News

Wallace Center’s Strategic Plan
The Wallace Center's 2021-2023 Strategic Plan presents our renewed purpose and our vision for becoming a more effective vehicle for transformational change. As we near our 40th anniversary, this roadmap sets a clear direction for our work and will guide how we work in pursuit of more equitable and resilient farming and food systems. Read More

Food Systems Response & Recovery in the wake of Hurricane Ida
Susan Lightfoot Schempf, Co-Director of the Wallace Center, reached out to Wallace Center friends and colleagues last week in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida to share a snapshot of what she saw happening on the ground from her perspective as a New Orleans resident. Read More

Wallace Center’s 2020 Impact Report
The Wallace Center is proud to share our 2020 Impact Report. This report highlights the ingenuity, hard work and dedication that we, and more than 25 of our partners in service, demonstrated last year amid COVID-19. Read More

Launch of New Food Systems Practitioner and Educational Resource Database
The Wallace Center, along with eight organizations, has helped develop a national database for food practitioners to connect with others in their geographic area. Led by Iowa State University, this project is supported by a cooperative agreement between the Farm, Food and Enterprise Development program of ISU Extension and Outreach and the USDA’s AMS. Read More

USDA’s Local Agriculture Market Program Releases $92 Million in Funding
This year, USDA grants that support local and regional food systems have received a huge boost in funding through COVID relief bills. The USDA has made $92 million available in grant funding through these grant opportunities--nearly triple the amount that was available last year. Read More

Announcing Institutional Investment Accelerator Teams
The Wallace Center is thrilled to announce the six community-based teams participating in our inaugural Institutional Investment Accelerator, made possible through the generous support of the Kresge Foundation. Read More

Wallace Center’s Path to Anti-Racism and Multi-Culturalism
In the spirit of accountability, vulnerability, and transparency, we want to share the Wallace Center’s Journey Toward Becoming an Anti-Racist and Multicultural Organization. We will never achieve economic, environmental, and social justice without first achieving racial justice. Read More

USDA’s Systems Change Opportunity
The local food sector, along with just about everyone else, has learned some valuable lessons from the pandemic. One such learning came from USDA’s Farmers to Families Food Box Program. Read More

Co-Leadership Transition at the Wallace Center
The Wallace Center is transitioning to a co-directorship model under the shared leadership of Susan Lightfoot Schempf and Pete Huff. Both have been leading Wallace’s programs for the past several years, helping the organization build authentic relationships and championing efforts to center racial equity in our organizational culture and programs. Read More

The Power of Community-based Food Systems
This new multimedia storytelling project is an exploration into how communities across the Northwest are using community-based food systems to catalyze resistance and resilience, self-determination and sovereignty, connection and liberation. Read More