September 21, 2023 • 25 mins
Join us as we pull up a chair with Brenda Williams, Healthy Foods Coordinator at Communities Unlimited. Get ready to unpack the pressing issue of food insecurity in rural communities, and the unique challenges faced by those living off the beaten path. We dive into how Brenda is championing for better access to fresh, nutritious produce from small-scale growers.
In our chat, we delve into the world of local food initiatives in schools. Brenda’s expertise and passion shine through as she takes us on a journey of working alongside small-scale growers and community initiatives. We shed light on their successful Local Food Purchasing Assistance Agreement Program and Local Food for Schools Program. Plus, you’ll get a glimpse into a unique partnership with a local pork farmer that's changing the food landscape in North Little Rock School District.
We round off our time with Brenda by exploring her personal journey to Communities Unlimited and her commitment to tackling food insecurity in small rural communities. Hear about her vision for farm-to-school initiatives and how they can nourish these marginalized communities. Brenda also shares exciting details about their collaboration with the Arkansas Community Foundation, which enabled a free farmer's market during the COVID pandemic. So sit back, listen in, and get ready to be inspired by Brenda’s passion and dedication to increasing access to local, healthy food.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
I would say to any food service child nutrition
director that please just giveit a try.
I love working with growers.
They're so amazing, they're thehardest working people that I
know and they're so passionateabout their farms and providing
a great quality product thatthey will not be disappointed.
(00:24):
And so I get excited becausethis is an opportunity to
provide healthy meals as well ashelp the small family farm.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
All right, welcome to episode 14 of Small Talk with
Communities Unlimited.
My name is Chris Baker andtoday we have the pleasure of
meeting someone that I alwaysenjoy talking with.
Brenda Williams is our HealthyFoods coordinator, Healthy Foods
, one of the departments here atCommunities Unlimited.
Welcome to the podcast, Brenda.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Thank you so much for having me today, Chris.
I'm so excited.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
So let's talk about healthy foods First.
Let's start like birds-eye viewzoom out for us.
We say healthy foods, everybodykind of knows what we mean.
But what does it mean atCommunities Unlimited?
Speaker 1 (01:11):
It means the opportunity to increase access
to local and fresh produce andsmall rural communities
throughout our service region.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I'm going to ask you a big, broad question here how
do you do it?
What does that mean?
Who do you work with those kindof things?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
So what does it mean?
Well, chris, it depends on theday.
We have a number of projects.
Mainly, we work withsmall-scale growers and we work
with small rural communities toaddress the food insecurity and
what that looks like.
It depends on the grant fundingand it depends on the community
(01:51):
that we're serving.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
I know that when we talk about Communities Unlimited
, the service area that we servein has a very high food
insecurity percentage incomparison to the rest of the
country.
Our seven state region has apretty high food insecurity.
What are some of the commonproblems that you run into in
rural communities with thatparticular angle?
Speaker 1 (02:13):
What we find so many times often is that a lot of
these small rural communitiesand it can be a small town of a
thousand of less or less andthey do not have access to a
grocery store, and what thatmeans is that a lot of times
they do not have access to freshproduce, nutritious foods, and
(02:36):
so our goal is to find out whatwe can do to increase access to
local, preferably produce.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
The setting of a rural community?
I've been meaning to ask youthis question for a while.
Brenda Is Dollar General.
Are they like a friend or a foewhen it comes to the food
insecurities?
Speaker 1 (02:55):
When I think of Dollar General, I think that
there are in so many ruralcommunities.
Sometimes in a small ruralcommunity you might see two
Dollar General.
So I really think it depends onthe community.
I think that what we're lookingfor we're looking for an
opportunity that a family, eventhough you're in a small rural
(03:15):
town, you should have access tofresh and healthy foods so you
can prepare nutritious andhealthy meals for your families.
That's not true, or itshouldn't be too much to ask for
.
But what we're seeing is thatin small, real towns of 500 to
600, they may have a dollarjournal, but that dollar journal
does not have or does notprovide fresh and local produce.
(03:38):
So that's a challenge for them.
So that means that they mighthave to travel 20 minutes or 30
minutes to the nearest grocerystore in order to purchase local
or fresh fruits and vegetables.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I know you've got a variety of projects that we can
talk about that we use toaddress that issue availability
of local produce and freshproduce.
How do you address that?
Is it things like farmersmarkets?
I mean, because when we talkabout rural communities, I would
imagine a lot of people thinkabout farming.
So if they're farmers, do theynot have access to that produce?
Speaker 1 (04:16):
It really depends on the community, and when we are
in a community, we want to be ina community because the
community would like for us tobe there, and it just depends on
the community.
It depends.
You could be in a community andit's a food desert, but you
don't have nearby growers, sothat would be a challenge for
you to have a farmer's market.
Or you could be in a community,say, for instance, one of the
(04:39):
projects that we have is a pilotproject.
It's a food pharmacy projectand we're working with a doctor
and we're working with a smallscale grower, a black farmer,
and we're providing, through agrant that we received from the
Arkansas Community Foundation,fresh produce boxes.
A healthcare provider hasidentified 20 patients that are
(05:00):
going to or that are receivingthe produce boxes and is fresh
and it's healthy foods.
The patients are excited aboutit and it also helps the small
scale grower.
