Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** while progress has been made in…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** while progress has been made in recent years, food insecurity continues to challenge maine residents. Food insecurity is driven by poverty, limited community resources, and the lack of economic opportunities. The urban core of lewiston-auburn encompasses three of maine's most impoverished census tracts, one of the highest concentrations of refugees/immigrants, and many households experience food insecurity and other socio-economic challenges. For over 23 years, the ST. Mary's nutrition center (NC) has helped build a stronger, more just food system in greater lewiston-auburn, maine to address the needs of its community. Recognizing that the problem was larger than access to food, the NC has established deep community relationships, strong partnerships, recognized expertise, and a track record of leading collaborative planning efforts to reimagine and build a just food system and in turn improve the quality of life in the lewiston-auburn community. The growing our local food economy together in lewiston-auburn maine project is the next phase in a long-term plan to address food insecurity in the region and to improve the quality of life for the local communities. The project's aim is to bring people together and to strengthen community assets towards cultivating more equitable and resilient access to food and land in lewiston-auburn. The project will build upon the NC's proven strategies of its previous growing food together project and existing community capacities to shift resources and decision-making to community-led efforts including majority bipoc organizations. Project goals include:strengthen existing community food resources and markets towards more equitable access to healthy, local food.launch and grow the lewiston-auburn community market (lacm) - a community-run cooperative - to provide low-cost grocery shared commercial kitchen spaces; dry/cold storage to serve area small-scale farmers and food producers; and a community event space.expand access to urban spaces for food production as well as food, agriculture, gardening, and nutrition education opportunities across multiple settings and age groups.engage community members, farmers, and partner organizations in assessing and advocating for planning and policies that are supportive of local agriculture, farmland access, and food businesses. The project will reinforce and develop linkages between multiple sectors of the food system - from farmers and gardeners to consumers; develop connections between for-profit and non-profit food sectors; support the development of entrepreneurial projects; encourage sustainable approaches and build the long-term capacity and stability of the food system; develop new resources and strategies to reduce food insecurity and prevent IT in the future by leveraging existing nutrition education programs; and increase the community's capacity by utilizing a systems approach to address social determinants of health and increase the capacity of, all stakeholders to increase their food security.project partners anticipate a number of positive outcomes in the community as a result of this project that are intricately intertwined and multi-faceted. In addition to creating new jobs, teaching new skills, maximizing local supply chains, reducing food waste, offering a low-barrier access to local foods and improving peoples' health through improved access to healthy food, this CFP will help to instill a sense of pride in the community as all community members will be able to contribute to the improvements in the community and quite literally own part of the local food economy. The centerpiece of the project is ultimately the establishment of the lewiston-auburn community market (lacm). The quality of life in downtown l-a will be improved with the establishment of a low-cost, culturally and linguistically supportive retail experience that will be provided through the lacm. Based on a careful review of preexisting model structures, best practice research, and localized community needs and market assessments, the lacm will be a transformational milestone for the development of lewiston-auburn that will serve as a living monument to the power of community engagement and cooperation that will ultimately improve the quality of life for the local population. Lacm will be a community-owned multi-stakeholder cooperative - an environmentally sustainable and affordable grocery store; shared kitchen and storage space as well as a community gathering space that will anchor all of the project activities and become an example for other small cities across the united states.