County experience food insecurity. That means that one in ten of your neighbors doesn't always have the food they need. That number goes up in BIPOC, Senior, and rural communities.
We know that the barriers to food and health equity exists on the level of the system, and so we need to work on the system level to solve them. ​
Our Values
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All people deserve and should have equitable access to resources, including food, health, and power
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We are committed to sharing power by building up voices & opportunities and sharing power we may hold
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“Nothing about us, without us" -- The Community should lead - The solutions and wisdom lie within them.
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We are committed to systems change
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We believe that everyone will benefit when we focus our efforts on our most affected communities
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Deep collaboration is essential for change at the systems level
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We practice respect, understanding, compassion, true listening, patience, courage, forgiveness
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Our strength stems from the active participation of all coalition members and the myriad dimensions of our diversity that we bring
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Personal and social transformation are developmental -we are committed to continuously learning, growing, and shifting; we support each other in our individual and collective journey
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Building meaningful relationships is a priority
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The way we do things is as important in what we do -- We are committed to creating welcoming, inclusive and participatory spaces, structures, and processes
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Equity is an action and a constant practice applied in every conversation, every decision, every action
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Leadership is an act of service
how
We use community engagement and capacity building to do long-term, systems-change work. Examples include:
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Community-led projects & initiatives
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Leadership Development
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DEI Education & Advocacy
Our goal is to shift the underlying framework of our food system. We focus on the six conditions of systems change:
The Coalition meets on the fourth Friday of every month, from 9-10am on Zoom.
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Everyone is welcome!
Resource & Support Workgroup
The Resource & Support Workgroup is the closest thing the Coalition has to a "Board." [We decided to forgo a Board because...] We act as the hub of communication and facilitation, to ensure the Coalition and its workgroups relflect the Coalition's stated values, and remain aligned with our mission and vision.
We use participatory leadership, which means...
We create evaluation tools/metrics, budgets, and other systems that are presented to the Coalition for approval. We ensure that the workgroups are recieving the resources they need, while focusing on the long-term sustainability of the project.
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When
The LPFEC formed in February 2020.
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Our goal is not to create permanent programs, but to facilitate projetcts that catalyze systemic change. For example, the LPFEC doesn't want to open a childcare facility, or start a food hub, but we work to support those entities, and increase people's access to them.
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We know we've been successful, and we can step away when...