Local Food Program

(Past grant program description)

The Local Food Program makes grants and undertakes initiatives in support of the production of healthy food in East Central Illinois. Click here to see a map of Central Illinois. Although the program grew out of The Foundation's Downstate Illinois Conservation Program, and an evolving understanding of the importance of land use to the health of our ecology, the focus of the Local Food Program is economic and enterprise development.

The Local Food Program will support organizations that, in particular:

• Assist producers and processors of food to start or expand businesses through technical or business assistance, skill development or help with finance or land acquisition;
• Encourage consumption of and demand for local, healthy food;
• Encourage collaboration and connections between organizations, people and communities working in support of the local food system and,
• Support increased understanding of the food system and development of public policies and public and private support for a diversified food system.

Program Development and Learning:

The Local Food Program is a new program of The Lumpkin Family Foundation although it has been in development for several years. As part of its development, The Foundation has conducted a great deal of learning, some of which we hope will be helpful to our colleagues.

As a participant in the Chicago-based funders collaborative known as the Illinois Fresh Taste Initiative, we commissioned the report, Feeding Ourselves: Strategic Steps Toward a More Diversified Illinois Food System in 2004 to provide us with a context for our work. Click here to view the full report.

Between July and December 2007, we commissioned a team led by the Delta Institute of Chicago to research the opportunities available to The Foundation to have an impact on issues related to food specifically in our main grant-making region. Can The Foundation have an impact on economic development or play a role in encouraging healthier eating? Find out by reviewing the full report.