Many of the foods we eat every day began life as nothing more than a small seed. Taking a cue from nature itself, the Michigan Local Food Council Network has awarded half-a-dozen seed grants to organizations around the state designed to help those organizations grow new food councils at the local level. One of those six recipients is right here in Berrien County.
Be Healthy Berrien has received one of those seed grants from the Michigan Local Food Council Network to help create the Southwest Michigan Local Food Council to help not only residents, but restaurants and institutions as well. The Southwest Michigan Local Food Council will be formed as a group of people interested in the local food system and food access. This group will regularly get together to evaluate and endorse practices and policies to help equitably move locally grown food from the fields to the tables of Southwest Michigan, including in homes, restaurants, and institutions.
The other five awardees receiving these seed grants, include: Detroit Food Policy Council, Food Systems Workgroup (in the greater Lansing area), Good Food Kalamazoo, Kent County Food Policy Council, and Washtenaw County Food Policy Council. The Be Healthy Berrien seed grant allows partners in the Southwest Michigan Local Food Council to participate in the Michigan Local Food Council Network and receive training and support from other food councils from across the state.
Heather Cole is Director of Be Healthy Berrien, “This seed grant funding will allow us to develop greater capacity to work with the community of food growers, food retailers, and food consumers to create both a strong support system for local growers and a system for getting their produce to local consumers, affordably.” She adds, “This is a great step in achieving the vision of a vibrant local food system in Southwest Michigan.”
The actual amount of the local grant was not immediately disclosed, however, the Michigan Local Food Council Network website says each ranges up to $5,000 without local matching funds and up to $6,000 with an appropriate matching commitment of $1,000.
The Michigan Local Food Council Network is sponsored and co-convened by the MSU Center for Regional Food Systems, with funds made possible through a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Network coordinators are Liz Gensler, MSU Center for Regional Food Systems and Megan Masson-Minock, ENP & Associates, with support from Andrea Brown and Lauren Carlson at Michigan Association of Planning.
Be Healthy Berrien is a county-wide partnership of Berrien County Health Department, Lakeland Health, Southwest Michigan Planning Commission, United Way of Southwest Michigan, Benton Harbor-St. Joseph YMCA, and Niles-Buchanan YMCA. Together they are working to reduce obesity and chronic illness by creating healthy places to live, work, learn, and play. For more information about Be Healthy Berrien, you can visit www.BeHealthyBerrien.org.