First off, a big welcome!
The Food Trust is undergoing an exciting project in 2023: We’re launching the Nutrition Navigator, a mapping tool to help users find healthy food resources near them (in other words, help folks #hackthefoodsystem). It’s a project we inherited from the Bainum Family Foundation, which first launched the map in 2017. At that time, the tool had two clear objectives: to map nutrition education classes and workshops open to the public, and to share resources about jobs in similar fields (nutrition education, culinary and kitchen support, and agriculture).
During the pandemic in 2020, the Foundation paused work on the Food Learning Locator and, in 2021, began a search for the map’s new organizational home. The Food Trust saw the map as an opportunity to better understand how our diverse array of community-based food access and nutrition education programs connect to the broader landscape of food security work regionally, and we loved the idea of expanding the map not only geographically (from the D.C. area to Philly), but also in scope, to provide as many relevant resources to our communities as possible.
And so the Nutrition Navigator — think of it as the Food Learning Locator 2.0 — is scheduled to launch this summer! It will be designed to share resources that provide on-ramps to the local food system, critically in places where there have been barriers to accessing affordable, local and nourishing food. Users will be able to use the map to:
- Learn about food and nutrition,
- Stretch their food budget,
- Find healthy, local food near them, and even
- Train for jobs in agriculture.
Et tu, Fruite? will be an ongoing series that seeks to engage our community in answering a general research question: What is the use case for another resource mapping tool? In a world where one can find most social services and school/community pantries online, what can The Food Trust do to both connect existing online resources and add value to how folks locate and access fresh food and nutrition education?
One clear answer is that we’ll need the feedback and input of our colleagues, fellow practitioners, partner agencies, stakeholders and network at large. If you want to get involved, shoot us an email at mverdell@thefoodtrust.org.
In the meantime, join us as we #hackthefoodsystem. We look forward to sharing with you and hearing from you.
Your Partners in Food Access,
The Food Trust Resource Mapping Team