Assessing & Growing a Community Food System: USDA Grant Project
Flagstaff Foodlink has been a partner throughout the City of Flagstaff’s three-year project, leading to the culmination of the Food Action Plan. Below are briefly highlights each phase:
Community Food Systems Assessment: a mixed-method approach to understanding the landscape, perceptions, and practices of our local-regional food system. The report can be found here. New Venture Advisors also helped in the completion of the Social Network Analysis, which highlights the high regional players in our food system.
Community Conversations: Six qualitative focus groups in Flagstaff and Leupp were conducted to better understand how people respond to the report above, along with any nuances which may have been missed. There were also two large stakeholder gatherings to capture responses from businesses, nonprofits, and organizations as well. The Engagement Report (2024) was completed by Pinnacle Prevention and can be found here.
We are in the works of using the above data to inform us for the Food Action Plan, which is anticipated to be adopted by the Flagstaff City Council in December 2025. In the meantime, we are planning for policy workshops, along with the Food Action Plan having a 60-day public comment opportunity. Please stay tuned to learn more about how you can voice your opinions.
Thank YOU to everyone who has participated in this process so far. This project would not have been possible without you. Special thank you to the steering committee, Pinnacle Prevention, NVA, and our participants.
