This assessment and community engagement process worked to assess and support the food system of Beaufort County, NC in 2013. The projected resulted in significant food council interest in the community and CFSA is continuing to provide food council technical assistance and support services.
This document, published in November 2013, highlights challenges and opportunities in Beaufort County, NC around local fruit and vegetable production and access of residents to healthy, fresh, local food. The document includes an action plan to help increase access to these types of foods.
The project was done in collaboration with the Mid-East Commission, a regional planning organization based in Washington, NC. The assessment was funded by a grant from the Kate B Reynolds Charitable Trust as part of their Healthy Places NC initiative.
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Appendices
Appendices A – E
Appendices F – I
Asset Maps – Asset maps of the current community food system in Beaufort County
Appendix A – Current Community Projects Focused on Healthy Eating, Food and Farming
Appendix B – Food, Nutrition and Farming Educational Opportunities
Appendix C – Emergency Food Providers
Appendix D – Farmers, Producers and Vendors Supplying Healthy, Fresh, Local Food in Beaufort County
Appendix E – Farmers, Producers and Vendors Supplying Healthy, Fresh, Local Food in Surrounding Counties
Appendix F – Surveys and Interview Questions
Appendix G – Model Programs and Technical Assistance
Appendix H – Funding the Local Food System
Appendix I – Endnotes
Continued Support
CFSA is continuing its work to support the local food system in Beaufort County following the completion of this assessment and action plan.
In 2014, CFSA staff met with members of Beaufort County’s Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) Collaborative to discuss the county’s next steps moving forward. The group voted to act as initiators of Beaufort County’s Food Council and a sub-committee planned public community forum share knowledge on Food Councils with community members.
The forum was hosted at the Beaufort County Community College in Washington, NC on May 1, 2014. Members of the community presented on health challenges around diet-related preventable diseases and efforts to form a local food council. Jared Cates and Lindsay Lassiter of CFSA presented information from the action plan and Christy Shi from the Center for Environmental Farming Systems spoke with the group about the benefits of community Food Councils and the numerous community-led efforts across the state to form food councils.
Members of the audience from that night agreed to join a task force to meet and to discuss the next appropriate steps toward the creation of a Food Council or Food Network. The video above was also shown to the group to highlights some of the numerous efforts happening around local food and healthy eating in Beaufort County. Many thanks to the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise for making the production of the video possible.
Beaufort County community members and members of the HEAL Collaborative are still meeting regularly to support the formation of a food council. CFSA staff will continue to engage with the group to help support their efforts toward developing a council.