Food Coalition for Archuleta County Colorado
  • Home
  • Donate
  • Food Pantry Network
  • Events & Happenings
    • Garden Education
    • Food Drive
    • Chef on Wheels - Food Demos
    • Vista Lake Park
    • Community Conversations
    • NS|HE Assessment
    • Community Produce Donations
  • Primary Health Care Access
  • En Espanol
  • Contact
  • All About Us
  • Food Equity - Community Sharing
  • Home
  • Donate
  • Food Pantry Network
  • Events & Happenings
    • Garden Education
    • Food Drive
    • Chef on Wheels - Food Demos
    • Vista Lake Park
    • Community Conversations
    • NS|HE Assessment
    • Community Produce Donations
  • Primary Health Care Access
  • En Espanol
  • Contact
  • All About Us
  • Food Equity - Community Sharing

Healthy Archuleta

Picture

dba: FSFE - Food Coalition

We are hosting several garden education workshops in the spring and summer. 
Click here to learn more...
On September 10, 2021 Healthy Archuleta, Inc. was established as a non-profit corporation in the State of Colorado. Healthy Archuleta is dedicated to advancing food production, health and community wellness through food/nutrition resource assistance, educational programs, advocacy, systems work, and promoting community-driven solutions that lead to a healthier Archuleta.  Meet our board of directors...

Healthy Archuleta focuses on 2 areas of learning:

Food System|
Food Equity
Community Health Wellness|
​Health Equity
​
​For each of the above two areas of learning please see the related goals and current initiatives.  

Food System|Food Equity

This has been the primary work of the Food System|Food Equity Coalition over the past 2 years.
Picture
Food System|Food Equity Goals
  1. To focus and strengthen the Coalition to effectively engage youth, community members, stakeholders, and partners in learning about the community-based food system.
  2. To engage and expand involvement of community members from all backgrounds in equity and food equity work.
  3. To engage and expand involvement of community members from all backgrounds in public policy advocacy related to the local/regional food system.
  4. To expand and coordinate food access efforts to advance food equity through food pantries/community food organizations and government agencies.
  5. ​To expand the viability of a community-based food system allowing more people to access and utilize local and regional foods as well as other affordable nutritious foods with less food waste and more resource recovery.​

There are four focused areas of learning for our work in this area: 
(1) Food Production
(2) Healthy Food Access
(3) Food Waste Prevention & Resource Recovery
​(4) Food Entrepreneurship
 ​

Food Production
Community growers and producers support the community to develop capacity through education and mentoring to grow food more sustainably in backyards, community gardens and commercial and institutional settings. 
  • Grow and Share
  • Vista Lake Park
  • Intergenerational Gardens
  • ​Learning to Grow & Produce
<
>
Grow and Share
Backyard growers plant an extra row of produce and commercial producers offer CSA shares for clients of the local food pantries. Click HERE for more information.
Picture
Vista Lake Park
Picture
Picture
Picture
​Vista neighborhood residents lead the design and development of a community garden at the Vista Lake Park.  To learn more, click HERE.
Picture
Intergenerational Gardens
​
Seniors are supported by youth and other community members to build and nurture gardens from structure to production. 
Learning to Grow/Produce Together
​
Community members are supported to build and sustain capacity as it relates to growing and/or producing food in Archuleta County.
Picture
Growing and producing food is at the heart of our food system.  To learn more click HERE.

Healthy Food Access
Food pantry clients, those experiencing barriers to healthy food options spoke and we listened.  In partnership with the 6 food pantries and local schools, fresh foods are procured and made available to food pantry clients and school age children to address food insecurity and advance nutrition security. ​
  • Food Pantry Network
  • Food Distribution Center
  • Mobile Food Pantry
  • Middle School Snack
  • Farmers Market Support
<
>
Food Pantry Network
Six local food pantries in Archuleta County, through the structure of the Food Pantry Network support (source, procure and distribute healthy and nutritious fresh food) more than 200 households per week that experience food insecurity.  
Click HERE for more information.
Picture
Picture
Food Marketing comes in many forms.  Food marketing influences the choices we make about the food we consume.  Food distribution is how our food gets from the farmer to our plate. To learn more click HERE.
Food Distribution Center
One thousand square feet facility was secured for the purpose of receiving, storing and distributing food procured by the FSFE - Food Coalition for the food pantries. 
Picture
Picture
Mobile Food Pantry
The Mobile Food Pantry served as a pilot program of the Food Pantry Network of the Archuleta Food System|Food Equity Coalition. This effort intends to expand the capacity of the existing food pantries to make food more accessible in underserved areas of the County to community members with limited access to food.  
The goal of the Mobile Food Pantry is to bring food closer to those who can use it and who live in areas of the county that are harder to serve than others. For more information click HERE.
​
Picture
Picture
Middle School Snack
​
Pagosa Springs Middle School is supported by providing boxes of fresh fruit for students in each hallway, as they feel hungry at times during the school day and can benefit from access to a healthy snack, so they can better focus on learning, and manage their emotions.
The Farmers Market Support
The live and online farmers market is supported to increase access of growers, producers, and food entrepreneurs to market and promote fresh foods to consumers.
Picture
Picture

