The City of Cottage Grove invites the community to participate in its Local Foods, Local Places Workshop being held virtually Nov. 5 and 6.

Cottage Grove was one of 16 communities selected from across the nation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Local Foods, Local Places program in 2020 to help revitalize Main Street and the surrounding community through food systems and place-making initiatives.

Registration for the upcoming workshop is free and will be a two-day brainstorming session, leading to a plan of action for better integrating local foods systems into Cottage Grove’s economic recovery.

The city is asking farmers, producers, growers, restaurant owners, entrepreneurs, business owners, tourist organizations, non-profits, local government officials, etc. — all of whom have a stake in the local food system’s future — to help.

With an overarching theme of building a resilient local/regional food system, four topics have been identified by the Local Food, Local Places steering committee:

• Identify strategies to support and enhance existing commercial kitchen and food incubator spaces.

• Improve food security and public health in Cottage Grove.

• Increase the involvement of Cottage Grove’s underrepresented/immigrant populations (e.g. youth, BIPOC representatives) in local food and place-making initiatives.

• Build stronger supply chain connections for farmers and food producers with both local and regional markets.

There will be time in the sessions to discuss and refine the topics if necessary.

Participants will brainstorm potential actions or next steps necessary to advance each goal and there will be breakout rooms to detail the actions selected by participants as highest priority for each goal.

The workshop will consist of a series of seven virtual sessions leading up to the completion of a draft community action plan framed around the community goals for this technical assistance process.

For full details and to register, visit bit.ly/LFLPCottageGrove. For more information, contact City Planner Amanda Ferguson at 541-942-3340.