Subscribe
Donate

Author: barefoot-mayte

Building community through food in southern Colorado

Greta Allen, the Blueprint’s Policy Manager, recently visited the Pueblo Food Project and RMSER in Pueblo County in late August. She also traveled to Prowers County to make a presentation and meet with Lamar Unidos. 

Michelle Ray, the Blueprint’s Visibility Manager who’s based in Colorado Springs, is becoming more active with the Southeast Food Coalition. In addition to attending coalition meetings, she recently volunteered at Solid Rock Community Development Corporation’s free farmers market and helped facilitate a small-group conversation around local food access during a community dinner at Food to Power. 

Find out a little more about each group’s efforts to build community and address hunger locally.

Read More >

Connecting community to traditional foods, strengthening local food systems in southwestern Colorado

As part of our work, program staff for the Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger find it important to visit and connect with network partners right in their communities. We want to see what’s happening locally – especially the great work being done by community coalitions and organizations.

Dana Wood, the Blueprint’s Community Investment Manager, recently visited with recipients of Food Pantry Assistance Grants in southwestern Colorado. This included the Montezuma School to Farm Project and Pine River Shares in Bayfield, along with a joint food distribution by Good Sam’s Food Pantry and Dolores Family Project in Cortez.

Read More >

Encourage families to complete their school’s benefits form

August 24, 2023

The new voter-created Healthy School Meals for All program kicks off this school year in most public schools across Colorado, and it’s still important for families to complete their school’s benefits form or application. It impacts students and their families, school funding, and local communities. 

Whether it’s called school, meal, community, or educational benefits, the single-page form asks families to share household income, along with race and ethnicity data. Collecting this information allows your local school to maximize state and federal funding. It also helps students qualify for school-related fee waivers like SAT/ACT testing, athletics, band, field trips, and other activities.

Read More >

Help strengthen WIC: Advocate for more funding in federal budget

August 24, 2023

The Blueprint’s Federal Policy Committee recently voted to focus on finding champions in Congress to support and advocate for sufficient funding of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in the U.S. federal budget. This includes partnering with the National WIC Association, Hunger Free Colorado, and others to connect with Colorado’s Members of Congress.

New data show that WIC needs a significant increase in funding – at least $7.2 billion in total this coming fiscal year – to support increased participation and provide full benefits to those enrolled across the nation.

Read More >

Food & Nutrition in Healthcare coalition forming 

August 24, 2023

With partners and advocates across the state, we’re building a diverse, cross-sector coalition to organize around “food and nutrition in healthcare” policy and program implementation opportunities in Colorado. This work will prioritize food and diet in an individual’s health plan, with the goal of preventing or treating costly chronic health conditions. Such nutrition interventions also can improve household food security and address health disparities.

Read More >

Healthy School Meals for All campaign receives funding support

August 24, 2023

The new Colorado voter-approved program, Healthy School Meals for All, kicks off in most public schools this school year! Members of the Blueprint’s Workgroup 5: Maximizing Child Nutrition Programs have come together to ensure a strong launch with a statewide marketing and outreach campaign this fall. 

In support of this collaborative effort, the Colorado Access Foundation and The Colorado Health Foundation have committed a combined total of $1.5 million to promote program benefits, encourage student participation and family completion of school benefit forms, and help fill position vacancies in school dining rooms.

Read More >

New report and presentation: Community participant evaluation of Colorado produce incentive programs

August 10, 2023

Plenty of data shows that produce incentive programs increase fruit and vegetable consumption, but do they create economic mobility and liberation for program participants? Join us for a virtual presentation on Tuesday, August 22 from 2 – 3:30 p.m. to learn more about recent research that centers community voices in evaluating such programs across Colorado. The 14-month evaluation examined how these Colorado programs affect choice and agency, economic freedom, and well-being of families and individuals who participate – and identified several insights and recommendations from the community participants.

Read More >

Opportunities to give input on proposed Kroger-Albertsons merger

August 10, 2023

Kroger and Albertsons announced a potential $24.6 billion supermarket merger last fall, which would affect consumers, workers, farmers, and suppliers across the nation and in Colorado. Combined, they operate more than 250 King Soopers, City Market, Safeway, and Albertsons grocery stores across the state. They hope to finalize the merger in early 2024 if approved by state and federal regulators.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and the Colorado Department of Law are currently seeking public comment and consumer opinion on the merger. The Blueprint’s Federal Policy Committee is also taking action.

Read More >

Sen. Bennet introduces new federal legislation to allow SNAP participants to purchase ready-made food

July 27, 2023

U.S. Senator Michael Bennet recently introduced the Hot Foods Act, which would lift the existing ban on hot foods in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Hunger Free Colorado and Nourish Colorado have led efforts in the state to advocate for greater access for families and individuals to purchase cold-prepared foods, heated foods, and hot meals using SNAP benefits.

Read More >

Governing Council visits Fort Morgan and Kids at Their Best

July 27, 2023

The Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger’s Governing Council visited Fort Morgan and the local youth-powered nonprofit, Kids at Their Best, for their annual retreat on Friday, July 21. 

The day started with a tour of their facility and learning more about the organization’s efforts to alleviate hunger across the community. After that, Blueprint staff and Governing Council members visited a few summer meal and enrichment sites – a chance to see the youth-led work of Kids at Their Best in action while interacting with some of the staff and participants of their Summer Blast program.

Read More >
Scroll to Top