Karen Karp & Partners (KK&P) was recently retained by the City of Charlotte, North Carolina to provide consulting services regarding improvements to the regional food system, specifically addressing the city’s farmers’ markets. The mission of the study is to develop recommendations for a market system that supports farmers, entrepreneurship, and food access while building community...

Over the past 6 years, Karen Karp & Partners has worked closely with the Rhode Island Food Policy Council (RIFPC) as they have grown and strengthened the state’s food system. First commissioned in 2011, KK&P detailed the then-current capacity of Rhode Island’s food system, identified priorities for the RIFPC and other stakeholders working to increase...

Every year, the NYC Food Policy Center at Hunter College releases its annual class of New York City’s 40 under 40, an impressive roster of people working to transform the food system. We were excited to see many names familiar to KK&P here, and are proud to highlight a few of them. Our specific congratulations...

“Gastronomy Facing Sustainability: How new recipes should help to reduce food waste & loss and drive our food habits towards sustainability & health.” We are pleased to announce the 5th “Eating City Summer Campus”, inviting 28 participants aged 22-32, working & studying around food sustainability: Chefs, Food Procurement Officers, Farmers & Fisherman, and Foodies from...

In early 2016 KK&P was retained by Hands on Hartford (HOH) to create a best-use plan for its kitchen, cafe, and community space in their new Center for Community. Hands on Hartford – a non-profit that supports Hartford residents with a range of programs in the areas of food, housing, and economic security – had...

Last week, I attended the 40th Annual National Food Policy Conference, organized by the Consumer Federation of America, in Washington DC. The conference was a great convening of people working in government, academia, philanthropy, for-profit, and nonprofit entities related to food. Keynotes and panels addressed wide ranging issues, including state and local policy, big data...

An exploratory interview with Shayna Cohen, Sr. Consultant at KK&P, has been integrated into the curriculum for a graduate level planning course titled “Planning Practice & History” at Cornell University. The interview and resulting paper focus on Shayna and KK&Ps work to develop a wholesale farmer’s market in New York City featuring growers from NY...

Agriculture and food entrepreneurship have great potential to drive placemaking and create destinations for tourists and local residents, whether in small towns or major urban centers. By developing bespoke concepts and responsive strategies to reconnect a place to its food and agricultural economies, we help communities capitalize on the potential of their regional assets and...

Thundermist Health Center of Rhode Island challenged Karen Karp & Partners (KK&P) to develop a comprehensive strategy to transform Woonsocket’s food system. Thundermist is a progressive, federally qualified health center, with many partners in the Woonsocket community. KK&Ps project would be intended to complement the state Department of Health’s “health equity” mission: to implement place-based...

Hands on Hartford, a CT-based social services non-profit, recently moved into a new building that had once housed a restaurant. As an organization focused on, among other things, hunger relief and food oriented services, they wanted to explore how to leverage the kitchen and cafe space to support their mission to “change lives and renew...

The Northern California Community Loan Fund (NCCLF) has received a $2 million Financial Assistance (FA) award and a $3 million Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) award. These were awarded by The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund of the U.S. Treasury. The HFFI award was spearheaded, in part, by research completed by KK&P that provided...

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo launched the New York State Grown & Certified program and announced a new $20 million food hub in the Bronx to increase access to farm-fresh produce. Karen Karp & Partners helped spearhead this initiative, working as facilitators of the Governor’s 2015 NYS-NYC Regional Food Hubs Task Force. Governor Cuomo’s commitment is...