Goals & Objectives:

The overall goal of the projects is to make measured progress towards our 4 year goal of achieving 25% local

food on Mackinac Island.

Mackinac Food Forest currently has 4 distinct, yet interrelated components which are perfect for student

collaborators:

1. Local Food Policy & Community Building

• Formalize the Mackinac Island Local Food Council: Establish and document the initial governance and structure of the council.
• Define initial target policy improvements.
• Increase council membership through creative marketing and outreach.

2. Mackinac Island Public School’s Farm to School program

• Continue the planning phase of the Mackinac Island Public School’s Farm to School program.
• Work with the Procurement Specialist and F2S Lead Consultant to choose foods that can be sourced locally and economically.
• Develop garden-based curriculum and plans for a small on-site school garden.

3. Farmer Collaborative

• Continue dialogue and plan training workshops with local area farmers seeking to form a collaborative entity.
• Complete financing and begin implementation of In-Ground Greenhouse project plans.

4. Local Food and Farm Economy Research Project

• Conduct the research project in partnership with Crossroads Resource Center.
• Refine survey and interview questions.
• Develop additional impact indicators.
• Produce attractive reports of research results.

Theoretical Justification, Social Benefit, & Significance: 

The proposed activities will drastically improve the necessary conditions for a strong local food system on Mackinac Island and the surrounding region.

This will serve to increase food security, improve community durability and resilience, strengthen the local economy, educate on proper nutrition behaviors, inform local and regional policymakers, reduce food and

energy waste, repair soil and natural habitat, and quantify improvement. Further, it will consolidate, inform and engage the effectiveness of community efforts thereto, as well as fortify a just environment of fair and

sustainable practices.

More practically, it will induce an economic climate where local restaurants and food entrepreneurs are highly motivated to procure and serve local food. All of this will help to build vibrant relationships amongst

community members and visitors alike, while increasing the accountability of the Mackinac Island brand to local and environmental concerns.

Specific Activities & Duration

The activities timeline specifies the shared task schedule for the student collaborators, the team members internal to the organization, and external partner organizations and agencies. Collaborators will work across

project component areas to utilize skill sets. The activities timeline is coordinated and arranged by the Project Director using Agile project management techniques.

Local Food Policy & Community Building

1. Jan - April,2018: Initial Planning & Design (on-campus)

• Collect and analyze publicly available governance documentation from existing local food councils.
• Create initial recommendations for purpose messaging, meeting schedule, meeting procedures, voting, leadership, membership, and other management suggestions.
• Analyze local food and land-use aspects of city and regional policies, ordinances, and master plan.
• Research and develop meeting agenda schedule recommendations.  

2. May - September, 2018 : Implementation (on-site)

• Initial meeting to discuss council plan and governance recommendations, and set meeting schedule.
• Ratify bylaws and other recommended governance documentation.
• Elect initial leadership.
• Set meeting agenda and milestone schedule.

3. October 2018 - April, 2019 : Finalization (on-campus)

• Develop long-term plan, goals and milestone recommendations.
• Produce implementation report detailing methods and outcomes.

4. Ongoing (Optional)

• Attend future council events and meetings.
• Plan future community outreach events.
• Train and present council governance techniques and strategies to neighboring councils.

Farm to School Program

1. Jan - April,2018 : Initial Planning & Design (on-campus)

• Produce garden specifications.
• Plan F2S product procurement.
• Design garden-based curriculum.
• Plan farm field-trips

2. May - September, 2018 : Implementation (on-site)

• In-person meetings with F2S planning team to discuss project plans and recommendations.
• Install garden.
• Rollout garden-based curriculum.
• Coordinate farm field-trips.
• Procure initial farm products for school meal program.

3. October 2018 - April, 2019 : Finalization (on-campus)

• Develop garden maintenance plan and schedule.
• Produce F2S implementation report.
• Attend the National Farm to Cafeteria Conference.

