A Systemic Diagnosis

In order to have a better food system in Nashville, we first have to understand what is not working about our current system. In other words, we have to diagnose - both the strengths and weaknesses - the current system. Forum for the Future lays out several goals that a good systems diagnosis can achieve. A systems diagnosis is useful:

• To help people understand their system and boundaries, actors, relationships, interconnections, dynamics

• To identify challenges or opportunities;

• To reveal areas in the system that might be ripe for change, intervention, or more interrogation;

• To bring people together, to prepare them to intervene and innovate for change 

• To create a shared endeavor

“A good diagnosis simplifies the often overwhelming complexity of reality by identifying certain aspects of the situation as critical.”  (Richard Rumelt , Good Strategy-Bad Strategy)

Completing a systems diagnosis is a vital part of working towards sustainable transformation of our food system. Without understanding the nuances and root of the issue(s) with our current system, there is no way to holistically address all of the dysfunction that is present.

FeedBack Nashville’s system diagnosis sought to answer a variety of different questions:

How does the food system intersect with other systems? What are the strengths of the current food system? Where are the promising signals of change enabling a just and sustainable food system? What are the key challenges and barriers preventing the food system in Nashville from being just, sustainable, and working for all community members?

Answering these questions will help us gain an understanding of what is necessary to create a food system that works for people in all corners of Nashville, that is dynamic enough to continue to work as Nashville continues to grow and change, and that is deeply participatory in nature.

“The future can’t be predicted, but it can be envisioned and brought lovingly into being… We can’t impose our will upon a system.  We can’t control systems or figure them out. But we can dance with them!” (Donella Meadows, Thinking in Systems)

We can’t control Nashville’s food system, but we can dance with it, work with it to unlock the potential for change that it contains.

A vital part of our systems diagnosis was our city-wide survey. We solicited responses from a diverse pool of Nashville residents, ultimately receiving more than 500 responses. These responses allowed us to have an in depth look at how people throughout Nashville are experiencing the food system, from traveling to get food, to accessing culturally relevant, healthy foods, to having space and time to prepare foods. Next, we took steps to host Community Listening Sessions to share these results with community members. Stay tuned for an upcoming post about our survey results and Community Listening Session series.

The Steering Committee

While FeedBack Nashville is working to build a better food system for Nashville, it is important to ask who makes up FeedBack Nashville? Who is guiding this work? The Steering Committee is the heart of FeedBack Nashville, guiding us towards our mission of a better food future for Nashville.

FeedBack Nashville was born out of a recognition of the fact that systems transformation work cannot happen through a top-down approach. In order to transform Nashville’s food system in a sustainable and healing way, the transformation has to be led by the people, has to be from the bottom-up. Thus, the need for a Steering Committee became apparent. The steering committee was formed to serve as a bridge between FeedBack Nashville and the community. Through leveraging their deep ties within our community, they have been able to lead community engagement activities that help us ensure that FeedBack Nashville's goals and priorities are guided by the desires and experiences of our community members. The Steering Committee is made up of people living and working all over Nashville, people with rich histories and deep ties to Nashville communities. FeedBack Nashville is not trying to impose change upon communities, but, rather, unlock the transformational power already present in communities. This work is relational and personal. Our Steering Committee members have the relationships and personal ties to local communities to be able to tap into that transformational power. 

Our Steering Committee was able to leverage their deep community ties to collect more than 500 survey responses about our community's experiences with food. 

So, who is on the Steering Committee? Our Steering Committee is made up of thirteen people who work with organizations and communities dealing with homelessness, affordable housing, agriculture, youth development, and many other sectors, all of which both directly impact and are directly impacted by access to quality, affordable food. While there isn’t space in this blog to introduce you to all 13 of them (check out our Instagram or Steering Committee webpage for upcoming individual member spotlights), take a look and see what a few of our committee members have to say about their work with FeedBack Nashville: 

Crys Riles (they/them), Tennessee Justice Center

“Food system work is what I am passionate about, so given the opportunity to help guide this project in some small way was a no-brainer. I have enjoyed watching the amount of people willing to engage in giving their thoughts on the food system in Nashville, and I’ve especially enjoyed reading the diverse and interconnected responses people have given.”

Edward Kehoe (he/him)

Open Table Nashville

“Being able to produce our survey has really allowed us as a city to find out how much people care about the food they eat.”

Stephanie Roach (she/her)

Urban Green Lab 

“I chose to be a part of FBN because transforming our local food system to reflect a more equitable, healthy food system is vital to the sustainable future of Nashville. Serving on this steering committee has helped connect more of the dots and helped us better understand the unique food landscape we have here in Music City.”

