A simple graphic showing an outline map of North Carolina with several counties shaded in gray. A logo for "Community Food Strategies" is in the top left corner. The title text "Weaving a Statewide Network of Networks" is prominently displayed in blue below the map.

Systemic & Local Context

In 2013, North Carolina’s food system was in flux. For several years, following publication of the state’s local food action plan, Farm to Fork: A Guide to Building North Carolina’s Sustainable Local Food Economy, the energy around local food had grown dramatically. But that growth came with increasing complexity.

A photograph of a document and a description. The document is titled "From Farm to Fork: A Guide to Building North Carolina’s Sustainable Local Food Economy." The cover features a grid of small photos related to farming, food, and people. A text description next to the document explains that the guide is an action product from a yearlong initiative involving over 1,000 North Carolinians. It also lists the guide's purpose, which is to provide key ideas for building a sustainable food economy. A caption below the image reads "The 2010 Farm to Fork Guide."
The 2010 Farm to Fork Guide

Stakeholders from across sectors – from agriculture to health, planning, and economic development – were launching new efforts. Yet the ecosystem lacked alignment. Collaboration was too often shallow, siloed, or redundant. The Farm to Fork plan had offered direction, but without sufficient mechanisms to help people stay connected or coordinated, much of the momentum fragmented. A state food council had formed (and been politically disbanded). Food policy councils were emerging across the state, but with limited scaffolding for how to relate to one another or to state-level policy conversations.

A complex infographic titled "History of Food Councils in NC." The chart, with a timeline at the bottom from 2006 to 2013, illustrates the formation of various food councils and related initiatives across North Carolina. The graphic includes hand-drawn icons, a flow chart, and text boxes with questions, lists of organizations, and a list of types of networks. It highlights the growth and challenges of establishing these food policy councils. A note at the bottom states, "By 2013, North Carolina was seeing an uptick in the formation of food policy councils, but there was no mechanism by which to coalesce this energy into mutual support or cohesive strategy."
By 2013, North Carolina was seeing an uptick in the formation of food policy councils, but there was no mechanism by which to coalesce this energy into mutual support or cohesive strategy.

There was, in short, no infrastructure to support system coherence – no shared framework, communication strategy, or distributed leadership model to help local and state actors evolve together.

It was against this backdrop that CEFS (Center for Environmental Farming Systems) invited me to lead an update to the Farm to Fork Action Plan. But rather than just reflect and revise a document, I saw an opportunity to seed something more enduring: an invisible architecture for collaborative system change.

What I Saw Was Needed

This wasn’t just about agriculture. Local food systems intersected with public health, environmental sustainability, economic development, and community identity. Yet too often, those working on “food” spoke different languages. Planners, farmers, health educators, cooperative extension agents, and nonprofit leaders weren’t trained to see themselves as part of the same ecosystem.

A horizontal bar chart showing four nested categories of actors involved in the food ecosystem, each represented by a different color and arrow shape. The top, red bar is "Government," with a list of examples including Cooperative Extension and Health Services. The next bar, in green, is "Industry," with examples like Grocery Stores and Restaurant Associations. The third bar, in purple, is "Community," with examples such as Farmers Markets and Food Banks. The final bar, in blue, is "Producers," with examples including Community Gardens and Small-scale Farmers. The text below the chart reads, "The diversity of actors involved in the food ecosystem."
The diversity of actors involved in the food ecosystem

What was needed wasn’t another plan or an update to a plan. What was needed was a new way of working:

  • One that supported emergence and mutual interdependence rather than top-down order.
  • One that made space for regional difference without sacrificing statewide cohesion.
  • One that embedded collaborative muscle memory into the way people worked together.

And so, rather than start with answers, I focused on conditions. I pulled together a cross-NGO team of food system actors to help me tackle the challenge. We built from what already existed – not just assets and strategies, but relationships and values.

A visual metaphor illustrating complexity. A dark background contains a chaotic, tangled mess of interconnected white and gray lines and shapes. Four phrases are placed around the central tangle, each pointing to a part of it: "loss of farmland," "poverty," "shrinking farmer & fishing professions," and "poor diets." A small question mark and the word "WHY?" are in the bottom right corner. A long caption below the image explains how a project helped people understand they were working within an "interconnected, complex, adaptive system."
Much of my early work on this project was helping the many people working on food-related issues to see that they were working in the context of an interconnected, complex, adaptive system. This awareness led to different ways of approaching the work, and was influential not just for food system actors, but also for people in philanthropy, who were seeking to address interconnected issues.

We needed to teach people how to think like a system, act like a network, and move with distributed leadership.

My Role & Approach

I was hired to update the action plan. But I quickly realized the bigger task was to build the connective tissue that would allow the work to evolve long after the funding ran out.

