Community food and agricultural assessment: Costilla County listening session set
THE San Luis Valley Local Foods Coalition will continue with community food and agriculture assessments with a meeting planned for Costilla County in January.
Valley residents also have a chance to win one of 20 $100 Visa gift cards for completing an online survey about experiences with healthy and local food access, and ideas for a better food system for the region. The surveys can be found at www.slvlocalfoods.org. Take the survey that is most applicable to you.
In 2017 the local foods coalition, with a mission to foster an equitable local food system in the Valley, was awarded a Federal Local Foods Local Places technical assistance federal grant to integrate local foods into the economy. Thirty regional stakeholders met to create a four-goal plan for Alamosa County. That plan is available at www.slvlocalfoods.org.
In 2021 the Local Foods Local Places stakeholders decided to upgrade the plan and expand it to the six counties of the San Luis Valley. To date, three local food and ag summits have been held in Conejos, Saguache and Rio Grande counties to get feedback.
Costilla County will be the next community listening summit and will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 14, at Centennial School in San Luis. Costilla County residents can RSVP by emailing jae.slvlocalfoods@gmail.com.
The SLV Local Foods Coalition sought funding and was supported by the Colorado Health Foundation and the Colorado Department of Health and Environment’s Office of Health Equity to conduct a Valley-wide Community Food and Agriculture Assessment. A strategic plan will be created from the results of this data in 2023. Partners include Colorado State Extension, Colorado State University, La Puente, Promotoras del Valle, local governments and residents.
For those who enjoy taking photos – the team created a PhotoVoice project which encourages SLV residents to take photos of what is working and what is not working in your food system, provide a caption and submit it to the Coalition, also with a chance to win $50 gift cards. Post to Instagram with the hashtag #SLVFoodProject or text to 719-515-9118.
