Pollinating the model: Local Food Miami

I recently received a call from Mario Yanez of Earth Learning in Miami, FL.

Mario recently came across Local Food Cleveland and wanted to talk about how he might develop a similar online space for his region. After an inspiring presentation from Will Allen of Growing Power, a group of local food advocates in Miami came together to see how they might carry forward the ideas of urban agriculture and sustainability. Mario has modeled their website - Local Food Miami - after Local Food Cleveland and I shared with him what I have learned from this site as well as a few practices that might be worth replicating.

I really appreciated our conversation for a couple reasons:
• It's great to see that more communities are realizing how powerful a role online social media can play in helping people and organizations work together towards a shared vision of what's possible
• It tells me that the Local Food Cleveland website and community are a national model for how this can happen
• It reminds me how fortunate we are to have such a vibrant and growing local food network in Northeast Ohio - whenever I talk with food system organizers in other regions I am always reminded of this

So take a look at Local Food Miami and let Mario know what you think.