The Giving Grove, a Kansas City-based nonprofit serving communities experiencing a lack of access to fresh food, recently announced that it will expand to Nashville, TN, through a partnership with The Nashville Food Project. The Nashville Food Project will help community members plant new orchards and also inventory and support existing community orchard sites.
The Role Of Public Transportation In Food Accessibility: Part Two
In part two of her blog series on public transit's impact on food availability, Director of Food Access Tera Ashley evaluates the affordability, variety, and quality of produce typically available in low-income, low-access areas. While many might draw conclusions that there is not demand for as much produce in these areas, anecdotal evidence indicates otherwise.
Tender Summer at The Nashville Food Project
In the world of communications, knowing your organization inside out is crucial to telling its story. As a communications intern for The Nashville Food Project I have enjoyed telling our stories, but more importantly, I enjoyed having the privilege to learn by experiencing them myself. The Nashville Food Project’s mission is to bring people together to grow, cook, and share nourishing food, with goals of cultivating community and alleviating hunger in our city.
Looking Back at Nourish 2024
Earlier this month we hosted our 14th annual Nourish, presented by Kroger. We are humbled and so incredibly proud to announce that this was our most successful Nourish to date, raising over $260,000! However, beyond a fundraiser, this night is one we always look forward to as a special time to share connection over a beautiful meal with so many friends, volunteers, and supporters.
Lake Days, Tomatoes, and Fueling Fun with Jackson®
Our food access partner Water Walkers has a mission of tearing down the boundaries between urban youth and outdoor adventure — and in the summer, that mission takes them straight to the lake. But what’s a boat day without a picnic? Thanks to Sweet Peas Summer Eats for Kids, sponsored by Jackson National Life Insurance Company (Jackson®), Water Walkers can count on daily deliveries of made-from-scratch meals that keep these young bodies nourished and able to learn, grow and play while on the water.
FeedBack Nashville: Community Listening
FeedBack Nashville (FBN) spent the month of June hosting a series of Community Listening Sessions to understand how people are experiencing food in Nashville and get feedback on the findings of the FeedBack Nashville food system survey: a city-wide survey that received more than 600 responses. FBN partnered with Network for Sustainable Solutions to meet with community members throughout Nashville to share the initial themes from our city-wide survey, and receive community members’ feedback and suggestions on preliminary findings.
The Role of Public Transportation in Food Accessibility: Part One
To combat food insecurity among low-income, low-access households without vehicle ownership, the availability of public transportation is paramount. The increased mobility that often comes with efficient, reliable public transportation may affect the accessibility of fresh fruits and vegetables in three ways: increased affordability, increased variety, and elevated quality. Director of Food Access Tera Ashley explores how food access and transportation are related in the first installment of this three-part series.
Food For The Heart — And Soul — In North Nashville
We already know the vital role that food plays in health. But how does that affect communities where the most easily accessible foods are processed and plastic-wrapped items in corner stores? For patients at Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center in North Nashville, which has historically been a food desert, uncontrolled hypertension is a direct consequence of this issue.
Cafe Collaboration with The City Juicery
Last December, Kayla Hall wandered into The Nashville Food Project at the same time as over a hundred other Nashvillians to celebrate the launch of FeedBack Nashville, a citywide initiative to evaluate and reimagine the local food system. It was her first time in the building, and although the main room was packed to the brim, she had a vision for what the space could be. So she asked to see the kitchen.
Bringing Fresh Produce to Cosecha, Woodbine's Hyper-Local Market
Every Wednesday during the summer months, a local grassroots organization gathers neighbors together on the front lawn of Woodbine United Methodist Church, which faces the neighborhood’s busy Nolensville Pike corridor. Cosecha Community Development's market thrives as a vibrant hub of community and commerce in South Nashville, hosting a small but mighty range of businesses and nonprofits as diverse as the Woodbine neighborhood’s own dynamic cultural landscape.
Reggie's Urban Ag Day & Resilient Community
On May 11, we celebrated the second annual Reggie’s Urban Ag Day, hosted at the Community Farm at Mill Ridge. The event’s organizer and namesake, Reggie Marshall, convened a variety of peers, professionals, lenders, and local vendors including Pathway Lending, SUDA, NRCS, Farm Service Agency, Farm Credit, Zysis Garden, Reggie’s Veggies and his nonprofit venture, Reggie’s Helping Hands. The goal? To provide resources for aspirational farmers hoping to get their start in urban agriculture.
