The ACRE Collective: Advancing Agriculture, Group, Resilience & Fairness by way of Values-Primarily based Procurement is a collaborative partnership aimed toward enhancing the supply of nutritious, regionally sourced meals, to the benefit of each participant inside the meals community. By way of value-based procurement (VBP), the ACRE Collective goals to create sustainable, long-term shopping for relationships between native meals producers and huge establishments, equivalent to faculties, universities and hospitals. The Frequent Market Southeast leads the ACRE Collective with assist from organizations equivalent to Georgia Organics, Well being Care With out Hurt, and the Turner Environmental Legislation Clinic at Emory College to assist make sure the longevity of values-based meals procurement practices in Atlanta-area faculties.
One of many ACRE Collective’s first initiatives was to launch a values-based native meals incentive pilot program with Marietta Metropolis Colleges and Rockdale County Public Colleges. This pilot demonstrates how native meals incentive {dollars} assist a shift towards native procurement, catalyze financial alternative for numerous farmers in our area, and enhance scholar entry to contemporary, wholesome meals. The ACRE Collective offered a $60,000 grant to those districts with the objective of accelerating the quantity of native, culturally vital meals included in class meals and inspiring statewide adoption of a neighborhood meals incentive program for all faculties in Georgia.
With the assist of Georgia Organics, the ACRE Collective additionally empowers college vitamin workers by sharing information on greatest practices for contemporary meals prep, info on the place contemporary components are sourced from, and construction for the way to plan vitamin training actions to interact scholar management in class vitamin. College students give their insights and suggestions throughout style exams, which finally form the meals bought and the meals served within the cafeteria.
