Top 10 Strengths
The ten themes below are the assets attendees returned to most often — the work the Collaborative is doing well, the partnerships paying off, and the wins it has banked over the last year-plus.
1. Strong, diverse partner network and shared situational awareness
The SOAR analysis explicitly named the partner network as the Collaborative’s signature asset. Members represent food banks, growers, healthcare, education, faith communities, city government, and academia, with consistent attendance of fourteen to seventeen partners across the 2026 meetings.
“strong network of partners who work well together.” (Strategic Plan)
“share a collective understanding of both opportunities and challenges.” (Strategic Plan)
Source meetings: Strategic Plan; Jan 28, 2026 (17 attendees); Feb 25, 2026 (14 attendees); Mar 25, 2026 (14 attendees); 2025 Board Reports throughout.
2. A functioning subcommittee structure executing concrete deliverables
Three working subcommittees — Food Access, Education and Advocacy, and Collaboration and Partnerships — are active and producing tangible artifacts: a survey tool, the Local Table Tour event, sponsorship packages, and a landscape assessment. Subcommittee chairs were identified in August 2025 and the structure has held since.
“the collaborative created three working subcommittees.” (Feb 25, 2026)
“Chairs were identified for two of the subcommittees.” (Aug 2025 Board Report)
Source meetings: Aug 2025; Sep 2025; