Food Summit: 1st Follow-up Meeting

Event Site: Metropolitan Community College Institute of Culinary Arts

Saturday was a rainy and busy day for community activity. Attendees at the first food summit follow-up meeting enjoyed  a beautiful room and delicious refreshments from Metropolitan Community College’s Institute of Culinary Arts. If you haven’t seen this space yet, you have to get a tour, even the chairs are gorgeous. The food was excellent: lemon-lime mint water, juices and the best nut bread (tasty walnuts) and pound cake I have tasted in a while.

Many of the previous attendees had conflicts and couldn’t make it to the follow-up meeting. We planned for three breakout groups based on the feedback from the summit on Feb. 27. There were 15 attendees so we decided to work together as a larger group with two subjects: Growing Power Model and Community Kitchen. The notes from each discussion are below. If you want to join a strategic planning committee, please reply to nomoreemptypots@gmail.com or comment on this post.

Thanks to all in attendance and to MCC Institute of Culinary Arts’ Jen Valandra.

The next meeting will be on Saturday, April 24, 2010 and location will be confirmed by next week. The meeting details will be posted here and Eventbrite.

Growing Power Model Notes

• Created strategic planning committee to dig deeper and work through the planning for the Growing Power model initiative
  • planning group will review the ROTC (Regional Outreach Training Center) application
  • planning group will report back to larger group with action plan including milestones
  • first group meeting is planned  for April 7, 2010
• Potential partnership with Golden Hills RC&D in Iowa
• Sustainable Community Action Group
  • Grown in North Omaha: garden development initiative
  • Leo Louis II presented information on the project and handed out flyers. Leo will be leading a group of workers to install the gardens with successful applicants.
  • The goal of the Grown in North Omaha project is to create a sustainable system of community gardens in north Omaha by building on existing gardens and creating new gardens where community interest exists.
  • The North Omaha Neighborhood Association wants to help individuals, organizations and neighborhoods build a community garden. The association can help if you would like assistance recruiting gardeners, designing and building beds, educating and training participants, maintenance or anything else.
  • For more information, contact Craig Moody at 681-9458 or craigmoody1@gmail.com.The deadline is Thursday, April 1.

Community Kitchen Notes

• Create a strategic planning committee
• Review kitchen models
  • Fare Start and DC Central Kitchen
  • Survey child care centers; need assessment
  • Discussion of kitchen at 24th & Lake as best for teaching; need to confirm if licensed for commercial food production.
• Connect with people who need a kitchen now and refer them to existing spaces
• Survey existing kitchens in metro area to determine fit as commercial community kitchen