Local Food and the Sustainable Cleveland 2019 Summit
Last week the City of Cleveland hosted Sustainable Cleveland 2019 - a 3-day Appreciative Inquiry summit that attracted over 600 participants and focused on creating an action plan for a sustainable regional economy in Northeast Ohio.
Local Food was one of the most popular topics during the summit and I wanted to give a quick report out of my experiences and the projects that emerged from the breakout group working on local food.
Local Food Was a Hot Topic
Local food was highlighted numerous times as a key opportunity in presentations during the first day of the summit. On the second day about 20 different breakout topics (or opportunity areas) were presented to the whole group and each participant then gravitated towards the topic he or she wanted to work on for the next day and a half. Though I don't know how many individuals participated in each breakout group, I'm sure that local food was one of the most popular. We had over 25 participants including the leaders of many regional local food organizations and businesses.
Five Key Projects Emerged
The first phase of our work together was a massive brainstormer of potential local food projects. Everyone wrote their ideas on a sticky note and posted them on a big board. Next we voted on the ideas we liked the most and formed breakout groups (again) to design prototypes of these specific projects.
The five ideas we worked on were:
1. Marketing and branding local food - "Grohio" campaign
2. Community kitchen incubator
3. Campaign to grow 10,000 new farmers in 10 years
4. Local food distribution models
5. Sustainable urban greenhouses
Our Presentation
After we designed our basic prototypes each breakout groups gave a creative presentation of their ideas to the whole group. I won't go through the entirety of our presentation, but let's just say we were the only group that drove a small truck filled with vegetables across the stage and sang a song about our love of local food. A photo of the local food choir is attached.
Critique
The summit was an experience positive, constructive and inspiring event. That being said there were a few missed opportunities the most significant of which was that it didn't do a very good job of identifying the existing initiatives and organizations that have gotten us to where we are today. As a result many of the breakout groups were reinventing the wheel to some degree or at least were not benefiting as they could have from the ideas and hard work of those who have been at it for years or even decades. But let's hope all relevant stakeholders a part of the planning and implementation of these ideas from here on forward.
Next Steps
Time and time again facilitator David Cooperrider and Mayor Frank Jackson stressed that we were creating concrete action plans for the future, not just nice conversations. That being said, neither were clear about what structures or resources that would be established to support the implementation of the projects that emerged from the summit. In the local food group each of the project design teams identified some concrete next steps and we'll be using Local Food Cleveland to help engage and organize around these topics.
Stay tuned!
Local Food was one of the most popular topics during the summit and I wanted to give a quick report out of my experiences and the projects that emerged from the breakout group working on local food.
Local Food Was a Hot Topic
Local food was highlighted numerous times as a key opportunity in presentations during the first day of the summit. On the second day about 20 different breakout topics (or opportunity areas) were presented to the whole group and each participant then gravitated towards the topic he or she wanted to work on for the next day and a half. Though I don't know how many individuals participated in each breakout group, I'm sure that local food was one of the most popular. We had over 25 participants including the leaders of many regional local food organizations and businesses.
Five Key Projects Emerged
The first phase of our work together was a massive brainstormer of potential local food projects. Everyone wrote their ideas on a sticky note and posted them on a big board. Next we voted on the ideas we liked the most and formed breakout groups (again) to design prototypes of these specific projects.
The five ideas we worked on were:
1. Marketing and branding local food - "Grohio" campaign
2. Community kitchen incubator
3. Campaign to grow 10,000 new farmers in 10 years
4. Local food distribution models
5. Sustainable urban greenhouses
Our Presentation
After we designed our basic prototypes each breakout groups gave a creative presentation of their ideas to the whole group. I won't go through the entirety of our presentation, but let's just say we were the only group that drove a small truck filled with vegetables across the stage and sang a song about our love of local food. A photo of the local food choir is attached.
Critique
The summit was an experience positive, constructive and inspiring event. That being said there were a few missed opportunities the most significant of which was that it didn't do a very good job of identifying the existing initiatives and organizations that have gotten us to where we are today. As a result many of the breakout groups were reinventing the wheel to some degree or at least were not benefiting as they could have from the ideas and hard work of those who have been at it for years or even decades. But let's hope all relevant stakeholders a part of the planning and implementation of these ideas from here on forward.
Next Steps
Time and time again facilitator David Cooperrider and Mayor Frank Jackson stressed that we were creating concrete action plans for the future, not just nice conversations. That being said, neither were clear about what structures or resources that would be established to support the implementation of the projects that emerged from the summit. In the local food group each of the project design teams identified some concrete next steps and we'll be using Local Food Cleveland to help engage and organize around these topics.
Stay tuned!
Tags: 2019, cleveland, food, local, projects, summit, sustainable
- Attachments:
-
-
summit local food.jpg, 100 KB
-
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Sudhir Kade Raghupathy on
-
I was very inspired at the Summit, and was heartened to be invited by David (Coop) to present our evolving social ventures as part of a near-future class of his. I loved working with the 'Social Entrepreneurship in the Urban Core' group and know that our vision, a localized and possibly even richer variant of the Kiva model will accomplish great things in conjunction with the other groups like yours, Peter. Brad (Masi) filled me in a bit on your group and we really should maintain transparent communication between all these action groups. I love that follow through and metrics-based tracking of progress are built into all these action plans and know great things will inevitably result. Anyway, glad to see this group detailed here and would like to be a participant moving forward, to bring value to our East Side efforts. Peace.
-
Permalink Reply by Diane Kurtzman on -
I agree with you Peter on all points - but especially when you said we were re-inventing the wheel on some points. I see such a positive structure in place already that most people aren't aware of - that tells me that creating awareness should be an initial push....
-
Permalink Reply by Joyce Hairston on -
well said Diane
About
Sponsors
© 2010 Created by Peter McDermott