Food Waste Prevention and Resource Recovery
​
Households and institutions engage in learning about food waste prevention and adopting behaviors to reduce and minimize food waste in Archuleta County. Planned activities include (a) Education of school aged children and (b) Social Media Engagement Campaign.  ​To learn more about food waste prevention and resource recovery, click HERE.

Food Entrepreneurship
Food entrepreneurs engage in networking, educational programming and other related efforts to enhance and advance the economic viability of the local food businesses.  ​To learn more about transforming food for storage and market, click HERE.

Community Health Wellness|Health Equity

This is a new area of learning that evolved from the Food System|Food Equity work and expanded to include health equity.
Picture
Community Health Wellness|Health Equity Goals:
  1. To focus and strengthen the Coalition to effectively engage youth, community members, stakeholders and partners in community health wellness, nutrition security, and health equity efforts.
  2. To engage and expand involvement of community members from all backgrounds in equity, nutrition security, and health equity work.
  3. To expand and coordinate food and nutrition resources to advance nutrition security as a driver of health equity.
  4. To capture and advance learning related to community health wellness.
  5. To identify and learn the key elements of community-based nutrition security.
  6. To advocate for a shared vision and values around nutrition security and health equity.

There are two focused areas of learning for our work in this area: 
(1) Nutrition Security
(2) Community Education 
​

Nutrition Security
Health care and community organizations along with content area experts support individuals and families to access healthy affordable food, nutrition education, food purchasing/preparation skills, and dietary counseling. ​Click on the four tabs immediately below to learn more about our activities related to advancing Nutrition Security.
  • Assessment & Planning
  • Patient Navigation for Nutrition Security
  • Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program
  • Community Wellness Corner
<
>
​​Assessment and Planning
Picture
Picture
Develop and implement a nutrition security and a health equity (access to preventive health care services) assessment in Archuleta County. To learn more click HERE.
Patient Navigation for Nutrition Security
Food/Nutrition Resource Navigator at some local clinics facilitate access to a network of dietitians in Colorado that are committed to health equity and increasing access to dietetic counseling services in rural areas such as Archuleta County.
Picture
Picture
Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program
In partnership with the Food Pantry Network and local clinics connect clients/patients experiencing food and nutrition insecurities with free and locally grown fruits and vegetables in and nutrition counseling to reduce nutrition-related health disparities.  
Picture
Community Wellness Corner
​
Partnering with Community Health Empowerment support groups of youth and adults in Archuleta County to learn together how to form and sustain healthy habits around nutrition, fitness, and sleep. Using science-based materials and through a participatory process, individuals are supported to think and act in terms of community health and wellness, learning together how health and wellness belong to everyone.  
Eating nutritious foods takes more than the individual. It takes a community.  To learn more click HERE.

Community Education
Emergent topics that engage community members in learning about growing, culture/heritage, and promoting healthy food options are identified and developed alongside the community and delivered to children/youth, parents and primary caregivers, food pantry clients, community groups, and others.
  • Chef on Wheels
  • Kids in the Mountain Garden Program
  • Heritage Cooking 
<
>
Picture
Chef on Wheels
Seasonal food demonstrations in partnership with the Archuleta Food Pantry Network feature recipes highlighting the rich heritage of Archuleta County.  Participants are also provided with take home garden fresh produce and pantry staples to recreate the dish at home. Click HERE for more information.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Kids in the Mountain Garden Program
Children and their parents gather in small groups to enjoy an afternoon in the garden, storytime, a short nutrition lesson and then time in the kitchen to prepare a tasty and nutritious Hispanic style meal from the items they harvested earlier in the garden. Click HERE for more information.
Heritage Cooking 
Archuleta County residents participated in a series of heritage cooking classes featuring Mexican dishes using local produce harvested from the GGP domes. Click HERE for more information. ​
Picture
Picture
Picture
There are many ways to accessing food in our community. To learn more click HERE.


​Acknowledgments

Contact Us
​Donate