It's a small scale grower thatlives or has a farm outside of
Pine Bluff and so he's makingthe deliveries.
We're doing it for 12 weeks 20boxes of fresh and local produce
(05:23):
.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
That sounds like it is one of those programs.
I guess the term would be pilotprogram.
Is that something that's kindof being tested?
Do you find yourself workingwith a lot of pilot projects to
see kind of what works, becauseit sounds like there's not a
common thread, that you can just, you know, tie up in a bow and
put in a pretty package andapply it to other communities?
It really sounds individual.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Because it depends, Chris, on what works for that
community.
Again, as you stated, this is apilot project and we're trying
to see if it will work and weare utilizing the grant funding
to test it in this community.
We did six weeks in Alzheimerand we were working with a nurse
practitioner and then now we'redoing six weeks in Pine Bluff.
(06:07):
Other programs that we've had aproduce prescription program in
Booneville, Arkansas, and wedid work with a local grower we
worked with.
We had produce vouchers orcards or health cards.
It was vouchers for veggies andwhere participants that were
enrolled in a program and thatprogram was a pilot project that
(06:28):
we were funded from Share OurStrength or no Kid Hungry for
six months and with that program, the participants that were
enrolled.
We were partnering with aclinic, a school-based health
clinic there in Booneville andworked with the nurse
practitioner, and so thoseparticipants had $80 a month
(06:49):
that they would take theirvoucher cards and redeem them at
the local Walmart in Boonevillefor fresh produce and that
project was a pilot and it wasan amazing project regarding
increasing access to fresh andhealthy foods.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
From a governmental standpoint, brenda, are you
finding that the support isthere for healthy foods
initiatives?
It probably ebbs and flows, Iwould imagine a little bit.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Well, Chris, I'm glad that you asked that, because I
just yesterday I reached out tothe administrator of two
programs that are funded by USDAit's the local food purchasing
assistance agreement program andalso the local food for schools
program for the state ofArkansas and I was really
(07:34):
impressed with the numbers andso what those programs have done
.
They have increased access tolocal and fresh foods from small
scale growers and producers,and I'm just excited about the
opportunity for small scalegrowers and producers to have
market opportunities as well asfor schools to have access to
(07:59):
fresh and local whether it'sproduce or it could be beef or
it could be pork from localproducers.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Well, there's a story that I know of because of my
job here at Community isUnlimited that you were involved
in.
Can you kind of tell us alittle bit about the process,
what was going on with the NorthLittle Rock School District,
because I have a follow upquestion to that?
But I want people to know thestory first.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah, we had received a call.
Well, I have a partnership or anetwork.
I work with a pork farmer, asmall family farm in Arkansas.
They were interested in theprograms that we had available
regarding the local foodpurchasing assistance, as well
as the local food for schools,and so the North Lutter Rock
(08:48):
School District reached out tothe pork farmer and wanted to
purchase some pork for theirschool cafeteria to serve Boston
but sandwiches, barbecuesandwiches and I was so excited
about the opportunity and it wasmore than just the one off.
They reached out to the farmerand or the producer and
(09:11):
purchased three times and it wasjust an opportunity for the
school students to receive freshpork sandwich and, as you know,
we in the Mid-South and we lovebarbecue right, and so I just
thought it was a greatopportunity.
And what that school did?
They actually purchase a smokerin order to prepare the pork,
(09:32):
and so when I see things likethis, I get so excited that
they're thinking outside of thebox and the grower gets excited
in reference to having a callfrom a school district regarding
purchasing some of their pork.
So I think to me it's a win-win.
It's a win-win for the schoolas well as a win-win for the
(09:54):
small family farm.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
So just to read what Brenda is doing there and what
that triangle looks like isshe's facilitating purchase of a
pork product from a localproducer and it's going into the
school district to be served tothe children.
I have a question, because Iknow it's something that you're
passionate about how do we domore of that?
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Chris, we do more of that by getting the word out, by
increasing the awareness thatit's not really difficult, it's
not too hard.
If you don't know a grower, youcan reach out to Communities
Unlimited and say that I want tospeak with a healthy foods
coordinator, and I will do someresearch to find a producer
that's nearby you, and you willbe amazed.
(10:37):
I would say to any food service, a child nutrition director,
that please just give it a try.
I love working with growers.
They're so amazing, they're thehardest working people that I
know and they're so passionateabout their farms and providing
a great quality product thatthey will not be disappointed.
(10:59):
And so I get excited becausethis is an opportunity to
provide healthy meals as well ashelp the small family farm.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Are you finding that the initiative has to be there
from, say, the school districtin order to do more of this?
Is there any way to facilitatemore of that outside of the
child nutrition director beingsomeone who's Also passionate
about that?
Speaker 1 (11:26):
I think that it just as you said, it just really
depends on the state and thecommunities on limits.
We're fortunate that we do havea grant from USDA, and one of
the goals of this grant is toreach out to the child nutrition
directors or to reach out tothe school districts.
We've reached out to 93 schooldistricts within the Delta in
(11:49):
Arkansas, tennessee andMississippi combined, and our
goal is to identify the schooldistricts that are what we
consider rock stars.
They're really excited aboutlocal, they're excited about
fresh produce and freshagricultural products and they
want to bring them into theirschools, and so it's a matter of
just thinking differently whenit comes to working with a small
(12:12):
scale grower, and it's also amatter of addressing what are
some of your challenges.