4. Ongoing (Optional)

• Future curriculum consultation.
• Hoophouse planning and design.
• Garden site visits in Spring / Summer of 2018

Local Food and Farm Economy Research Project

1. Jan - April,2018 : Initial Planning & Design (on-campus)

• Remote meetings with Crossroads Resource Center.
• 3 county census data collection and analysis.
• Develop survey and interview questions.
• Compile additional impact indicator recommendations.

2. May - September, 2018 : Implementation (on-site)

• 3 county census data collection and analysis (continued).
• Determine additional impact indicators.
• Administer surveys and interviews.

3. October 2018 - April, 2019 : Finalization (on-campus)

• Produce research results report and visualizations.
• Present report to stakeholders including council, farm to school planning team, and farm collaborative.

4. Ongoing (Optional)

• Future research presentation opportunities at council meetings and conferences.

Farm Collaborative

1. Jan - April, 2018 : Initial Planning & Design (on-campus)

• Research collaborative structures and governance.
• Remote consultations with Stewards of the Land Collaborative, Midwest Permaculture and Local Food Shift leadership and members.
• Program recommended meeting structure.

2. May - September, 2018 : Implementation (on-site)

• Host and facilitate collaborative discussion sessions.
• Host workshops with Stewards of the Land Collaborative, Midwest Permaculture, and Local Food Shift.
• Assist with in-ground greenhouse construction, environmental controls installation, and planting.

3. October 2018 - April, 2019 : Finalization (on-campus)

• Produce retrospective report.
• Develop long-term goals and milestone recommendations.

4. Ongoing (Optional)

• Future council and farmer collaborative event and meeting attendance coordination.
• Future planning of additional greenhouse implementation sites.
• Greenhouse site visits in Spring / Summer of 2018

Integrative Approach:

The project will promote collaboration during the design process between team members by utilizing an iterative, interactive, and self-managing approach. Team members will consolidate each individual’s planning

contributions into a unified set of timeline activities affecting a single manageable-sized local food system. Overlap between the planning and design phase will provide timing flexibility for this interactive process.

Team members will participate in remote and in-person planning and design meetings with partners internal to the organization, and use shared documentation to effectively integrate the design of functionally distinct

system components.

When planning and documentation phases are complete, a community meeting will be hosted to assemble a community workforce and communicate the activity timeline. This community workforce will provide

assistance to student collaborators, Project Director, and other organizational team members during the implementation phase.

The timeline will be divided into the following collaborative work stages:

Initial Planning: Jan - March, 2018

• Individual remote meetings to acquaint and familiarize. Remote group meeting to assign tasks, roles and timelines amongst student collaborators and organization workforce. Initial research and data collection.
• Individual remote meetings as needed.

Design: Feb - March, 2018

• Produce individual documentation and recommendations: governance research and recommendations, data collection, develop survey and interview questions, garden specifications, F2S product procurement planning, curriculum design, greenhouse blueprints, event programming, and workshop presentations.
• Frequent short meetings to touch base on dependencies or blockers amongst team members. Host weekly remote design meetings to produce integrated project timeline from individual contributions.

Implementation: May - September, 2018

• Community meetings to assemble and present implementation goals and activities, and to align the larger team on process and guidelines. Governance ratification, farm product procurement, garden

installation, garden-based curriculum rollout, greenhouse constructuction, and planting.

Finalization: October 2018 - April, 2019

• Finalize documentation and produce final reports detailing methods and intentions, and offering thoughts for future maintenance and improvement. Integrate individual reports into a unified project summary. Make reports and supporting documentation publicly available on organization’s website.
• Communicate recommendations to local decision and policymakers.

Ongoing (optional)

• Community Education and Enhancement: participants will be invited back to observe project results, train neighboring communities, meeting and conference presentations. Production: Plant and building maintenance, food processing and distribution. Observation: Results of environmental controls will be used as feedback to future growing cycles.