A hand-drawn mind map or illustration of concepts from a Food Policy Creative Insight Circle Report. The drawing is organized into several cloud-like bubbles and smaller sections connected by lines and arrows. The central bubble is titled "ATTRACTING • ENGAGING PARTNERS to the TABLE." Other sections address topics such as "HOW DO FC PROCURE THE RESOURCES THEY NEED TO BE EFFECTIVE & SUSTAINABLE," "BALANCE," "NEW TOOLS," and "FORWARD." The drawing contains numerous smaller drawings and handwritten notes detailing concepts like "Community Story," "Shared Clear Desire & Change," and "Leadership & Facilitation." A caption at the bottom reads "Collective wisdom and considerations arising at the inaugural Food Council Convening in 2014."
Collective wisdom and considerations arising at the inaugural Food Council Convening in 2014

To do that, I:

  • Engaged stakeholders across the state – from funders and farmers to academics and agency leads – to surface patterns and tensions, and to develop a shared understanding of the system.
  • Deployed conceptual frameworks and tools that helped local food leaders see how their work fit together, including training materials, convenings, and a roadmap used to guide food council development.
  • Modeled a network-centric approach to strategy – one that emphasized relationships, alignment, and emergence over control or consensus.
  • Co-created Community Food Strategies, a collaborative of nonprofits and institutions who would carry the work forward in durable and decentralized ways – as a network facilitation team and cooperative backbone.
  • Helped initiate a results-oriented approach to system change, one that allowed diverse stakeholders to define outcomes in shared terms, without prescribing a single path to get there.
A wide-angle photo of a large group of people gathered in a conference room, sitting at rectangular tables arranged in rows. The individuals are engaged in conversation with one another, suggesting a workshop or networking event. Some are smiling and laughing. The room is well-lit, with a large window and a screen visible in the background.
A handwritten mind map on a large piece of paper, titled "Reflection." The notes are organized around key questions and concepts related to a collaborative effort. Main points include "Focus/Goal," "Role of Agencies?", "How to Make Change?", and "How to Make it Strong & Effective?". Various ideas and sub-points are connected by lines and arrows, touching on topics like economic opportunity, local food, politics, and group process.
A photograph of a group of people standing outside a modern building with large windows. One woman, on the right side of the frame, is speaking to a group of seven other individuals who are attentively listening. She is holding papers in her hand, suggesting she is leading a presentation or tour. The ground is covered with gravel and fallen red and brown leaves.
A vertical photo of four people posing in front of a white board with handwritten notes on it. The board is titled "COUNCIL FUNCTIONS" and lists bullet points: "Move a policy agenda forward," "Advocate for specific issues," and "Share information & research."
A candid photo of two women and a man talking in a conference room. The man, wearing a red polo shirt, stands with his hand on a door frame, while the two women face each other across a large wooden table, gesturing as they speak. The table is cluttered with bags, water bottles, and a tablet.
A close-up, handwritten note on a piece of paper, titled "Local Food(s) Council of NC." The text describes how the council bridges disparate committees, boards, and groups to support "vibrant farms, thriving local economies, strong communities, sustainable ecosystems, and healthy people." It then lists the council's charges, including "sharing info between member orgs," "exchanging info w/ local councils," "fostering support of local food systems," and "making policy recommendations."

This was relational work. It often looked like convening. Facilitating. Listening. Translating. But it was also strategic architecture – designing structures that could adapt, evolve, and be owned by many.

What Shifted Through the Work

The most tangible result is that the infrastructure stuck and has been sustained for over a decade.

A simple graphic titled "The goals of the 2024 Regional Community Food Gatherings are to:" followed by four illustrated points. The first is a network of stars labeled "Build our collective list of food system investments and policies..." The second is a fork and trowel labeled "Build energy to encourage those investments and policies." The third is a lightbulb labeled "Be inspired by the work happening across the region." The fourth is a hand holding a plant labeled "Connect and celebrate over great food."
Community Food Strategies continues to partner with the state food council, the NC Local Food Council, to host regional food gatherings, where network members can learn with and through each other.

As of 2024, North Carolina had one of the most advanced social infrastructures for local food systems in the country – not because of legislative funding, but because of the strength of the relationships and frameworks in place. More than 35 local food councils remained active across the state. A state council continued to serve as a hub. And during the COVID-19 pandemic, this infrastructure proved invaluable: food councils and Cooperative Extension agents were able to rapidly redirect food supply, reducing waste and preventing hunger – exactly the kind of resilient response we hoped to enable.

A colorful infographic map of North Carolina showing the locations and activities of various food councils and collaborative projects. The map is divided into regions (Western, Charlotte, Triad, Tri-Angle, Northeast, and Southeast), with each section featuring descriptive text and a photo or illustration. The caption below reads, "Community Food Strategies serves as a network backbone, facilitating the flow of information and helping groups across North Carolina (and beyond) learn from each other and foster alignment around a shared understanding of what’s happening, why it matters, and what happens next."
Community Food Strategies serves as a network backbone, facilitating the flow of information and helping groups across North Carolina (and beyond) learn from each other and foster alignment around a shared understanding of what’s happening, why it matters, and what happens next.

Other shifts include:

  • Institutions and grassroots actors now work in more coordinated ways.
  • Local food is seen as a system – not just a sector – and language has evolved accordingly.
  • The work is increasingly relational and adaptive, with distributed leadership and shared aspiration.
  • State and local policy actors routinely engage with food councils to understand community needs.

This was not just a revision of a plan. It was the laying of a foundation.

Reflections & Insights

When we talk about systems change, we often look for proof in programs or policy. But sometimes, the most meaningful results are invisible: the ways people relate, the clarity with which they see the whole, the capacity they’ve built to move together, the rhythms with which they continue to engage.

This project taught me that lasting impact doesn’t always come from control. It often comes from designing for emergence – holding just enough structure to allow something more alive to take shape.

The network we built isn’t always visible – it’s not an organization with branding and membership. Some of the local networks have slowed down; others have formed and expanded. Yet a decade after I phased out, the interactions across the network persist in a rhythm that continues to bring local level actors into relationship with each other, their peers, and the state level counterparts.

This is the type of work I am most proud of – bringing a vision to life by laying a solid foundation and leaving it in the hands of capable, caring people who expand and evolve the work into the future.

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