We've heard that, oh, I don'tknow a local grower.
In the past it could have been.
Oh, I don't have the budget forit, but with this new funding
from USDA, the schools haveadditional some of the schools,
if they requested to get some ofthe funding that is available,
(12:34):
they have additional funding.
So it's not a major concernregarding the price point,
because you're buying local andwe want the grower to have the
fair market prices as well.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
You find that a lot of times it's just an
information gap where maybe thenutrition directors don't know
what funding is available tothem.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
I totally agree.
I think it's just they are sobusy, they're working extremely
hard and a lot of times theycould be wearing multiple hats
and they could be understaffed.
And I think that's theimportance of this program to be
an ally for them.
Regarding reaching out to thegrower, finding out what the
(13:16):
grower has, connecting them tothe grower, I get a call from a
local grower and say, brenda, Ihave all this okra and I need a
buyer, and just reaching out toa school district to find out
are you interested in buyingokra from a local grower?
He's just right up the roadfrom you.
So I think it's about makingthat connection and letting them
(13:38):
know that it is not a heavylift to connect to a grower.
A grower would love for theopportunity to connect with a
school district.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
You hear the passion in this woman's voice?
I can.
We're speaking with BrendaWilliams.
She's a Healthy FoodsCoordinator at Communities
Unlimited, and this is SmallTalk with Communities Unlimited,
our new podcast.
And Brenda, I wanted to ask youkind of a little bit about your
past, like where do you comefrom?
How did you get here?
Speaker 1 (14:06):
I am originally from Blaville, Arkansas, a small
rural town in the Delta.
I grew up in a home and my momhad eight kids and we
experienced food insecurity, andso I know the importance of
having healthy and nutritiousfoods and I am so passionate
(14:28):
about working in small ruralcommunities to address the food
insecurity and to make an impact, and I get so thrilled when I'm
able to connect a grower to amarket opportunity and able to
get someone excited about eatinghealthy and fresh foods instead
of, you know, spending alltheir money at a local, you know
(14:49):
convenience store but unhealthyfoods.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
What is your educational background Like?
How did you wind up in ahealthy foods role?
Speaker 1 (14:58):
I was really.
I graduated from Arkansas StateUniversity in Jonesboro and
I've done nonprofits for morethan 20 years and I was just
looking for an opportunity tomake a difference, to really
have an impact in the Delta, andI'm just so excited about this
(15:19):
opportunity to work with CU andto be able to help small scale
growers.
The growers get so excitedabout a market opportunity, and
so I'm just happy to be in thisposition.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
And what it's really about is simply finding more
market opportunities, andcreating more market
opportunities Is that kind ofone of the keys to the castle,
so to speak.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
It is very much so, because small growers they know
how to grow.
They can grow the sweetpotatoes, they can grow the
squash, they can grow turnipgrains, they know how to grow.
But maybe something that theydon't know or they need
assistance with is the marketing, and that's what the programs
(16:01):
that we have now are able tohelp them with that, to be able
to make that connection for them.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
We're trying to empower rural communities with
this podcast and introduce themto some programs they may never
have heard of.
If you could Rattle off acouple of things you think would
would really benefit acommunity right off the bat,
that would be fairly simple forthem to pull off.
As far as healthy foodsinitiatives would be, is there
some of those things you cantalk about, like what are the
(16:29):
commonalities?
Speaker 1 (16:30):
I would go and reference to small rural
communities.
I would definitely say farm toschool.
I would say start there.
And I know that a lot ofcommunities were seasonal, but
you can start in an area such as, say, for instance, during
October, when it's farmed theschool month you can look at
what are some of the growers inyour area and exactly what they
(16:53):
have, what type of produce orwhat type of other items that
they have available regardingfile crops.
I would say start there, startwith farm to school.
I think that's could be an easywin for any small rural
community.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Those programs are a heck of a lot of fun once people
start them to.
I see that.
I see the passion when peopletalk about doing those projects.
They get excited about it.
You know it's not all work.
It's some of its fun.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
I think they really do, because you have a small
scale grower that is just soexcited about this market
opportunity and he's reallydedicated and committed to
providing you a quality product.
He really is.
They are so excited about whatthey do and they love.
They have a passion for whatthey do growing and being a
(17:42):
farmer, being a producer.
They have so much love for thewhat they're doing.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I always.
I always look through things.
I've spoken with Brenda on amonthly basis very regularly,
but more often than usually.
But I always look at things inmy own life, brenda, through
this healthy foods lens.
Now that we, now that I'm hereat CU, there is like a downtown
dinner that happens in the townthat I live in and I was sitting
there thinking you know what,in a small rural community they
(18:10):
could pull up like a downtowndinner with local produce
produce.
It would just take an organ,somebody to organize.
It would be fun for thecommunity and it would introduce
the whole Like buying localproduce process to the entire
community.
I don't know, I just I see thathappen.
I'm like man.
All it takes is a little littlenudge of creativity sometimes,
(18:31):
you know.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Oh, Chris, I'm liking that idea.
I'm thinking, okay, do we haveany grant funding available that
we can make that happen in someof the rural communities?
I love that.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
But is that how like if somebody was in a community
and they're listening to thispodcast and they go, I'd love to
do something?
