The RI Department of Environmental Management will subcontract with Farm Fresh Rhode Island, who will in turn partner with Southside Community Land Trust, the African Alliance of RI, and the RI Food Policy Council to meet the following objectives, in alignment with the goals of the LFPA Program.
- Support economic opportunities and a more resilient local food system by purchasing $474,500 worth of locally produced food from 90 local and socially disadvantaged farmers/producers (66% of total award).
- Facilitate linkages between local farmers and underserved communities by providing acquisition, aggregation, and distribution infrastructure to ensure the delivery of fresh, healthy, locally grown food to 62 community organizations outside of the traditional hunger relief system serving majority socially disadvantaged populations.
- Capture, summarize, and disseminate quantitative and qualitative data with respect to program outcomes, including impacts for farmers, community organizations, new market opportunities created, and recommendations for long-term sustainability and best practices.
- Use the LFPA investment of resources to strengthen, formalize, and nurture new and existing networks of producers, community organizations, and aggregators/distributors. These decentralized networks will work together to create sustainable models for program implementation, evaluation, iteration, and long-term coordination and advocacy for best practices in connecting local farmers and consumers, with a specific focus on serving socially disadvantaged communities.