Envisioning a collaborative foodshed in Kansas City

KC Healthy Kids, along with partnering organizations Cultivate KC, Mid-America Regional Council and New Growth, have received funding from the USDA's Regional Food System Partnerships program to connect and strengthen our regional foodshed.

The partnering organizations bring together diverse networks from urban, suburban and rural communities. The project area includes: Allen, Douglas, Leavenworth and Wyandotte in Kansas and Cass, Jackson, Lafayette and St. Clair in Missouri. They also bring complementary expertise in community planning, research, stakeholder engagement, food system justice and community development.

​Katie Nixon, Food Systems Director with West Central Missouri Community Action Agency and member of the New Growth Team, believes this project "will give us an opportunity to understand our local food system from new perspectives and help guide future work that will help make the region more resilient and food secure."

The main goal of the project is to identify actionable strategies to develop a sustainable, systematic connection between food producers and consumers in the regional foodshed by:

1. Bringing together diverse stakeholders to build connections, collaboration and a shared understanding of the current food system and establish a collective vision for a resilient food system.
2. Conducting an equity-based food system assessment to understand inequities in the regional food system and highlight structural barriers as well as identify assets and opportunities, including an inventory of food system organizations.
3. Developing recommendations and an action plan for building a collaborative, resilient and equitable food system.​

For Marlene Nagel, Director of Community Development at MARC, "this project is important to our region in understanding food security needs and how to best leverage existing resources and determine where additional support is necessary."

Coordinating Team
Andrea Clark, Project Manager
Director of Food System Planning, KC Healthy Kids

Ami Freeberg, Coordinating Partner
Metro Farms and Food Systems Program Manager, Cultivate KC

Katie Nixon, Coordinating Partner
Food Systems Director, West Central Missouri Community Action Agency & New Growth
President, The KC Food Hub
​Co-Operator, Green Gate Family Farm

Lacy Stephens, Project Coordinator
Director of Local Food Programs, KC Healthy Kids

Marlene Nagel, Coordinating Partner
Community Development Director, Mid-America Regional Council

Rachael McGinnis-Millsap, Project Coordinator
VP of Programs and Policy, KC Healthy Kids

Advisory Board

Daniel Robinson
Northeast Grocers Project Coordinator, Groundwork NRG
Member, KC Young Farmers Coalition
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Ed Smith
Consultant, Kansas City Indian Center

​Elizabeth Reynoso
Director of Community Education & Outreach, El Centro, Inc.

Jamie Placht
Community Engagement Coordinator, Kanbe's Markets

Jose Leon
Union Representative, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 2

Karen Siebert
Advocacy & Public Policy Advisor, Harvesters-The Community Food Network

Robert Hicks
Chair, Indigenous Community Center of Lawrence

Semra Fetahovic
Juniper Gardens Training Farm Program Manager, Cultivate KC

Shanita McAffee-Bryant
Executive Director, The Prospect KC

​Susan Jaster
Farm Outreach Worker - West Central Missouri, Lincoln University

Tom Buller
Executive Director, Kansas Rural Center

Zac Hoppenstedt
​Horticulture Extension Agent, K-State University