Can they bounce ideas off ofyou, or what's the process?
How do they do this?
Speaker 1 (18:52):
They can easily just reach out to communities
unlimited or reach out to me asthe Healthy Food Coordinator,
and I would love to have thatconversation with them to talk
about because in their communityit's probably going to look
different.
It may not be the same, butwhat we want to do is to have
that conversation with them tofind out what they would like to
(19:13):
do.
Earlier today I was on a team'scall with my colleague and some
community partners in Amarillo.
We were talking about acommunity garden and we were
talking about the possibility ofgetting some schools connected
to another one of the partnersthat has a curriculum.
So again, it's all about whatlooks good for them regarding
(19:36):
their community and what theywant.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Can I ask you to run down a couple of things here?
We're speaking with BrendaWilliams, the Healthy Foods
Coordinator here at CommunitiesUnlimited.
She is all about getting localproduce, local meats, into the
communities, into the schools,and there's a couple of examples
that I think are pretty strongexamples of things you've done.
Can you talk about the farmersmarket that happened during
(20:02):
COVID?
That was the free farmersmarket.
Can you tell us about that one?
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Yes.
So we were able to receive agrant from the Arkansas
Community Foundation and theyhave continued to be an amazing
partner and so we received agrant of $15,000 from the
Arkansas Community Foundationand we partnered with the mayor
there and what we did was weprovided free farmers markets.
(20:27):
Basically, we purchased $15,000of local and fresh produce from
small-scale growers in thatcommunity and we held free
farmers markets.
Basically, we set aside somedays and some times and it was
in the city of Hermitage andthey were at the community
center.
We made the purchases from thelocal growers.
(20:49):
The local growers determinedtheir market prices and it was
an amazing opportunity.
People were lined up around thedoor.
I was nervous about the programbecause I'm in Mississippi and
the program's in Arkansas.
I thought, oh my goodness, arewe going to have an overflow of
people?
Are we going to have all thisproduce left over?
(21:09):
And those were concerns Ireally didn't need to have,
because it started at like twoand people came, they were
lining up around 12 and they ranout of produce.
Literally all the produce wasgone.
And we did that for about threetimes, I believe, and it was an
opportunity and it wasliterally produce everywhere and
(21:29):
it was a variety of produce.
Again, it was a free farmersmarket, from watermelons to
tomatoes, cucumbers.
It was such an opportunity toincrease access to fresh and
healthy foods and it was firstcome, first serve basis.
And so it was whomever wantedthe fresh and healthy produce
and it was first come, firstserved and they lined up and
(21:52):
they were able to get bags,fresh produce and take it home
and prepare healthy meals fortheir families.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Where did that creativity, that initiative,
where did it come from?
Where did it start at?
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Because it was my idea.
I am always researchingdifferent projects or programs
that are out there.
I think I actually saw thatprogram.
It was somewhere in Californiaand I was like, oh, that sounds
good, let's try it here.
So I'm always looking for newand innovative ideas to pilot in
(22:23):
our communities and it justwent off without a hitch.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
And there's one other example.
I think that's really creativeand cool and really empowered
some people that I'd like totalk to you about, and I'm
talking about the trailersthrough Cargill Black Farmers
Initiative.
Tell me about that process andhow that worked, just so people
can be exposed to it.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
So, see, you reached out to Cargill, and so we
reached out to them, we wrote agrant and, just having
conversations because I workwith so many growers and finding
out what are the gaps in thesystem, what we know is that we
don't have aggregation, we don'thave cool or cold storage and
we don't have transportation.
What we realized is thatgrowers need to be able to
(23:04):
transport from their farm to themarket, and so we did some
research.
We found out okay, what can wedo?
And we had $85,000 in funding,and so with that funding, we
were able to purchase 10 Cargilltrailers and we were able to
work with a small business ownerand cross it, and so we
identified the growers that wereeligible, and it was an amazing
(23:27):
opportunity to address the gapin the system regarding not
having the transportation totransport your produce from farm
to market, and one of thegrowers that we're working with
for the food pharmacy program heis a recipient of one of those
trailers.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Trailers were really like kind of a game changer for
a lot of those small scalegrowers, weren't they?
It?
Speaker 1 (23:49):
really was in reference to being able to
transport your produce from yourfarm to the market.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
I think that's such a cool story and you can read
more about that story, if you'dlike to, on our website,
communities, youorg, we'respeaking with Brenda Williams,
healthy Foods Coordinator.
Hey, brenda, we're gettingtowards the end here, but I want
to ask you if there's anythingthat you would like communities
potential listeners of thispodcast to know about your
(24:14):
program, about where you'd likeit to be in the future, anything
like that that you'd like themto walk away with.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Well, I would like them to understand that with
this program, our goal is toaddress the food insecurity and
to increase access of local andfresh produce and to be able to
build generational wealth forsmall scale and underserved
growers, mainly in Arkansas,tennessee and Mississippi,
(24:42):
because that's where we havegrant funding and that's what
we're about.
That's why we're here, that'sour purpose.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
And how do people get a hold of you, brenda?
Just call up and say hey, I'dlike to speak to Brenda.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
It's really that easy , chris.
You can just call up and say Iwant to talk with Brenda
Williams.
