Digital Commons Network^™

Best Practices In Providing Technical Assistance To Rural Grocery Stores, Karen Shore

Center for Engagement and Community Development

Rural grocery stores often seek help from outside the store to support various business, marketing, and community outreach activities to both support the store’s bottom line and enable it to access and take advantage of existing grants, loans, and supporting efforts (e.g., KHFI, FINI, USDA RD, etc.), and numerous efforts in Kansas and beyond include working with rural grocery stores as a means of expanding food access in rural areas and/or supporting complementary efforts (e.g., nutrition education, produce distribution, double up bucks). This panel is still useful for grocers since we include a variety of resources available, but is particularly …

Creatively Branding Fruits And Vegetables To Encourage Healthy Eating, Virginia Barnes

Center for Engagement and Community Development

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas’ core purpose is to provide peace of mind and access to a better quality of life. Blue Health Initiatives provide financial backing, address upstream health and well-being, and engage in statewide activities and discussions. Pathways to a Healthy Kansas focuses on healthy eating, active living, and tobacco use. Participants in the Pathways Grocery Assessment can take part in a free healthy store assessment provided by the Pathways to a Healthy Kansas initiative team, who incorporate recommendations indicated in the assessment of stores.

Building Or Expanding With Sba Funding, Wayne Bell, Janelle Jones

Center for Engagement and Community Development

The US Small Business Administration’s mission is to provide technical assistance, access to capital, and facilitation of government contracting. This presentation covers who SBA borrowers are, where the SBA loan fits in a business profile scale, and eligibility requirements. Fee relief is offered to veterans and their spouses.

Retail Food Access In Rural Kansas: Two Models For Two Small Towns, Ben Alexander, David Tolland, Debbie Bearden, Tom Williams

Center for Engagement and Community Development

Allen County, Kansas is defined by low incomes, the legacy of extractive industries, and poor health. Iola, the county seat, is home to roughly half the county’s residents (5,704 people) and several large factories. The basis for the town is low-wage line work, and the town is, in large part, working poor.

In 2009, after the opening of a Wal-Mart Supercenter on the edge of town, the only standalone grocery store in town closed. Citizen organizing combined with an intensive recruitment effort, and five years and nine separate grocery chains later, G&W Foods agreed to build new, next to market-rate …

Closing Session: Moving Forward With Funding, David Procter

Center for Engagement and Community Development

In the closing session, the presenter discusses the challenges that rural grocery stores face and ways to improve information, as well as ways that the Rural Grocery Institute helps.

Panel: Leveraging Public And Private Resources For Rural Grocery Stores, David Carter, Virginia Barnes, David Kramer, Imagene Harris

Center for Engagement and Community Development

David Carter presents on Finding and Funding Energy Efficiencies in Rural Grocery Stores and how that can impact a store’s bottom line. Services available to assist with an energy audit. Virginia Barnes presents on Grants through its Pathways to a Healthy Kansas Communities Program for access to healthy foods. David Kramer presents on funding for energy updates, changes in ownership, and equipment updates of the USDA Rural Development program. Imagene Harris presents on Financing through the Kansas Healthy Food Financing Initiative. What type of projects are they looking for, and how to go about applying to the fund?