Action Planning for Collective Impact

We held two in-person sessions, with two online opportunities for engagement for those who could not attend in person. The focus was to develop a shared vision for how organizations in Wichita can collaborate to increase nutritious food access for Wichitans in low-income, low-access communities. This work builds on the Sedgwick County Food System Master Plan and Hunger Free Kansas Blueprint.  

The areas of focus that rose to the top through this planning process along with potential follow up steps are listed below. Please note that these results are still being shared with community stakeholders for feedback.  

1. Coordination: Fund an entity to provide the function of “backbone” for food systems    

Creating a structure for ongoing system-level coordination was the most frequently discussed priority with strong consensus that it is the essential first step. Stakeholders emphasized that an effective backbone (key entity that mobilizes, coordinates, and facilitates the process of collaboration among various stakeholders) will drive progress across all other efforts by enabling shared understanding of needs and services, alignment on best practices and solutions and stronger collaboration in advocating for targeted policies. Stakeholders recognized that the Food and Farm Council could provide a natural umbrella organization for this backbone.     

Recommended Next Steps: 
Identify how to fund a full-time food system backbone staff member and with which organization that person should be employed 

2. Get nutritious food to people where they are: Work on increasing ways to get good food to people effectively in a low or no-cost way 

This approach focuses on working to expand multiple neighborhood-centered strategies to improve access to nutritious food, including mobile food distribution, low- or no-cost grocery delivery, and improved transportation options to food retailers. It emphasizes strengthening local infrastructure through additional distribution sites, community-based growing and markets, continued investment in existing initiatives, and incentives for small-scale neighborhood food businesses. Across all efforts, stakeholders stressed the importance of aligning investments with neighborhood-specific needs and cultural preferences to ensure solutions are effective and equitable.  

Recommended Next Steps: 
Communicate to the public that the bus routes have been updated to make grocery locations more accessible 

 

3. Support Schools: Support nutritious food and hunger reduction in schools 

This priority centers on partnering with school systems to strengthen nutritious food access and reduce hunger among students. This includes expanding universal free meals through the Community Eligibility Provision, supporting Farm-to-School efforts, and promoting school gardens as both a food source and educational tool, with collaboration used to align resources to identified school and student needs.  

Recommended Next Steps: 
Meet with school districts’ Nutrition Services to learn about their goals and identify concrete ways other stakeholders can support 

 4. Resource Coordination and Navigation: Improve how community residents access and receive information about food access resources 

This priority focuses on strengthening how residents find and navigate food access resources by creating a single, reliable, and consistently updated point of information. Potential approaches are consolidating existing directories, leveraging a user-friendly app to communicate food system resources, clearly outlining food pantry requirements, and implementing a coordinated food system communication plan to improve awareness and usability.  

Recommended Next Steps: 
Identify the current resource directories and websites, including how often they are updated 

 5. Business support for local food system entrepreneurs, including support for regionally-adapted production systems and local food production 

This priority emphasizes strengthening the local food economy by supporting farmers and food entrepreneurs across production, processing, and distribution. Potential ideas include financial and technical assistance for farmers and value-added producers, investments in shared facilities and infrastructure, support for long-term training farmer programs such as Growing Growers, and support for regenerative and climate-appropriate practices. This priority also highlights building aggregation and distribution systems—such as food hubs, shared cold storage, and group purchasing—to help local producers reliably access larger markets and scale their impact.  

Recommended Next Steps: 
Convene stakeholders interested in the aggregation and distribution of locally-produced food to identify opportunities for collaboration 

 6. Address Policy Barriers 

This priority focuses on removing policy and system barriers that limit access to nutritious food by aligning local regulations to better support community grocers, food entrepreneurs, and local producers. It also emphasizes advocacy at the state and federal levels to protect and expand nutrition assistance programs, while improving resident support for navigating applications and reducing administrative barriers to accessing benefits such as SNAP and WIC. 
Recommended Next Steps: 
Assess barriers, gaps and supports of the food system in local policy in Wichita and Sedgwick County