I have this idea and I'll trymy best to get back with you
that day if not definitelywithin 24 hours to have that
conversation, to talk about whatyou would like to do in your
community, whether if you wantto connect small scale growers
to a market opportunity, orwhether you want to see how you
(25:15):
can address the food insecurity.
Let's talk, I'm ready to havethat conversation with you.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Brenda, thank you so much for your time and don't
ever stop what you're doing.
I think you're amazing Good job.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Thanks so much, chris , for having me and the
opportunity to talk to you abouthealthy foods.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Thanks, yeah, I appreciate it.
Small talk with CommunitiesUnlimited.
We'll be back in two weeks withanother episode.
We will talk to you then.
I would say to any food service child nutrition
director that please just giveit a try.
I love working with growers.
They're so amazing, they're thehardest working people that I
know and they're so passionateabout their farms and providing
a great quality product thatthey will not be disappointed.
(00:24):
And so I get excited becausethis is an opportunity to
provide healthy meals as well ashelp the small family farm.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
All right, welcome to episode 14 of Small Talk with
Communities Unlimited.
My name is Chris Baker andtoday we have the pleasure of
meeting someone that I alwaysenjoy talking with.
Brenda Williams is our HealthyFoods coordinator, Healthy Foods
, one of the departments here atCommunities Unlimited.
Welcome to the podcast, Brenda.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Thank you so much for having me today, Chris.
I'm so excited.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
So let's talk about healthy foods First.
Let's start like birds-eye viewzoom out for us.
We say healthy foods, everybodykind of knows what we mean.
But what does it mean atCommunities Unlimited?
Speaker 1 (01:11):
It means the opportunity to increase access
to local and fresh produce andsmall rural communities
throughout our service region.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
I'm going to ask you a big, broad question here how
do you do it?
What does that mean?
Who do you work with those kindof things?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
So what does it mean?
Well, chris, it depends on theday.
We have a number of projects.
Mainly, we work withsmall-scale growers and we work
with small rural communities toaddress the food insecurity and
what that looks like.
It depends on the grant fundingand it depends on the community
(01:51):
that we're serving.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
I know that when we talk about Communities Unlimited
, the service area that we servein has a very high food
insecurity percentage incomparison to the rest of the
country.
Our seven state region has apretty high food insecurity.
What are some of the commonproblems that you run into in
rural communities with thatparticular angle?
Speaker 1 (02:13):
What we find so many times often is that a lot of
these small rural communitiesand it can be a small town of a
thousand of less or less andthey do not have access to a
grocery store, and what thatmeans is that a lot of times
they do not have access to freshproduce, nutritious foods, and
(02:36):
so our goal is to find out whatwe can do to increase access to
local, preferably produce.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
The setting of a rural community?
I've been meaning to ask youthis question for a while.
Brenda Is Dollar General.
Are they like a friend or a foewhen it comes to the food
insecurities?
Speaker 1 (02:55):
When I think of Dollar General, I think that
there are in so many ruralcommunities.
Sometimes in a small ruralcommunity you might see two
Dollar General.
So I really think it depends onthe community.
I think that what we're lookingfor we're looking for an
opportunity that a family, eventhough you're in a small rural
(03:15):
town, you should have access tofresh and healthy foods so you
can prepare nutritious andhealthy meals for your families.
That's not true, or itshouldn't be too much to ask for
.
But what we're seeing is thatin small, real towns of 500 to
600, they may have a dollarjournal, but that dollar journal
does not have or does notprovide fresh and local produce.
(03:38):
So that's a challenge for them.
So that means that they mighthave to travel 20 minutes or 30
minutes to the nearest grocerystore in order to purchase local
or fresh fruits and vegetables.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I know you've got a variety of projects that we can
talk about that we use toaddress that issue availability
of local produce and freshproduce.
How do you address that?
Is it things like farmersmarkets?
I mean, because when we talkabout rural communities, I would
imagine a lot of people thinkabout farming.
So if they're farmers, do theynot have access to that produce?
Speaker 1 (04:16):
It really depends on the community, and when we are
in a community, we want to be ina community because the
community would like for us tobe there, and it just depends on
the community.
It depends.
You could be in a community andit's a food desert, but you
don't have nearby growers, sothat would be a challenge for
you to have a farmer's market.
Or you could be in a community,say, for instance, one of the
(04:39):
projects that we have is a pilotproject.
It's a food pharmacy projectand we're working with a doctor
and we're working with a smallscale grower, a black farmer,
and we're providing, through agrant that we received from the
Arkansas Community Foundation,fresh produce boxes.
A healthcare provider hasidentified 20 patients that are
(05:00):
going to or that are receivingthe produce boxes and is fresh
and it's healthy foods.
The patients are excited aboutit and it also helps the small
scale grower.
It's a small scale grower thatlives or has a farm outside of
Pine Bluff and so he's makingthe deliveries.
We're doing it for 12 weeks 20boxes of fresh and local produce
(05:23):
.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
That sounds like it is one of those programs.
I guess the term would be pilotprogram.
Is that something that's kindof being tested?
Do you find yourself workingwith a lot of pilot projects to
see kind of what works, becauseit sounds like there's not a
common thread, that you can just, you know, tie up in a bow and
put in a pretty package andapply it to other communities?
It really sounds individual.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Because it depends, Chris, on what works for that
community.
