Creating a Resilient & Equitable Food System

On March 20, 2023, Wake County Board of Commissioners approved a $7.2 million food plan update. Moving Beyond Hunger: Creating a Resilient & Equitable Food System is an update to the 2018 Wake County Food Plan.

These updates are the result of an equity-based steering committee, partner-organization workgroups, and research-based analysis of similar models. The steering committee was composed of community members with lived experience of poverty and/or strong advocacy roles in their community, as well as practitioners actively working in food system roles.

Planting Seeds for the Future

The Youth Summit includes youth in the conversation of food security, teaching skills and knowledge necessary to contribute to work in local food systems. The Summit provides an age-appropriate explanation of food security, as well as hands-on activities and lessons.

Building Leadership Skills

Youth participants gain perspective by connecting with leaders performing food security work in Wake County and sharing their voice through meaningful engagement opportunities.

Wake County Food Security Leaders

This annual event is open to 8th–12th grade students in Wake County each Hunger Awareness Month (June).

Wake County Cooperative Extension's VISTA team hosts the summit alongside local food systems leadership:

Summer Meals is a USDA federally funded program created to ensure food is available to youth during the summer months.

In North Carolina, nearly 1 in 5 children are living in food insecure households, and the loss of school meals is a significant impact on childhood hunger. All meals are free to community members 0–17 years old.

The Juntos Summer Academy is a residential camp held at NC State University. In 2023, the camp took place from June 12–17, with 105 high school participants from nine counties in North Carolina.

Youth engaged in career and skills workshops, a week-long project led by community professionals, and a field trip to Wake Technical Community College, amongst other activities. On the last afternoon of the Academy, students gathered at the McKimmon Center to participate in a community service activity called Juntos Apoyamos A Nuestra Comunidad | Together We Support Our Community.

For this year's community service activity, the Juntos program partnered with Wake County Cooperative Extension and NC State Extension's Farmworker Safety Department to host a Farm Safety Donation Drive.

Donations were collected in multiple locations across the county to stock care packages for farm workers arriving in North Carolina. Juntos Youth assembled care packages in reusable bags with items such as toiletries, sunblock, bandanas, gloves and other farm safety essentials. The donated items were distributed to 97 NC farm workers by Roberto Rosales, the Farmworker Safety Trainer at NC State Extension.

Information provided by: Lucía Planchón, Juntos Assistant Director
lplanch@ncsu.edu