What’s Next for FeedBack Nashville? An update on Transformational Pathways
FeedBack Nashville began nearly a year and a half ago with a dream of bringing our community together to envision a better food future for our city. On September 30, 2024, the first phase of FeedBack Nashville came to a close after receiving its initial round of funding from the Metro Nashville covid19 Financial Oversight Committee in May 2023. However, while this phase may be coming to a close, if we’ve learned anything through this process, it’s that our work is only just beginning!
Over the past 16 months, FeedBack Nashville brought together Nashvillians from around the city - both those who have a professional connection to food, and those who simply experience the food system through their daily lives - to have their say on what’s working, what’s not, and what their aspirations are for food, and all that it entails, in Nashville. We’ve learned about how people experience our city’s food system through storytelling and creating visual art together and through engaging in deep dialogue, tough conversations, and facilitated workshops.
On September 26 at the Nashville Farmers’ Market, FeedBack Nashville hosted a community dinner and storytelling hour, Setting the Table, to celebrate the project’s accomplishments during Phase 1, create community around food, and generate excitement for what’s next for this initiative. Nine of Nashville’s best, young BIPOC chefs created small plates that capture their passion for food in our city. Four storytellers from around the city told inspiring stories about our city’s rich foodways, from eating to growing food. Together, more than 150 community members gathered to enjoy a meal together and celebrate the future of food that’s possible for our city.
Tonya Lewis of Wonderful People Micro Farm welcomes guests into an evening of storytelling and delicious food at FeedBack Nashville’s Setting the Table event in late September 2024.
Following on the heels of Setting the Table and as we wrap up Phase 1 of FeedBack Nashville, we are excited to provide a glimpse into what’s next by providing a sneak peak of the 6 transformational pathways that were identified by our community through FeedBack Nashville activities. These pathways include:
Pathway 1: Shift the mindsets and values that inform changemaking work in Nashville, enabling alignment and action toward transformational change across all food system work, rather than in small pockets. One big idea: Create a multi-faceted campaign to socialize and embed FeedBack Nashville principles (see final report coming soon!) into the work of key actors across the food system.
Pathway 2: Seed the next generation of changemakers in Nashville’s food system, working with youth and/or deliberately intergenerational groups and experimenting with new leadership models. One big idea: A multicultural Youth Leadership Council on the future of food in Nashville, given legitimacy and meaningful power by being sponsored and hosted by an existing organization or government entity.
Pathway 3: Seek opportunities to deploy land for the benefit of the community, rather than the interests of developers - recognizing the inherently limited supply of land, and the significant value it holds for the health and wellness of a city and its residents. One big idea: A cross-sector committee supported and/or housed in local government, tasked with working on a community-centered land development plan for the next 25+ years, which is oriented around - but not limited to - moving toward a just and sustainable food future in Nashville.
Pathway 4: Build and strengthen Nashville’s weakening social fabric through the exploration of creative ‘third spaces’, while meeting the immediate need of improved food access for residents. One big idea: Establish a series of diverse third spaces where people come together to both meet their immediate food needs and engage with old and new neighbors alike to rebuild a fraying social fabric in Nashville.
Pathway 5: Harness two of the largest industries in Nashville - tourism and music & entertainment - to create positive forces for accelerating progress towards a just & sustainable food future. One big idea: Pursue a PR campaign to spark and promote a commitment from key players in Nashville’s tourism and entertainment industries to undertake coordinated action to accelerate progress toward a positive food future.
Pathway 6: Share and shift power and resources in support of a more democratized economy, oriented toward wellness, food choice, and access for all. One big idea: Pilot new business and ownership models that address fundamental economic disparities which contribute to a food system that leaves large parts of the population behind.
Thanks to Forum for the Future for designing these beautiful Pathways posters for us!
In addition to these pathways, FeedBack Nashville revealed 12 opportunity areas where there is already energy and momentum for action, and - if addressed - could ‘solve for’ multiple needs and barriers to a just and sustainable food system. Some of these opportunity areas include:
Enable routes to Nashville from regional farms…tackling the increasing challenges facing local / small-scale farmers and producers, brought about by consolidation in the ag industry and a ‘profit over people’ mentality
Improve distribution and access to desired food…tackling barriers around decision-making in zoning and land use, inequitable and declining transportation infrastructure, and the dominance of large grocery chains
Build capabilities to grow food in Nashville…tackling barriers around know-how and time required for gardening, zoning and land use / access decision-making, and need for other supportive policies
The full FeedBack Nashville final report, which will be available in the coming weeks, will introduce all 12 opportunity areas and take a deep dive into the transformational pathways outlined above. It will also include FeedBack Nashville’s systems diagnosis, which summarizes the complex opportunities and challenges of our current food system. This system diagnosis provided the groundwork to identify the transformational pathways and opportunity areas.
As we venture into Phase 2 of FeedBack Nashville, we invite you to please stay in the loop. In the coming weeks, we’ll share the final FeedBack Nashville report. We are also currently working with the FBN Steering Committee and other partner organizations to determine what our next steps are and how we will bring our community together to enact each transformational pathway and opportunity area. Last, we’re excited to share that Allison Thayer and Hanes Motsinger of The Nashville Food Project will be giving a presentation on the insights and lessons learned through FeedBack Nashville at this year’s TN Local Food Summit in December.