Again, as you stated, this is apilot project and we're trying
to see if it will work and weare utilizing the grant funding
to test it in this community.
We did six weeks in Alzheimerand we were working with a nurse
practitioner and then now we'redoing six weeks in Pine Bluff.
(06:07):
Other programs that we've had aproduce prescription program in
Booneville, Arkansas, and wedid work with a local grower we
worked with.
We had produce vouchers orcards or health cards.
It was vouchers for veggies andwhere participants that were
enrolled in a program and thatprogram was a pilot project that
(06:28):
we were funded from Share OurStrength or no Kid Hungry for
six months and with that program, the participants that were
enrolled.
We were partnering with aclinic, a school-based health
clinic there in Booneville andworked with the nurse
practitioner, and so thoseparticipants had $80 a month
(06:49):
that they would take theirvoucher cards and redeem them at
the local Walmart in Boonevillefor fresh produce and that
project was a pilot and it wasan amazing project regarding
increasing access to fresh andhealthy foods.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
From a governmental standpoint, brenda, are you
finding that the support isthere for healthy foods
initiatives?
It probably ebbs and flows, Iwould imagine a little bit.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Well, Chris, I'm glad that you asked that, because I
just yesterday I reached out tothe administrator of two
programs that are funded by USDAit's the local food purchasing
assistance agreement program andalso the local food for schools
program for the state ofArkansas and I was really
(07:34):
impressed with the numbers andso what those programs have done
.
They have increased access tolocal and fresh foods from small
scale growers and producers,and I'm just excited about the
opportunity for small scalegrowers and producers to have
market opportunities as well asfor schools to have access to
(07:59):
fresh and local whether it'sproduce or it could be beef or
it could be pork from localproducers.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Well, there's a story that I know of because of my
job here at Community isUnlimited that you were involved
in.
Can you kind of tell us alittle bit about the process,
what was going on with the NorthLittle Rock School District,
because I have a follow upquestion to that?
But I want people to know thestory first.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah, we had received a call.
Well, I have a partnership or anetwork.
I work with a pork farmer, asmall family farm in Arkansas.
They were interested in theprograms that we had available
regarding the local foodpurchasing assistance, as well
as the local food for schools,and so the North Lutter Rock
(08:48):
School District reached out tothe pork farmer and wanted to
purchase some pork for theirschool cafeteria to serve Boston
but sandwiches, barbecuesandwiches and I was so excited
about the opportunity and it wasmore than just the one off.
They reached out to the farmerand or the producer and
(09:11):
purchased three times and it wasjust an opportunity for the
school students to receive freshpork sandwich and, as you know,
we in the Mid-South and we lovebarbecue right, and so I just
thought it was a greatopportunity.
And what that school did?
They actually purchase a smokerin order to prepare the pork,
(09:32):
and so when I see things likethis, I get so excited that
they're thinking outside of thebox and the grower gets excited
in reference to having a callfrom a school district regarding
purchasing some of their pork.
So I think to me it's a win-win.
It's a win-win for the schoolas well as a win-win for the
(09:54):
small family farm.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
So just to read what Brenda is doing there and what
that triangle looks like isshe's facilitating purchase of a
pork product from a localproducer and it's going into the
school district to be served tothe children.
I have a question, because Iknow it's something that you're
passionate about how do we domore of that?
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Chris, we do more of that by getting the word out, by
increasing the awareness thatit's not really difficult, it's
not too hard.
If you don't know a grower, youcan reach out to Communities
Unlimited and say that I want tospeak with a healthy foods
coordinator, and I will do someresearch to find a producer
that's nearby you, and you willbe amazed.
(10:37):
I would say to any food service, a child nutrition director,
that please just give it a try.
I love working with growers.
They're so amazing, they're thehardest working people that I
know and they're so passionateabout their farms and providing
a great quality product thatthey will not be disappointed.
(10:59):
And so I get excited becausethis is an opportunity to
provide healthy meals as well ashelp the small family farm.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Are you finding that the initiative has to be there
from, say, the school districtin order to do more of this?
Is there any way to facilitatemore of that outside of the
child nutrition director beingsomeone who's Also passionate
about that?
Speaker 1 (11:26):
I think that it just as you said, it just really
depends on the state and thecommunities on limits.
We're fortunate that we do havea grant from USDA, and one of
the goals of this grant is toreach out to the child nutrition
directors or to reach out tothe school districts.
We've reached out to 93 schooldistricts within the Delta in
(11:49):
Arkansas, tennessee andMississippi combined, and our
goal is to identify the schooldistricts that are what we
consider rock stars.
They're really excited aboutlocal, they're excited about
fresh produce and freshagricultural products and they
want to bring them into theirschools, and so it's a matter of
just thinking differently whenit comes to working with a small
(12:12):
scale grower, and it's also amatter of addressing what are
some of your challenges.
We've heard that, oh, I don'tknow a local grower.
In the past it could have been.
Oh, I don't have the budget forit, but with this new funding
from USDA, the schools haveadditional some of the schools,
if they requested to get some ofthe funding that is available,
(12:34):
they have additional funding.
So it's not a major concernregarding the price point,
because you're buying local andwe want the grower to have the
fair market prices as well.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
You find that a lot of times it's just an
information gap where maybe thenutrition directors don't know
what funding is available tothem.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
I totally agree.