Culinary Training Rooted in Partnership
We all know the old adage: practice makes perfect. And when it comes to culinary education, there really is no better place to learn than the kitchen. A group of culinary training students experienced this first-hand recently during an 8-week pilot course co-facilitated by The Nashville Food Project, Catholic Charities, and GT Service, the workforce development arm of Slim & Husky’s.
Partner Spotlight: Begin Anew
Begin Anew has been a fixture of the community for over 20 years, with a mission to empower individuals to overcome the obstacles caused by poverty through education, mentoring, and resources. They offer cost-free courses for adults who are learning English, pursuing their high school equivalency diploma, or seeking computer and job skills. Significantly, their campuses across Middle Tennessee — in Franklin, Madison, Woodbine and downtown Nashville — are tailored to the specific needs of the communities they are embedded in.
Future of Food Conversation Series Recap: Thinking Ahead While Honoring Our Past
By Allison Thayer, Director of Community Engagement at The Nashville Food Project
On May 2, the Nashville Food Project co-hosted the kickoff event for a community conversation series exploring “The Future of Food” in Nashville. The series, part of a collaboration with the FeedBack Nashville initiative and TN Local Food, is exploring how we can work together as a community to build a more equitable, just, and sustainable food future for everyone in our city.
Each event features a moderated panel with audience Q&A, and the kickoff event brought an all-star lineup: Kia Jarmon, visionary leader and consultant, and founder of the Nonprofit Equity Collaborative; Amanda Little, Vanderbilt professor of journalism and author of The Fate of Food: What We’ll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World; and Samantha Veide, the Managing Director for Americas and Transformation at Forum for the Future (the organization providing convenient support for the FeedBack Nashville Initiative). Maris Masellis, of the Tennessee Environmental Council and the Critical Root Zone podcast, moderated the discussion.
Panelist Kia Jarmon chooses a word to represent her hopes for the future of the food system.
Maris Masellis and Amanda Little
Maris Masellis and Samantha Veide
The kickoff was a discussion titled Futurist Mindsets and the Pursuit of a Just & Regenerative Food Future. The panelists discussed how fostering system-oriented, forward-thinking mindsets — and honoring lessons from our past — are both critical to building momentum for positive change in our local food system. They discussed the potential role and risks of technology in creating more equitable access to affordable, nutritious food. But, they also discussed the need for a patient, human-centric process to drive lasting positive change. Audience members asked, among other things, what actions they could take to generate positive change in our food system, and the community shared their hopes for what Nashville’s food future might look like.
The next event in the series will be on Thursday, May 30 from 6:00-7:30pm at our HQ. It will feature panelists Rev. Jen Bailey of the Faith Matters Network and People’s Supper, Rasheedat Fetuga of Gideon’s Army, and Patricia Tarquino of Cosecha Community Development. The panel, and will be moderated by NPT’s Jerome Moore of Explore Social Change. You can read more about the conversation and RSVP to attend here.
Partner Spotlight: Nashville Launch Pad
Nashville Launch Pad operates out of spaces across town to create a network of temporary, safer, street-free sleeping shelters for unhoused young adults which are open and affirming to LGBTQ+ individuals and their allies. They currently do this in three ways: through an emergency shelter program, a mobile housing navigation center, and an independent-supported living program.
Volunteer Appreciation Week: Community in the Kitchen
It’s National Volunteer Appreciation Week, and we’re celebrating the incredible folks who show up daily to chop veggies, shovel compost, mix dressings, and even sharpen knives! These simple, sometimes un-glamorous tasks are the backbone of the Food Project — but the community members that lend their hands to this work each day are the heart.
Partner Spotlight: FiftyForward
FiftyForward is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting adults aged 50 and older in Middle Tennessee through a variety of programs and services aimed at promoting health, well-being, and community engagement. Their programming is extensive, but is ultimately focused on developing community and purpose. Currently, The Nashville Food Project delivers about 560 meals each week to support this focus.
Starting New Seeds at Growing Together
Thanks to our friends at Tito’s Vodka, we now have a greenhouse on the Growing Together farm! Before the project last October, Growing Together was near its production capacity due to limitations in the site’s agricultural infrastructure. Farmers weren’t getting much exposure to starting plants from seed in a greenhouse — the greenhouse available to them was a shared space over 10 miles away from the farm.