Farms to Families/De Granjas a Familias Resilience Boxes

Thank you so much for the effort you have created to be able to provide us with a pantry of fresh products and especially to bring them to our home. Thank you very much because you have been a great support to my family.

– S.M, a Farms to Families/De Granjas a Familias Fund-supported family

At a Glance

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted health inequities and disproportionately impacted communities in our state. Roots4Change Cooperative (R4C) and REAP Food Group collaborated on projects that advocated for food equity within the Latino community of Dane County, Wisconsin. The Farms to Families/De Granjas a Familias Fund (FFF) was created as a food security initiative that focused on addressing the financial and health disparities affecting Latino/Indigenous families in the county during the pandemic. FFF was created to address a forecasted food insecurity emergency, and to address the need to maintain connection when isolation was rampant.

To reach their goal of supporting the Latino community and the surrounding food systems, the FFF team delivered food to families in need, supported young female and minority farmers in Wisconsin, provided temporary employment during the pandemic, created and distributed relevant educational materials, met with Governor Evers to discuss the biannual state budget, and facilitated therapy sessions with Latin American psychologists.

The Challenge

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated action from R4C and REAP to support the communities who needed aid the most. Many growers and food businesses were heavily impacted by COVID-19 and the loss of their contracts and farmers’ market customers. Further initiative was needed to support families, farmers, and food businesses and prevent them from experiencing additional barriers as a result of COVID-19.

Project Goals

The overarching goal of this project was to support the Latino community in Dane County in a way that also supported the many sustainable family farms and food businesses hit hard by the pandemic.

Results

The FFF team met all of their proposed outcomes. They delivered food boxes to families in need twice a week for one year and procured and purchased at a fair price food from farmers and food entrepreneurs in Wisconsin, focusing on young, female, and minority producers who serve Dane County. They provided temporary employment to 10 unemployed community members, hiring them to assist with delivery of the food and to provide logistical, educational, and on-the-ground support. The grant team created educational and interactive materials in Spanish with information about COVID-19, self-care, maternal and child well-being, children’s learning activities that could be accessed via social media, short videos, and reading materials sent inside the boxes each week. As part of the organizations’ weekly communications with families, R4C was able to organize a meeting with Governor Evers to talk about the biannual state budget and the FFF community team participated in this call. R4C also built and facilitated family therapy sessions with Latin American psychologists and the resilience box newsletters connected families to needed resources, and FFF allowed both organizations to gain local and national attention via new partnerships and funding opportunities.

Looking to the Future

REAP and R4C are capitalizing on their intensive engagement efforts and organizing activities for families, such as park events, farm visits, and community trainings in areas of food advocacy and policy. In addition, they are hoping to write a peer-reviewed journal paper on the FFF program in the near future. REAP is also working on creating a community engagement strategy using an equity and anti-racist approach with the goal to engage in active conversations about food advocacy and policy.

Lasting Impact

Nested communications allowed the organizations to have a constant pathway to connect with families and foster a sense of companionship throughout the duration of the program. The food resilience boxes presented the opportunity to “knock on people’s doors” to build a deeper connection and sense of trust which enabled the grant team to identify additional needs, opportunities, and community assets. FFF served as a template on how R4C and REAP can operationalize their partnership, while centering the work of community leaders and women of color.