FOOD SECURITY COALITION

Connecting people, organizations, and ideas — from farm to table and beyond. Whether you’re a farmer, educator, food pantry, policymaker, or neighbor, there’s a place for you in this work.

Coalition Application Open May 13 - June 15 (click here)

Applications for the Steering Committee and Working Groups are reviewed in June and December. This process supports group cohesion, continuity, and a thoughtful onboarding experience for new members.

ABOUT THE COALITION

The development of a Food Security Coalition is one aspect of the Grow Lane County project.

Purpose

To bring together individuals from diverse backgrounds to collaborate and engage with each other to identify gaps, solutions, recommendations and opportunities to improve regional food security. 

Community members connected to an organization or representing themselves in (at minimum) the following sectors. Any level of experience is welcome with people representing the community as a whole, from the Cascades to the Coast.  

Who is Involved

  • Lived experience

  • Transportation

  • Tribal

  • Agricultural Producers 

  • Education

  • Government

  • Food business

  • Hunger relief

  • Health & Healthcare

How it Work

Community members can engage as a Steering Committee or Working Group member. These are volunteer opportunities and stipends are available. In 2025, Working Groups will establish the framework (purpose, goals, what success means and how to measure it) that will guide participants. Each group may look or operate differently, but the common theme is regional food security.

Meetings are held virtually to encourage county-wide participation; in person meetings and events will also be held. When the meetings occur are up to the Working Group members.

Meetings

Backbone Agencies

  • Lane Community Health Council

  • FOOD for Lane County

  • Upper Willamette SWCD

COALITION STRUCTURE

Steering Committee

  • Includes Backbone Agencies

Workgroups

Click on the arrow to learn more.

  • Who: Agricultural producers,
    Anti-hunger organizations and others

    Why: To provide a space for producers to collaborate and develop consolidated resources to improve workforce development, trainings, etc. that benefit them. And, for anti-hunger organizations to learn how to better access healthy, fresh and locally grown food for community members experiencing hunger, specifically, and residents, generally.

    Meetings:
    Monthly on the 4th Tuesday from 4-5pm

  • Who: Agricultural producers, food businesses and others

    Why: Food security is dependent on the sustainability and scalability of local farm and food businesses. Small and mid-size producers face a lack of access to the types of processing, storage, and distribution infrastructure utilized by industrial-scale farms. Increasing network coordination and investing in mid-scale infrastructure is needed to expand local production and increase service to wholesale and institutional markets.

    Meetings:
    Monthly: 2nd Tuesday, 9-10am

  • Who: Healthcare practitioners and providers, clinics, CCOs and others

    Why: Access to healthy food is closely linked to health outcomes. Food Is Medicine is an approach that focuses on integrating consistent access to diet and nutrition related resources that are critical to addressing hunger and reducing the prevalence of chronic disease.

  • Who: Anyone interested in maps, data and supporting the regional food bank.

    Why: The purpose of this story map is to show how collected data can assist FFLC and its partners better identify gaps between free food resource supply and community demand. This story map highlights the four main types of partners that work in conjuncture with FFLC to end hunger in Lane County.