Bringing Food System Planners and Practitioners to the Roundtable: Using Large Maps and Strategy Matrices as Tools for Successful Collaboration and Collective Impact

Finding techniques for cross-sectoral collaboration is a major challenge for those involved in food system change. Food system “practitioners” (e.g., urban farmers), who implement community food projects and programs do not have many opportunities to strategize with “planners” (e.g., urban and community health planners), who shape the food system policy context of practitioner activities. This session will describe how TOUCH (a CDC CTG awardee in Broward County, Florida) convened planners, practitioners and other local food change agents for a Community Food System Roundtable: a workshop designed to help participants develop strategies for improving the local food system.

The sixty participants were divided into three groups; each organized around two components of the food system. Each group was provided a strategy matrix and a large 42”x 60” map of Broward County’s food environment and health disparities. The strategy matrix consisted of food system components (e.g., food distribution) and community plan elements (e.g., transportation). By combining food system components with community plan elements, each group came up with strategies to improve healthy food access. By drawing on the maps, participants translated how these strategies would work geographically.

Within the hour, the three groups came up with forty-three strategies and three unique geographic implementation designs. A Food Policy Council and several other collaborations have resulted from the Roundtable.

For the first time, the Roundtable provided Broward’s food system practitioners and planners with an opportunity to collaborate strategically. This cross-sectoral collaboration technique can be adapted by other communities seeking to improve collective impact and collaboration.