I think it's just they are sobusy, they're working extremely
hard and a lot of times theycould be wearing multiple hats
and they could be understaffed.
And I think that's theimportance of this program to be
an ally for them.
Regarding reaching out to thegrower, finding out what the
(13:16):
grower has, connecting them tothe grower, I get a call from a
local grower and say, brenda, Ihave all this okra and I need a
buyer, and just reaching out toa school district to find out
are you interested in buyingokra from a local grower?
He's just right up the roadfrom you.
So I think it's about makingthat connection and letting them
(13:38):
know that it is not a heavylift to connect to a grower.
A grower would love for theopportunity to connect with a
school district.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
You hear the passion in this woman's voice?
I can.
We're speaking with BrendaWilliams.
She's a Healthy FoodsCoordinator at Communities
Unlimited, and this is SmallTalk with Communities Unlimited,
our new podcast.
And Brenda, I wanted to ask youkind of a little bit about your
past, like where do you comefrom?
How did you get here?
Speaker 1 (14:06):
I am originally from Blaville, Arkansas, a small
rural town in the Delta.
I grew up in a home and my momhad eight kids and we
experienced food insecurity, andso I know the importance of
having healthy and nutritiousfoods and I am so passionate
(14:28):
about working in small ruralcommunities to address the food
insecurity and to make an impact, and I get so thrilled when I'm
able to connect a grower to amarket opportunity and able to
get someone excited about eatinghealthy and fresh foods instead
of, you know, spending alltheir money at a local, you know
(14:49):
convenience store but unhealthyfoods.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
What is your educational background Like?
How did you wind up in ahealthy foods role?
Speaker 1 (14:58):
I was really.
I graduated from Arkansas StateUniversity in Jonesboro and
I've done nonprofits for morethan 20 years and I was just
looking for an opportunity tomake a difference, to really
have an impact in the Delta, andI'm just so excited about this
(15:19):
opportunity to work with CU andto be able to help small scale
growers.
The growers get so excitedabout a market opportunity, and
so I'm just happy to be in thisposition.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
And what it's really about is simply finding more
market opportunities, andcreating more market
opportunities Is that kind ofone of the keys to the castle,
so to speak.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
It is very much so, because small growers they know
how to grow.
They can grow the sweetpotatoes, they can grow the
squash, they can grow turnipgrains, they know how to grow.
But maybe something that theydon't know or they need
assistance with is the marketing, and that's what the programs
(16:01):
that we have now are able tohelp them with that, to be able
to make that connection for them.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
We're trying to empower rural communities with
this podcast and introduce themto some programs they may never
have heard of.
If you could Rattle off acouple of things you think would
would really benefit acommunity right off the bat,
that would be fairly simple forthem to pull off.
As far as healthy foodsinitiatives would be, is there
some of those things you cantalk about, like what are the
(16:29):
commonalities?
Speaker 1 (16:30):
I would go and reference to small rural
communities.
I would definitely say farm toschool.
I would say start there.
And I know that a lot ofcommunities were seasonal, but
you can start in an area such as, say, for instance, during
October, when it's farmed theschool month you can look at
what are some of the growers inyour area and exactly what they
(16:53):
have, what type of produce orwhat type of other items that
they have available regardingfile crops.
I would say start there, startwith farm to school.
I think that's could be an easywin for any small rural
community.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Those programs are a heck of a lot of fun once people
start them to.
I see that.
I see the passion when peopletalk about doing those projects.
They get excited about it.
You know it's not all work.
It's some of its fun.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
I think they really do, because you have a small
scale grower that is just soexcited about this market
opportunity and he's reallydedicated and committed to
providing you a quality product.
He really is.
They are so excited about whatthey do and they love.
They have a passion for whatthey do growing and being a
(17:42):
farmer, being a producer.
They have so much love for thewhat they're doing.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I always.
I always look through things.
I've spoken with Brenda on amonthly basis very regularly,
but more often than usually.
But I always look at things inmy own life, brenda, through
this healthy foods lens.
Now that we, now that I'm hereat CU, there is like a downtown
dinner that happens in the townthat I live in and I was sitting
there thinking you know what,in a small rural community they
(18:10):
could pull up like a downtowndinner with local produce
produce.
It would just take an organ,somebody to organize.
It would be fun for thecommunity and it would introduce
the whole Like buying localproduce process to the entire
community.
I don't know, I just I see thathappen.
I'm like man.
All it takes is a little littlenudge of creativity sometimes,
(18:31):
you know.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Oh, Chris, I'm liking that idea.
I'm thinking, okay, do we haveany grant funding available that
we can make that happen in someof the rural communities?
I love that.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
But is that how like if somebody was in a community
and they're listening to thispodcast and they go, I'd love to
do something?
Can they bounce ideas off ofyou, or what's the process?
How do they do this?
Speaker 1 (18:52):
They can easily just reach out to communities
unlimited or reach out to me asthe Healthy Food Coordinator,
and I would love to have thatconversation with them to talk
about because in their communityit's probably going to look
different.
It may not be the same, butwhat we want to do is to have
that conversation with them tofind out what they would like to
(19:13):
do.
Earlier today I was on a team'scall with my colleague and some
community partners in Amarillo.
We were talking about acommunity garden and we were
talking about the possibility ofgetting some schools connected
to another one of the partnersthat has a curriculum.
