Program Officers Blog

As the Great Recession has hit Oregon so hard and lingered so long, our trustees have been increasingly concerned with its effects on low-income and rural Oregonians. They've been particularly worried about rising food insecurity and hunger. While MMT has consistently supported Oregon's statewide food bank network, we wanted to explore more systemic responses that would help:

• improve food security
• increase nutrition and health and
• provide economic opportunities, particularly in rural communities.

MMT decided to explore community food system work in Oregon as a way to potentially impact all three of these areas. My colleague Sally Yee – MMT's program officer who directs our Grassroots Grants program – and I worked with Kim Hanson to develop the study. Kim Hanson has a long history working with community food systems and food banks. She currently is a consultant and contract grant writer based in Salem, Oregon, and has most recently worked with Marion Polk Food Share in Salem and Yamhill County Community Action in McMinnville. Prior to that, she worked for Food for Lane County in Eugene, designing and implementing the food bank's community food security programs. Kim has also worked at the national level with the Community Food Security Coalition, now based in Portland.

We're sharing the report she produced for its value in understanding Oregon's community food systems and identifying potential ways to help strengthen them.

We are in the process of reviewing the report as we consider potential investment opportunities for MMT.  Look for more details to come in Spring 2011.

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