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from A1
through and to proceed on
its action plan.”
Based on the efforts the
city has already made with
local initiatives and its
collection of an engaged
group of stakeholders,
Salazar said Cottage Grove
made the cut above its
competitors.
“We hope to use the
Local Foods, Local Plac-
es initiative to connect
and enhance the efforts
of these two economic
development initiatives –
one focused primarily on
food, the other primarily
on place – into a powerful
force for change in Cottage
Grove,” read the city’s ap-
plication to the program
last September.
The application empha-
sized a strong emerging
food sector exemplified by
the supporting efforts of
Bohemia Food Hub, a local
food business incubator
and co-working kitchen,
and partnered urban re-
newal projects which have
worked to reduce commer-
cial vacancies and invest in
downtown improvements.
“We saw that Local
Foods, Local Places was
the perfect mechanism of
trying to link those two
things: our economic de-
velopment efforts as well
as the local foods move-
ment that is so focused on
the amazing resources that
we have in the Willamette
Valley,” said City Planner
Amanda Ferguson, who
drafted the application.
Local Foods, Local Plac-
es has a record of partner-
ing with communities by
supporting local efforts to
protect air and water quali-
ty, preserve open space and
farmland, boost opportu-
nities for local farmers and
businesses, improve access
to healthy local food, pro-
mote childhood wellness
and engineer stronger local
food economies.
Work with other com-
munities has seen projects
which open year-round
downtown markets, help
schoolchildren grow their
own food, plan cooperative
grocery stories and devel-
op community gardens.
Cottage Grove Plan
For Cottage Grove, a
total of $25,000 in direct
assistance will be made
available to the city as well
as a formalized structure to
work with a broad range of
agricultural, environmen-
tal, public health, archi-
tectural and economic de-
velopment experts to help
develop an action plan,
set goals and identify local
assets that can support the
local food economy and
contribute to downtown
and neighborhood revital-
ization.
“There’s a pretty broad
range of expertise we can
bring in,” said Salazar.
“They are also directly ex-
perts in this process.”
The first of a three-stage
process is anticipated to
begin toward the end of
summer or beginning of
fall. This stage will analyze
the community by holding
virtual conversations with
a stakeholders and experts.
The meetings will include
a community-self assess-
ment, goal-setting and
workshop planning.
“It will allow the techni-
cal assistance team to un-
derstand the community
context to really meet the
community where they
are to address their needs
around local foods,” said
Salazar.
Next, the community
and assistance team will
convene for a two-day
workshop, one evening
of which will provide the
public with an opportunity
to give input. A date for the
workshop is still undeter-
mined due to uncertainty
surrounding the state of
the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’ll probably wait un-
til we can hold the work-
shop physically,” said Fer-
guson, adding that virtual
options will be available for
those who would like to
keep socially distanced.
This may place the work-
shop as late as December,
“But that date is still fluid,”
said Ferguson.
Finally, based on the in-
formation gathered from
the first two phases, im-
plementation will begin
during which the range
of program experts will
still be available to work
through the process.
“Overall, the goals are to
increase some community
investment in the sustain-
able, local foods economy,
to build on the existing
assets and infrastructure
in Cottage Grove and then
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to address the local food
priorities … in a way that’s
both good for the economy
and good for the environ-
ment,” said Salazar.
Implementation of the
program’s 2018 efforts in
Anchorage, Alaska pro-
vides a good example of
what the program can do,
said Salazar, who was in-
volved in the project.
The Anchorage project
repurposed an abandoned
hospital site, improved
access to community gar-
dens and increased a broad
range of community in-
vestment in the communi-
ty’s goals, Salazar said.
Another case study on
the EPA’s website points
to Huntington, W. Va.,
where a local foods market
expanded to nearly three
times its original size after
using its Local Foods, Lo-
cal Places workshop to help
with planning. The expan-
sion created space for a
small commercial kitchen,
cooking classes, agricul-
tural workshops, sustain-
ability programs and other
community events as well
as generating $2 million in
sales over five years.
As a member of the
Local Foods, Local Plac-
es steering committee in
Cottage Grove, Ferguson
is eager to build the city’s
own catalogue of successes
through the networking of
a range of local stakehold-
ers.
“One of my personal
goals for the city is to re-
ally define what the city
can do to help this process
and help entrepreneurship
around food,” she said.
Potential Benefits
Through setting up this
architecture, the city is
hopeful many of its initia-
tives currently in progress
will find fertile ground to
grow.
Projects focused on
downtown revitalization,
refurbishing the Cottage
Grove Armory complete
with a commercial kitchen
and Bohemia Food Hub
support for the local im-
migrant community are on
the list of potential growth
areas.
The assistance program
is also likely to provide a
space for groups and sec-
tors representing a diver-
sity of interests to work
together.
Salazar and Ferguson of-
fered possibilities such as
linking restauranteurs to
local farmers, involving the
area’s Guatemalan immi-
grants, providing new ed-
ucation options for youth
and inviting developers
interested in green spaces
as some of the partnership
opportunities that may be
presented.
Already, Bohemia Food
Hub is leading a coalition
of local organizations de-
signed to plan and im-
plement support for local
entrepreneurs in the food
and beverage sector – par-
ticularly in the immigrant
community. With funding
from the Rural Economic
Development Innovation
initiative, area nonprofit
Rural Development Initia-
tives is providing technical
assistance to the program.
It’s hoped that work-
shopping such projects
already in place will allow
new networks of diverse
stakeholders to connect.
In addition to the net-
working, Hamlin said he
saw opportunities for or-
ganizations to increase
efficiency and commit to
waste reduction.
“This effort lines up well
with the EPA Administra-
tor [Andrew] Wheeler’s
priority on reduced waste,”
he said. “Projects like this
have at least an indirect ef-
fect of reducing waste.”
One of the possible chal-
lenges of tapping into Lo-
cal Foods, Local Place’s po-
tential will be dealing with
the anticipated continuing
threat of the coronavirus
pandemic, however Fergu-
son sees a silver lining.
“We’re still listed as
‘economically distressed’
in Cottage Grove and
COVID-19 is only going to
make that worse,” she said.
“I think [the program] is
going to provide us a pretty
unique opportunity to re-
cover from the coronavirus
with some new tools and
new ideas.”
Cottage Grove food
carts, for example, have
been “overwhelmed” by
increased attention since
Oregon businesses began
restricting service, ex-
plained Ferguson. A grant
from Business Oregon has
enabled the South Lane
School District and Bo-
hemia Food Hub to work
together to bring a pop-up
food truck to high school
students, offering a unique
environment to teach en-
trepreneurship.
“In the short term, I can
see that at least as a good
example,” she said.
Partnership opportuni-
ties with local health ser-
vice providers have also
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