Farm-to-table dining is all the rage, including in north Texas, where Vernon College is collaborating with the Red River Valley Local Food Expansion Project—with the help of a USDA grant—to bring the best of the region's food to a hungry audience.

Three times and counting, diners have paid about $60 a person to feast on food prepared by local chefs along with high school and adult learners taking classes through the Vernon College Culinary Academy. The students double as meal servers, gaining valuable experience in the food service industry.

The project is funded by a three-year, $500,000 USDA grant* and is intended to increase consumption of and access to locally and regionally produced agricultural products, which include peaches, pecans and melons.

The town's farmers market is booming, as is another in Wichita Falls, Texas, where the college has a second campus. The dinners are held near the markets, bringing additional exposure to each.

"Here at Vernon College, as at most community colleges, we very much value our community, and we always want to help them make a difference," said Michelle Alexander, the college's director of institutional advancement and executive director of the Vernon College Foundation.

The college is the fiduciary agent for the grant, and Alexander works in partnership with Monica Wilkinson, a part-time Vernon city planner who also works part time for the college as the project coordinator.

"We're creating a following. The foodies in town know about us now and they're on the lookout for the next one," Wilkinson said. "It just offers something new and different to do in town."

It's not clear what lies ahead for the grant, which is in its second year. Renewal is contingent on passage of the U.S. farm bill, currently awaiting action by the House of Representatives. But Alexander and Wilkinson would be open to renewing the grant, if possible.

"It's great," said Alexander, who has been asked by peers at other community colleges about how the venture works. "Whether it's grants such as this or other partnerships, I can see this going forward."

Alexander also chairs CASE's Federal Funding Task Force. The annual task force will meet with federal agencies in Washington, D.C., Nov. 12-15, 2018, to discuss funding levels and program priorities, update contacts and request data on funds and grants awarded to community colleges.

*The full name of the grant program is the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program.

This article is from the July/August 2018 issue of the Community College Advancement News.