Community Collaborations
Stronger Together: Building a Healthier Maine Through Community Collaboration
COMMUNITY COLLABORATIONS
At Farms for Food Equity, we believe lasting change happens when we work hand in hand with our community partners. Each organization brings unique strengths and resources that help us reach more families and provide nutritious, culturally appropriate food across Maine. Together, we’re creating a stronger, healthier food system—because collaboration isn’t just powerful, it’s essential.
The Maine Immigrant Green Collaborative (MIGC), led by Maine Farm & Sea Cooperative, Farms for Food Equity, and Wayside Food Programs, was launched in 2022 with support from the Elmina Sewall Foundation to address immigrant families’ limited access to culturally appropriate, nutritious greens in Maine’s emergency food system. Many new immigrants face “Food Shock,” as pantry options often lack the fresh, healthy ingredients needed for traditional meals. The pilot project demonstrated that, through education and collaboration with local farmers, underutilized crops like kale, collards, and even broccoli or cauliflower leaves can be harvested and prepared as culturally relevant alternatives. In its first year, the project purchased 1,000 pounds of produce for food pantries, leading to expanded funding to deliver 30,000 pounds of local produce and partner with organizations and schools to improve access to healthy, culturally appropriate foods for immigrant families across Southern Maine.
Farm to Neighbor’s mission is to expand local food access to vulnerable people, support underserved and BIPOC farmers, and contribute to a resilient agricultural economy and community. The Farm to Neighbor distribution partners represent diverse farming community stakeholders that are committed to working collaboratively to inform a Statewide lens on equitable and culturally important local food access in Maine.