South Madison Farmers’ Market
Funded by the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, the collaboration with the South Madison Farmers’ Market (SMFM), working side by side with one of only a few remaining African American farmers in Wisconsin, Robert Pierce, was a multi-year partnership. Located in the south side of Madison, a multiethnic and low income South Madison community, the five market locations have all experienced low vendors participation and low sales. The collaboration is focused on addressing food injustice in South Madison, building local capacity and mobilizing local resources to reconstruct local food systems in a USDA designated food desert area.
More info: SMFM partnership webpage.
The Natural Step Monona
It was in fall of 2008 when I started to volunteer with The Natural Step Monona (TNSM). The partnership building led to a three academic year community-university partnership funded by the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison. We offered three capstone service learning courses engaging a total of 28 advanced undergraduate students. We conducted a series of community-based project: to assess Monona residents’ understanding on local environmental issues and familiarity on TNSM (spring 2011); to support The 2012 Monona Year of Water (fall 2011); and to assess the impacts of the partnership (spring 2013).
More info: TNSM partnership webpage.
FairShare CSA Coalition
As part of the Andrew W. Mellon Public Humanities Fellowship with the Center for the Humanities, I collaborated with FairShare CSA Coalition during the 2014-2015 academic year to oversee an oral history research project on Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). I worked with FairShare and CSA farmers to document stories about the working lives of CSA farmers. The oral history materials are housed in the UW-Madison Oral History Program, and are also available at FairShare CSA Coalition website (links will be activated as soon as all materials are approved by narrators).
Related article(s):