Last year, with your help, FIN:
- added a new Tukwila Village location to Namaste Farm Stand, and offered a total of 39 farm stand days. Together with our partners at IRC New Roots, we became authorized to accept SNAP/EBT payment as well as Fresh Bucks, and we made locally grown produce affordable and accessible for hundreds of customers. Hear from a few of them in this video.
- supported local food entrepreneurs in launching and growing five new businesses. We also established the Taste Around the Globe booth at the Renton and Federal Way farmers markets; this gives the entrepreneurs an opportunity to build a customer base. In coming weeks we’ll debut video profiles of all these business owners – keep an eye on this site!
- hosted five Community Kitchen Dinners, a Food and Community Resource Fair, and four cooking classes – all led by community members.
- expanded our cohort of Community Food Advocates from six to nine. These advocates are at the heart of FIN’s work, from driving our annual planning to leading a training on intercultural leadership development for FIN partners.
- provided a two-part workshop on food access resources. Participants then shared these resources with their communities through presentations at ESL classes, social media posts, and other outreach.
- began facilitating the South King Urban Agriculture Network of more than 15 partners focused on supporting land access opportunities and resource coordination for aspiring food growers. We also provided a daylong Farming in King County workshop for refugee and immigrant community members.
We’re excited to build off of this success, and we’re cooking up a lot of great things in 2019. Stay tuned for updates on new food businesses launching, Namaste Farm Stand expanding, and even more fun community events!