This idea will showcase St. Paul as a thriving, creative, equitable and sustainable city and distinguish our city as a national leader in local food system development. This is the place and now is the time.

Success of our idea will have many facets and, depending on your perspective, may appear as an expansion of your own personal pride in St. Paul, or maybe it will look like one of the following examples of improved health, greater sense of community or increased economic opportunity:

* More immigrant and refugee farmers are able to provide for their families because they no longer have to discard large percentages of their crops back onto the field, but can instead be paid for their produce to be aggregated, processed, frozen and distributed throughout the year by a worker-owned cooperative.

* With the added infrastructure for aggregating, minimally processing, and freezing produce, more school children in St. Paul and elsewhere will have access to locally raised produce year-round.

* Fewer food and beverage retail dollars are leaving the East Side of St. Paul because numerous small food business owners are selling locally produced food within a few miles of the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, where they received food entrepreneurial training.

* More St. Paul restaurants procure fish and greens from commercial aquaponic operations that employ residents from neighborhoods surrounding the signature food hub.

* Each year, more than 100 people choose to celebrate significant life events at the nature-themed event center, which embodies everything that is beautiful and unique about St. Paul: the Mississippi River, rich cultural and natural history, visual arts, outdoor recreation, and an authentic commitment to thriving communities.

* Healthy local food being sold from the hub’s food truck during St. Paul Saints games to people who arrive by light rail from all over the Twin Cities.

* So many people register for the family cooking classes that additional class times must be added to accommodate the growing numbers of families who want to learn how to cook with local, fresh ingredients and include their children.

* Each season, several hundred people gather at “Sunday Suppers” to learn and cook together, sharing across generations and cultures, the unique recipes that reflect our unique stories.

Our idea is built upon collaboration. Complex collaboration requires investments of time and expertise to effectively manage and communicate about the process while maintaining positive relationships among key stakeholders. The top three things to accomplish in the first year to get this idea started include:

* Develop a business plan for the signature food hub and nature-themed event center in collaboration with the idea partners and other key stakeholders:
Studying the business models of similar public-private collaborations will inform the creation of a financially viable package to present to the Vento building development team and City of St. Paul. Considerations in this plan will include other possible East Side locations to house the signature food hub, necessary groundwork by the cooperative to prepare its members for success, benefits and responsibilities of hub collaborators, target markets, planning and implementing a public awareness campaign.

* Develop an organizational structure for the food hub collaborators and identify a process for integrating with the overall Vento building redevelopment team:
Creating a common understanding of roles and responsibilities during the complex process of redeveloping a large publicly-owned building will be critical. We will ensure success by drawing on the extensive expertise and experience of the food hub-event center collaborators, Lower Phalen Creek Project Steering Committee and our development consultants, Tanya Bell and Louise Segreto. Examples of the ways representatives of our food hub collective might support the overall building redevelopment include attending development team meetings and delivering presentations about our signature food hub and event center model to key decision makers.

* Create architectural drawings for sections of the Vento building that will host the event center and food hub:
Working with architects experienced in designing certified-LEED food service and processing buildings will complement the overall Vento building design team. Our absolute first choice is to create this signature food hub and nature-themed event center at the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary for all of the reasons we have previously described. The idea would be greatly enhanced by being housed at the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, but the idea can succeed on its merits in other St. Paul locations (e.g., the old Hamm’s Brewery).

Carefully spending funds to plan and build infrastructure during the first year will preserve a significant portion of the $1 million award for capital investments in the actual food hub and event center. Efficient and thorough planning will lay the groundwork for this idea to manifest as a beautiful and inspiring place to gather, learn, connect, work and celebrate.

The group of individuals and organizations that have come together as part of our idea include a broad array of experts and innovators in their respective areas. They include:

Tracy Sides, founder of Bravely Be, an organization dedicated to promoting wholeness and community among people and the land, is the submitter of our idea. She lives and works in Dayton’s Bluff, has a Ph.D. in public health and is experienced in leading and facilitating multi-year complex collaborative projects with diverse stakeholders. She is heavily engaged in food system development and innovative environmental education on St. Paul’s East Side. Tracy would like to lead the collaborative planning process and contribute programming to the food hub and event center.

The Association for the Advancement of Hmong Women in Minnesota (AAHWM) has worked fro 10+ years to improve prospects for one of the key groups of specialty crop growers in Minnesota, specifically refugee and immigrant farmers. AAHWM will contribute to farmer outreach and technical assistance to the immigrant and refugee farmers participating in the cooperative’s processing and distributing activities at the food hub.

Community Table is a three-year-old Minneapolis organization that supports farmers/entrepreneurs who aspire to contribute to a local food system. An association of food businesses, it connects growers, processors, distributors, and markets to one another and to the information and resources they need to thrive in a local food economy. Community Table will contribute its experience in the creation of cooperatives for socially disadvantaged specialty crop growers and technical training such as flash freezing, minimal processing of vegetables, and cooperative purchases and planning.

Farmers’ Legal Action Group (FLAG) is a 27-year old nonprofit law center located in St. Paul dedicated to providing legal services and support to family farmers and their communities to help keep family farmers on the land. A family farm-based system of agriculture produces sustainable jobs, healthy and livable communities, and good food. FLAG will provide culturally tailored technical and legal services to immigrant and refugee farmers and help with infrastructure (e.g., with regulations regarding establishing a commercial kitchen, zoning issues, etc.). FLAG has the capacity to act as and is our proposed fiscal agent (pending board approval).

Good Life Cafe and Good Life Catering have been successful local food businesses for 17 years. Owners, Jenny Breen, professional chef and public health nutritionist, and Karn Anderson will contribute experience developing and implementing successful food businesses and food business training. Good Life Catering will operate at the food hub including service to the event center. Jenny also will contribute programming on nutrition, cooking skills and food business training.

Mighty Grange is a start-up commercial aquaponics business. This organization will operate at the food hub and contribute educational programming.

Bridger Merkt, personal chef and East Side resident, will contribute experience managing a food truck and institutional food service and teach meal planning and cooking skills.

Development consulting team, Tanya Bell and Louise Segreto, will contribute their expertise from years of successful real estate development in St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The Lower Phalen Creek Project (LPCP) is a non-profit community organization working to strengthen Saint Paul’s East Side and Lowertown communities by enhancing the value of local parks and trails, ecological and cultural resources and connections to the Mississippi River. For 16 years, the LPCP has conducted the groundwork for land acquisition, habitat restoration and now, redevelopment of the 4-story building at the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary. For this project, LPCP will be a key partner in the planning process.

As the planning process develops, the list of partners and their contributions will evolve.