Group Project - Oakland Food Connection

Résumé du document

Much of Oakland is considered a "food desert" as the entire community area lacks access to supermarkets and access to affordable, fresh healthy food. Instead, low income communities in west and east Oakland are filled with fast food restaurants and liquor stores that disempowered the community, contributed to unhealthy lifestyles, and created socially and environmentally irresponsible food chains. The Oakland Food Connection or the OFC is working to improve the quality of life for residents by increasing their nutritional knowledge and access to healthy local food. Specifically, the OFC's mission is to: "promote nutritional awareness, access to healthy foods and the connections between people and our planet". The simplicity of the mission is strong because it makes it memorable and engaging for volunteers, donors, and staff. However, it could be strengthened by specifying the specific community it works in. It also should include the methods it tries to go about these large, over arching goals because it supports a variety of programs from farmers' markets to urban gardening programs. However, the actual work they engage in is not expressed in the mission statement. The mission statement also needs to be narrowed down so that it can be better used to guide the organization and help the users choose programs that should be pursued or expanded and omit those that are distracting from the proposed goals.

Extraits

[...] This process is largely informal with no electronic copies of grant research, deadlines, or donor contact list. Jason and the sustainable business development committee and also researching reinvesting in a restaurant, catering business through local business loans that would allow them to bring healthy food into the committee while creating profits to support the other programs. One of their largest funding sources is individual donors within the community they serve. These donors feel a personal connection to the food justice issues within their community, and the organization's staff and mission. [...]

[...] This will create a stronger environment for funding proposals and allow OFC to build up a stronger donor and volunteer base. The board should create the paperwork and guideline for the new person, as well as a timeline for training. OFC should take this opportunity to (re)define what Jason is responsible for and a system for evaluating staff progress and work. Indeed, the fact that he is overwhelmed makes him and the organization less effective. Since the OFC is mainly operated by Jason their may be a resistance to delegation and confusion over managerial roles and processes. [...]

[...] Numbers like these are important to evaluate the impact of the organization, and the efficiency of a program which in turn can ultimately help OFC to allocate its funds more effectively and create a stronger proposal for funding. Like McKinsey Family of Measures model we looked at in class, the OFC should use its mission, vision, strategies and tactics to measure the organization on three levels: impact, activity and capacity (Class 4/5/10). This will help OFC develop a system of evaluation that serves them in many different manners. [...]

[...] Adding another staff member will allow for a number of situations that better the organization by helping it to more sufficiently serve its customers and fulfill its mission. First of all, it will allow for stronger collaboration and a variety of perspectives when making decisions and developing programs. Secondly it will allow the board to pay more of a managerial role and to focus on strategy, review, and the business plan rather than acting as staff. It will also allow Harvey to dedicate 100% of his time to program implementation. [...]

[...] (Fiscal sponsor, technical assistance, project partner) Bay Localize (Technical assistance, project partner) Oakland SOL (Sustaining Ourselves Locally) Dis-Scent Body Products Hip Hop Education Identity Music O'Melveny & Myers LLP (Pro-Bono legal services - Partnership through Volunteer Legal Services in San Francisco) Community Food Security Coalition (Awarded educator conference scholarships to OFC staff Fall 2005) Bioneers (Awarded youth educator conference scholarships to OFC staff Fall 2005) Food First Flacos: Unique Vegetarian Food Stewardship Council (funding for "the Purple Lawn Cafe" project : Each week, OFC youth, staff and volunteers are working together to sustain this amazing mobile food booth. They operate each week at the Oakland Community Farmers Market, from 10am to 2pm.) MacFarlane Properties, DC, LLC (Funder of E.C. [...]