The ACRE Collective: Advancing Agriculture, Neighborhood, Resilience & Fairness by Values-Based mostly Procurement is a collaborative partnership aimed toward enhancing the supply of nutritious, domestically sourced meals, to the benefit of each participant throughout the meals community. By value-based procurement (VBP), the ACRE Collective goals to create sustainable, long-term shopping for relationships between native meals producers and huge establishments, corresponding to faculties, universities and hospitals. The Frequent Market Southeast leads the ACRE Collective with assist from organizations corresponding to Georgia Organics, Well being Care With out Hurt, and the Turner Environmental Regulation Clinic at Emory College to assist make sure the longevity of values-based meals procurement practices in Atlanta-area faculties.
One of many ACRE Collective’s first tasks was to launch a values-based native meals incentive pilot program with Marietta Metropolis Colleges and Rockdale County Public Colleges. This pilot demonstrates how native meals incentive {dollars} assist a shift towards native procurement, catalyze financial alternative for various farmers in our area, and improve scholar entry to contemporary, wholesome meals. The ACRE Collective supplied a $60,000 grant to those districts with the aim of accelerating the quantity of native, culturally important meals included in class meals and inspiring statewide adoption of a neighborhood meals incentive program for all faculties in Georgia.
With the assist of Georgia Organics, the ACRE Collective additionally empowers college diet workers by sharing information on finest practices for contemporary meals prep, data on the place contemporary elements are sourced from, and construction for the best way to plan diet training actions to have interaction scholar management in class diet. College students give their insights and suggestions throughout style checks, which in the end form the meals bought and the meals served within the cafeteria.