So again, it's all about whatlooks good for them regarding
(19:36):
their community and what theywant.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Can I ask you to run down a couple of things here?
We're speaking with BrendaWilliams, the Healthy Foods
Coordinator here at CommunitiesUnlimited.
She is all about getting localproduce, local meats, into the
communities, into the schools,and there's a couple of examples
that I think are pretty strongexamples of things you've done.
Can you talk about the farmersmarket that happened during
(20:02):
COVID?
That was the free farmersmarket.
Can you tell us about that one?
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Yes.
So we were able to receive agrant from the Arkansas
Community Foundation and theyhave continued to be an amazing
partner and so we received agrant of $15,000 from the
Arkansas Community Foundationand we partnered with the mayor
there and what we did was weprovided free farmers markets.
(20:27):
Basically, we purchased $15,000of local and fresh produce from
small-scale growers in thatcommunity and we held free
farmers markets.
Basically, we set aside somedays and some times and it was
in the city of Hermitage andthey were at the community
center.
We made the purchases from thelocal growers.
(20:49):
The local growers determinedtheir market prices and it was
an amazing opportunity.
People were lined up around thedoor.
I was nervous about the programbecause I'm in Mississippi and
the program's in Arkansas.
I thought, oh my goodness, arewe going to have an overflow of
people?
Are we going to have all thisproduce left over?
(21:09):
And those were concerns Ireally didn't need to have,
because it started at like twoand people came, they were
lining up around 12 and they ranout of produce.
Literally all the produce wasgone.
And we did that for about threetimes, I believe, and it was an
opportunity and it wasliterally produce everywhere and
(21:29):
it was a variety of produce.
Again, it was a free farmersmarket, from watermelons to
tomatoes, cucumbers.
It was such an opportunity toincrease access to fresh and
healthy foods and it was firstcome, first serve basis.
And so it was whomever wantedthe fresh and healthy produce
and it was first come, firstserved and they lined up and
(21:52):
they were able to get bags,fresh produce and take it home
and prepare healthy meals fortheir families.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Where did that creativity, that initiative,
where did it come from?
Where did it start at?
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Because it was my idea.
I am always researchingdifferent projects or programs
that are out there.
I think I actually saw thatprogram.
It was somewhere in Californiaand I was like, oh, that sounds
good, let's try it here.
So I'm always looking for newand innovative ideas to pilot in
(22:23):
our communities and it justwent off without a hitch.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
And there's one other example.
I think that's really creativeand cool and really empowered
some people that I'd like totalk to you about, and I'm
talking about the trailersthrough Cargill Black Farmers
Initiative.
Tell me about that process andhow that worked, just so people
can be exposed to it.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
So, see, you reached out to Cargill, and so we
reached out to them, we wrote agrant and, just having
conversations because I workwith so many growers and finding
out what are the gaps in thesystem, what we know is that we
don't have aggregation, we don'thave cool or cold storage and
we don't have transportation.
What we realized is thatgrowers need to be able to
(23:04):
transport from their farm to themarket, and so we did some
research.
We found out okay, what can wedo?
And we had $85,000 in funding,and so with that funding, we
were able to purchase 10 Cargilltrailers and we were able to
work with a small business ownerand cross it, and so we
identified the growers that wereeligible, and it was an amazing
(23:27):
opportunity to address the gapin the system regarding not
having the transportation totransport your produce from farm
to market, and one of thegrowers that we're working with
for the food pharmacy program heis a recipient of one of those
trailers.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Trailers were really like kind of a game changer for
a lot of those small scalegrowers, weren't they?
It?
Speaker 1 (23:49):
really was in reference to being able to
transport your produce from yourfarm to the market.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
I think that's such a cool story and you can read
more about that story, if you'dlike to, on our website,
communities, youorg, we'respeaking with Brenda Williams,
healthy Foods Coordinator.
Hey, brenda, we're gettingtowards the end here, but I want
to ask you if there's anythingthat you would like communities
potential listeners of thispodcast to know about your
(24:14):
program, about where you'd likeit to be in the future, anything
like that that you'd like themto walk away with.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Well, I would like them to understand that with
this program, our goal is toaddress the food insecurity and
to increase access of local andfresh produce and to be able to
build generational wealth forsmall scale and underserved
growers, mainly in Arkansas,tennessee and Mississippi,
(24:42):
because that's where we havegrant funding and that's what
we're about.
That's why we're here, that'sour purpose.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
And how do people get a hold of you, brenda?
Just call up and say hey, I'dlike to speak to Brenda.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
It's really that easy , chris.
You can just call up and say Iwant to talk with Brenda
Williams.
I have this idea and I'll trymy best to get back with you
that day if not definitelywithin 24 hours to have that
conversation, to talk about whatyou would like to do in your
community, whether if you wantto connect small scale growers
to a market opportunity, orwhether you want to see how you
(25:15):
can address the food insecurity.
Let's talk, I'm ready to havethat conversation with you.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Brenda, thank you so much for your time and don't
ever stop what you're doing.
I think you're amazing Good job.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Thanks so much, chris , for having me and the
opportunity to talk to you abouthealthy foods.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Thanks, yeah, I appreciate it.
Small talk with CommunitiesUnlimited.
We'll be back in two weeks withanother episode.
We will talk to you then.
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