Family Farm Share increases affordable access to local, organic food while expanding small scale farmers' direct customer base in early care centers. Through this program, families involved in early care centers can pick up a weekly low-cost share of locally grown produce, meat, and dairy, along with nutrition and preparation tips, right from their center each week.
Get a head start!
Family Farm Share was launched in Waycross Georgia in 2021 as a pilot program to increase affordable access to local food for families with growing children.
Working closely with Action Pact, WayGreen, Inc., Ware Children’s Initiative, and a cohort of local farmers, we had the opportunity to dive into relationships with families invovled in Action Pact’s Ware County Head Start. We learned through conversations and surveys about the families’ preferences, needs, and barriers to food access. We also learned from local farmers how we could support them in growing their capacity to meet the demand of this new market.
The resulting program was a low-cost subscription program where families could pick up a farm share right from their Head Start each week. At the pick-up, families get a chance to meet their local farmers and learn more about how to prepare and enjoy their bounty.
But while the weekly subscription food boxes are the backbone of the program, the approach is holistic; Family Farm Share is designed to strengthen community ties and resources, and empower early care centers and partners to serve as hubs for knowledge and access to local food.
To that end, we hire farmers to help install garden beds, train staff and teachers in Farm to Early Care and Education best practices, and lead hands-on garden activities that help to empower the children’s connection to their community and the root of their food.
GROWING THROUGHOUT GEORGIA
Since its launch in Waycross, the program has expanded from Ware County into Pierce, Bacon, and Brantley Counties, serving 600 household members, including 488 early childcare-aged children in Southeast Georgia.
In the fall of 2023, we tested a pilot site in Savannah in partnership with Forsyth Farmers Market and Greenbriar Children’s Center, serving 23 families, and look forward to continuing to build our relationships in Chatham County.
In 2024, we partnered with Community Action for Improvement (CAFI) and Farmers Fresh CSA to grow Family Farm Share into West Georgia, where we now have Family Farm Share programs flourishing at CAFI’s Head Start locations in Carroll and Coweta Counties.
THANK YOU!
Family Farm Share was launched in 2021 with a Community Transformation Grant from the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) and funding from The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. With generous continued support from The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and Takeda US, we’ve grown Family Farm Share into Ware, Pierce, Bacon, Brantley, Carroll, and Coweta Counties, with further expansion planned in Chatham and neighboring areas throughout South Georgia.
Cultivating the Food Community in West Georgia by Building Bridges between Local Farmers and Early Care & Education Centers