Local Food Economies

The Rhode Island Food Policy Council is building a more equitable, accessible, economically vibrant, and environmentally sustainable food system in Rhode Island.

Land For Good (LFG) aims to keep farmland in farming. LFG’s mission is to ensure the future of farming in New England by putting more farmers more securely on more land. LFG aspires to a secure local and regional food supply, and healthy food access for all. LFG has a track record as an organic ag supporter. For over a decade, LFG has provided land access training and advising to organic farmers in collaboration with the Organic Farming Associations in New England.

DC Central Kitchen’s (DCCK’s) mission is to use food as a tool to strengthen bodies, empower minds, and build communities. We train people with high barriers to employment for culinary careers and employ more than 130 of our graduates in our social enterprises, fighting hunger’s immediate effects and root causes through innovative partnerships with local farms, front-line nonprofits, schools, and corner stores.

SPROUT supports established and developing small-scale and sustainable farmers in Louisiana with technical and social support to build a stronger, more equipped community of growers in Louisiana and help all New Orleanians be part of a community food system.

Our mission is to ensure sustainable fisheries, resilient communities, and a healthy ocean for years to come. Our 10-year vision is that Monterey Bay is home to a thriving fishing community, supported by local consumers, and contributing to a resilient regional food system. To achieve this, we are putting more local food on local dinner tables by increasing food equity and security, supporting working waterfronts, ensuring dollars spent locally are reinvested locally, and building community.

Hope & Main’s mission is to empower an inclusive community of entrepreneurs to jumpstart and cultivate thriving food businesses that are the foundation of a more just, sustainable, and resilient local food economy. As RI’s original, most comprehensively equipped, and experienced food business incubator, we have assisted 500 plus aspiring food-preneurs of all means and backgrounds to launch their businesses since 2014. Of the entities launched at Hope & Main, 45 percent are successful and still in business.

Kitchen of Purpose uses the power of food to change lives. An agent for social change, Kitchen of Purpose generates workforce and entrepreneurship development and provides healthy food assistance in the D.C. metro area. Our training programs create career pathways via bilingual, vocational and technical education. Together, the Kitchen of Purpose community–staff, students, entrepreneurs, partners, supporters–create employment opportunities, launch new food businesses, and work to end hunger.

The mission of Just Roots is to create equitable access to healthy, local food in Western Massachusetts and to work toward just, vibrant, and sustainable farm and food systems everywhere. Just Roots began in 2011 as a grassroots community farm in Greenfield, MA, with the goal of growing fresh, local food and making it accessible to families of all income levels. We work to increase food security for vulnerable families and deepen participation in and understanding of our local food system.

Our mission is to cultivate and sustain a resilient local food community in North Central Florida through collaboration, economic opportunity, education, and seed stewardship.

Our mission is to grow a local food system that values the environment, health, and quality of life of farmers and eaters in our region. Our objectives include preserving RI farmland and agricultural and culinary knowledge, building healthier communities, reducing on-farm food waste through food rescue activities, increasing food access for insecure populations, improving the impact of food production and distribution on our environment, and strengthening local farm and food producer businesses.