Olivia Jimenez (she/her)

Urban Housing Solutions

“In my work at Urban Housing Solutions, one of the things that comes up over and over again is food. After having a place to live, the next thing is food. It’s great to have a kitchen, but, if there’s no food in it, what’s the point?”

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Over the past several months, Steering Committee members have hosted a variety of different community engagement events. One of these events was at the Brooklyn Heights Community Garden. Former Steering Committee member, Ashley Brailsford invited FeedBack Nashville to join the Brooklyn Heights community at their recent event. We were able to share about FeedBack Nashville’s mission and give dozens of community members the opportunity to share their experience with Nashville’s food system through filling out our survey.

Another one of our Steering Committee members, Crys Riles, joined us at the Community Garden and was able to table and provide information to community members about their organization, the Tennessee Justice Center.

Crys is also working to host a Community Listening Session this June to provide an opportunity for their community to provide input on FeedBack Nashville’s process!

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From meeting regularly to hosting community events to developing and administering a city-wide survey, our Steering Committee is working hard to learn about and highlight the ways in which the food system intersects with all communities and service areas. The food system is not an isolated one, rather, it is deeply interwoven with issues of housing, transportation, education, art, and healthcare (just to name a few). Join us in giving a HUGE thank you to all of our Steering Committee members for all of the work that they are doing to make Nashville a better place for all people to be able to live and grow! 

In the coming months, the Steering Committee is working to host a series of community listening sessions. After facilitating surveys, interviews, and workshops, they’ve worked to synthesize a variety of themes from the data. The next critical stage in this work is sharing these themes with community members and receiving feedback to guide us going forward! Check out our Events Page to make plans to attend a community listening session near you!

Introducing FeedBack Nashville

On any given day, when you open a local newspaper or magazine, you’re likely to find a story about Nashville’s rapid changes and persistent challenges. From promises of a reimagined public transit system to demands for more affordable housing, we are well-aware that we have a long way to go before our city reaches its full potential as a vibrant place where all residents can thrive. 

But, what about food in our city? Everyone in our city eats, yet the challenges to food security are stubbornly persistent in specific communities for all-too-familiar reasons. Obstacles to achieving community food security in Nashville are the symptoms of deeper, systemic issues that go unaddressed as we seek to confront the challenges of hunger in the present.  At FeedBack Nashville, we want to bring people together more often, and more intentionally, to imagine how we might actually create a sustainable and just local food system for everyone. This food system would provide food security and food access for all, limit our food waste and environmental harm, and strengthen our local food and agricultural economy.

FeedBack Nashville is focused on building a better food future for Nashville. We will do this by understanding our current food system, co-creating visions of a better food future, and developing opportunities to help us bring that future to reality.

Envisioned by a network of partner organizations, FeedBack Nashville is a new effort to bring food to the forefront of action in our city. The initiative strives to understant the opportunities and limitations of Nashville’s current food system, and to identify opportunities to build a better food future for all Nashville residents. The initiative received its first round of funding support from Metro Nashville’s American Relief Plan Act Funds in May 2023. The first phase of the project focuses on three goals:

• Understand Nashville’s current food system, including issues related to food access, land access, food waste, and local agricultural production

• Create a shared vision for a future Nashville food system that is just and sustainable for everyone, from farmers to consumers

• Identify opportunities that will help bring forth the changes we need and want to see in our food system in the short and long-term

FeedBack Nashville’s approach to achieving these goals is twofold: it aims to center community perspectives and disrupt the existing system that perpetuates persistent issues. FeedBack Nashville uses these two approaches because challenges like hunger in our city are complex and require each of us to understand how our unique relationships, behaviors, and experiences may be used to support meaningful, lasting change.

Changing our current food system is no easy task. Challenges like hunger and food waste are complex. Many different solutions and lots of collaboration are needed to resolve these challenges.

As a community-based project, FBN centers perspectives and lived experiences of community members. This is because community members who are most affected by food challenges possess knowledge and ideas about how we may change the food system so that it is more equitable for everyone. By engaging residents and collaborating with specific communities to design solutions for the future, we are more likely to achieve lasting change. 

As a systems change initiative, FeedBack Nashville moves our city beyond emergency response solutions to hunger and food access. Systems change approaches position us to better understand how different social, economic, and environmental circumstances interact to create hunger and other food-related challenges. They bring together individuals and organizations from the grassroots to the government to design creative solutions, from policy changes to mindset shifts. 

FeedBack Nashville offers a timely and meaningful opportunity for all of us within Nashville to collaborate to build an alternative food future for Nashville that is just and sustainable for everyone. We hope you’ll join us on this journey!

Stay tuned for our next FeedBack Nashville blog post, which will introduce the Steering Committee and Forum for the Future, and provide more information on how you can support the effort within your community!