Maple Apple Gumbo: Farm to School Collaboration in Vermont

Erica Curry, Shelburne Farms/VT FEEDAbbie Nelson, NOFA-VT/VT FEED

Danielle Pipher, Shelburne Farms/VT FEEDAndrew Powers, PEER Associates, Inc.

Community Food Security Coalition Conference New Orleans, LA – October 2010

Vermont FEED’s 3 C Model

Provide Outreach

Create a Community of Learning, Inquiry & Practice

Strengthen Statewide Network

Develop Resources

CLIP Participants Include:

•Burlington School Food Project•Food Works Farm to Table•Green Mountain Farm to School•Upper Valley Farm to School Network

Vermont Farm to School NetworkCommunity of Inquiry Learning & Practice (CLIP)

•Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets•Vermont Department of Education•Vermont Department of Health

Topics discussed: Sharing our Programs- learning unique elements of FTS programs across the state Evaluation- share current knowledge about FTS evaluation and identify gaps Telling Our Story- How to capture all of the great Farm to School work happening across the state Group Communication Trainings & Professional Development

Planning a Summer Workshop

Community of Inquiry Learning & Practice (CLIP)

The CLIP helped inform the first Vermont State Farm to School Institute…

Farm to School Summer Workshop

•Collaboration and Community of Learning Expanded to Schools•Workshop Offered for Credit

• Action Planning Time and Resource Specialist Support• Focus on the 3 C’s as structure for each day

• Teams including: teachers, principals, FTS coordinators, food service,community members, farmers

•Highlighting FTS practitioners- having them share their stories

Summer Workshops Focused On: Building Effective Partnerships Connecting with Farmers Assessing Sustainability of your program Facilitation, planning meetings and effective group process Garden based curriculum Integrating Food, Farm and Nutrition Curriculum into K-12 schools Recipes and Cost Effective Buying The National FTS Scene

Evaluation?

Evaluation!

The Big Question

CafeteriaClassroomCommunity

FruitsVegetables

Challenges

Challenges

Challenges

Challenges

Challenges

Promising Evidence

Place-based

Evaluation Framework

• Availability• Access• Utilization

Data

• 12 Schools • 43 Teachers• 655 students

• Menus• FSD interviews• Rubrics

Products

• Technical report for CDC

• Practical report recommending best practices

• Evaluation recommendations

Process Outcome

VT positioned to expand F2S research, evaluation, and scale up.

Findings (kids eating)

Findings

Preliminary Findings

• Eating F&V picked with family• Taste test participation

• Useful measures for future evaluation

Discussion Groups

Farm to School Evaluation

Building a Farm to School Learning Community/Farm to School Network

Strengthening and Developing Public/Private Partnerships and Collaboration