Local Food Network
COMMUNITY
ACTION PLAN
Weakley County, Tennessee
November 2016
Local Food Network Action Plan – Weakley County, Northwest Tennessee
GOAL 1: Make Northwest Tennessee Farmers Markets destinations for farm businesses,
local arts, healthy living, family and visitors
 Action 1.1: Program more arts and entertainment as part of regular market;
expand market offerings to include handmade high quality (juried) arts and
onsite live music.
 Action 1.2: Develop a farmer’s market vendor education program to help farmers improve their businesses.
 Action 1.3: Establish a public transportation system that brings groups of people to area farmers markets.
GOAL 2: Empower and develop local people and organizational capacity to advance local foods, local place-based initiatives
 Action 2.1: Establish regularly occurring meetings of the Local Food Network Steering Committee.
 Action 2.2: Establish Local Food Network Action Groups to complete goal actions and tasks.
 Action 2.3: Provide bi-monthly communications (newsletter) to Local Food Network to report out on and celebrate
progress and encourage additional participation in upcoming initiatives.
GOAL 3: Make downtown areas thriving places that support local business growth, local foods and better public health
outcomes.
 Action 3.1: Develop a program of community events to regularly occur in each downtown (potentially alternating
between communities) that highlight local foods, public health and local businesses.
 Action 3.2: Advance downtown beautification and cleanup efforts with an emphasis on improved greenspaces planted
with native and/or edible plants (especially surrounding the farmers market areas).
 Action 3.3: Establish countywide greenways and trails program, including consistent mapping and signage.
 Action 3.4: Implement improved signage and wayfinding to get visitors to downtown Martin and Dresden and to assist
visitors and locals navigating around downtown once they arrive.
 Action 3.5: Complete a downtown multimodal transportation and parking study for both Dresden and Martin.
1
Local Food Network Action Plan – Weakley County, Northwest Tennessee
GOAL 4: Grow farming businesses and local food entrepreneurs
 Action 4.1: Create and adopt a community outreach and marketing plan that promotes the benefits and opportunities
of growing and buying locally-grown.
 Action 4.2: Conduct an inventory of existing programs, educational opportunities, and business development resources
and create a comprehensive resource document for interested farmers and entrepreneurs. Use research findings to
further refine program offerings identified in Action 4.3.
 Action 4.3: Provide locally available (and web/mobile enabled) continuing education programs that serve new and
established local food businesses.
 Action 4.4: Engage and encourage youth to participate in local farmers markets by providing shared and/or free booths
at the market and vendor mentoring opportunities.
 Action 4.5: Explore the potential creation of a shared community kitchen or commercial processing space in Weakley
County.
 Action 4.6: Provide farmers and food producers with entrepreneurial skills and tools to support their growing
agricultural business that will help bridge farmers into the local economy (i.e. schools, restaurants, supermarkets, etc…)
GOAL 5: Provide education and increase awareness of the benefits and opportunities of a strong local food, local place-making
program
 Action 5.1: Develop specific classes targeted to the general public on fruit and vegetable gardening and preparing
healthy meals from locally grown foods.
 Action 5.2: Establish marketing and outreach programs (combined with action 4.1) geared toward the general public
that promote the benefits and opportunities for eating healthy locally grown foods and living more physically active
lifestyles (i.e. local food guide distribution, parent/student nutritional newsletter, Farmers Market corner in the
newspaper, community walks/runs, etc…)
 Action 5.3: Establish new partnerships to promote local foods, healthy lifestyles and local economic development
efforts in coordination with action 2.2.
 Action 5.4: Engage youth and retirees in local food entrepreneurism, healthy eating and living programs and buy local
economic development (conduct in concert with actions 2.3, 4.1., 4.2, 4.4 and 5.1).
2
Local Food Network Steering Committee 2017
Name
Ashley Kite-Rowland
Beverly Shelby
Association
Community Volunteer
Family Consumer Science EducationWeakley County UT Extension Agent
Brad Thompson
Director of Community Development,
Martin
Brian Carroll
Carol Reed
Dede McClure
Dr. Todd A. Winters
Hannah Clayton
Kay Hudson
Lauren Fletcher
Samantha Goyret
Timothy D. Brady
Trista Snider
Dietician, Dietetic Internship Director,
Department of Family and Consumer
Sciences, UTM
Executive Director, NWTN Entrepreneur
Center
Weakley County Health Department,
Primary Care Nursing Assistant
Dean of the College of Agriculture and
Applied Sciences, UTM
Community Volunteer
Steele Plant Company
Market Manager Dresden Farmer's
Market, Dresden City Hall
Program Administrator, NTEC / Local
Food Network Coordinator
The Dixie Chili Ranch
Weakley County School Nutrition
Supervisor
Email
[email protected]
Phone
865.223.2441
Address
Oxford Street
City
Martin
[email protected]
731.364.3164
731.588.2507 /
Cell:
731.225.1107
Mobile:
618.727.0523 ;
Office
731.881.7102
PO Box 168
Dresden
PO Box 290
Martin
UTM, 330 F
Gooch Hall
Martin
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Martin
[email protected]
731.587.4213
206 White Street
731.364.2210 ext
124
9852 Hwy 22
[email protected]
[email protected]
731.881.7251
425.501.4175
Martin
Martin
[email protected]
731.648.5476
dresdencommunitydevelopment@
gmail.com
731.364.2151
UTM, Brehm Hall
Todd Street
Steele Plant Co
LLC. 202 Collins
St
117 W. Main
Street
[email protected]
206 White Street
Martin
[email protected]
731.281.4770
731.225.0456
(Cell)
731.749.8567
(Home)
[email protected]
731.364.3347
Dresden
Gleason
Dresden
3159 E. Union
Grove Road
Kenton
759 Linden Street,
Suite A
Dresden
For the full Community Action Plan or more information visit:
http://ntecconnect.com/get-involved/local-food-network
CONTACT
Samantha Goyret
Local Food Network Coordinator & Program Administrator
Northwest Tennessee Entrepreneur Center
[email protected]
Carol Reed
Executive Director
Northwest Tennessee Entrepreneur Center
[email protected]
Or call 731.587.4213