The Local Matters E-Newsletter 

Volume I, Issue I

Dear Friends of Local Matters,

Welcome to the first edition of our bi-monthly newsletter!  (Please forgive the immense scale of our premier issue, we've got lots to share.)

As you may have noticed, local food is at the forefront of people’s minds these days – especially with regard to its role in the development of healthy kids and healthy communities.  (Thank goodness!)

Prominent public figures like Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Jamie Oliver and Katie Couric have brought significant attention to these critical issues.  Each of them has stepped forward to call attention to some disturbing trends in childhood obesity, type II diabetes, and heart disease. 

They’ve issued a call to action to improve the lives of our kids and reshape our communities around a food system that makes wholesome local foods accessible to everyone.

At Local Matters we’re making strides to do just that. 

o   We’re working with the MORPC to identify opportunities to increase the amount of nutritious food grown in Central Ohio and recently collaborated on a local food assessment for the region.

o   We're working with local farmers to identify bottlenecks in local food distribution and create market opportunities. 

o We launched the Veggie Van as a way to help underserved communities access healthy, local food.

o   We’re building our local food guide Fresh Connect to help you identify where to access the best of the season and identify the resources available in your community.

o   And most importantly – we’re impacting the lives of over 900 children and families each week with our Local Food to School education programs. We've formed a partnership with CDC Head Start to expand our Food Is Elementary curriculum to all of their nearly 3,000 students over the next three years!

We’ve hired a Director of Development and Marketing, Todd Mills, to help us identify some much needed resources to meet the increasing demand to serve the Central Ohio community.

With our team growing to support our new efforts, we’ve moved into a spacious office in the heart of the communities we serve. Our new headquarters on the third floor of the historic W.H. Jones Mansion at 731 East Broad is warm and inviting – see our calendar for details on our upcoming Open House.

We'd like to thank the numerous volunteers who helped in our move and especially Randy Dupler of Dupler Office, Tyler Steele of Greenovate, and Karen Young of Keeping House and Home for their generous contributions to our new space.

We look forward to working together with all of you to “transform the food system to be more secure, prosperous, just and delicious!

Be well,

Michael Jones and the team at Local Matters

From the Field

Updates on Local Matters’ work in the community

And our team is facilitating Healthy Living Group meetings with two of our partners to help the staff support children and parents as they learn about healthy eating habits.

Our Ecology of Food curriculum which teaches the science and gardening side of food is currently being piloted at Brookside Elementary in Worthington and will expand to more schools starting in the fall.  

Local Matters' collaborative efforts in Worthington were recently honored with the Healthy Worthington Award from the Healthy Worthington Coalition to acknowledge the outstanding efforts of organizations, businesses or individuals who have helped to improve the health and well-being of the Worthington community.

Read more about our Local Food to School education work in our blog.