Community

Community Projects and Engagement

FSI Awarded National Endowment for the Humanities

Humanities Connections Planning Grant (PI; $35,000)

Project Director Will Schanbacher along with other USF faculty was awarded an NEH Humanities Connections grant titled, "Urban Food Sovereignty in the Humanities and Beyond" ($34,810), for a one-year project for collaboration between faculty, students, and community members on the design of new courses and experiential learning activities related to food studies. 

Dr. William Schanbacher has elevated the profile of USF’s Food Sovereignty Initiative (which he co-founded), as reflected by his invitation to present the group’s work at the 2022 Urban Food Systems Symposium at Kansas State University.

Food Sovereignty Initiative brings Food Historian Adrian Miller to USF, 2023

Community Engaged Research

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production (UAIP) grant as a Co-PI ($192,600) with local community partners, the University Area Community Development Corporation (UACDC), and WellFed Communities. Thru the USF Food Sovereignty Initiative  (FSI), Dr. Schanbacher is developing a food sovereignty toolkit that will provide food-insecure communities with an innovative participatory research model for studying and developing solutions to local food insecurity. This project brings greater dignity to food consumers.

 Food Sovereignty Toolkit

The FSI built this Food Sovereignty Toolkit with Well Fed Community and our GIS partner FHEED by hosting community dinners where members of the neighborhood can provide input, share stories, and creatively envision what they want to see with respect to greater access to healthy food in the community.

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Dr. Schanbacher with University Area Community Development Harvest Hope Garden and fellow gardeners, students, and partners

Healthy 22nd Street Initiative

The FSI worked with the local non-profit organization, the Coalition of Community Gardens’ Heathy 22nd Street Initiative. The project involves an innovative collaboration with home gardeners in Tampa’s under-resourced East Tampa neighborhoods. Through the Healthy 22nd Street Initiative, Dr. Schanbacher helps community members construct, share stories, and hold community events around small self-watering barrel gardens that participants install in their front yards. This creates opportunities for learning about organic agriculture, healthy eating, and more democratic participation in our local food system.

Dr. Schanbacher with University Area Community Development Harvest Hope Garden and fellow gardeners, students, and partners

USF Partnership Grant

(Co-PI; $10,000) St Pete Youth Farm building greenhouse, garden maintenance and community engagement

With a USF supported Partnership Grant awarded to the UFSG and St. Pete Youth Farm, Dr. Schanbacher was able to contribute to the construction of greenhouse and participate in community volunteer days.

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Creative Scholarship Award

(Co-PI; $10,000)

Along with CoPH faculty, Dr. Joe Bohn, Dr. Schanbacher was awarded a USF Creative Scholarship Grant, (CO-PI 50%) titled, “Leveling the Playing Field: Food Policy Education and Advocating for Healthier Food Systems” ($10,000). In the summer of 2022, Dr. Schanbacher and the FSI collaborated with the Florida Food Policy Council to conduct a 7-week course on food policy that was open to the public and enrolled 60 participants from across the nation. 

Courses Developed in the Department of Religious Studies at USF

Regenerative Agriculture Course at USF Botanical Gardens; Religion and Food presentation day 

The FSI also works with local religious communities, such as Faith Lutheran Church and 200 Muslim Women Who Care to foster interfaith dialogue on food insecurity solutions.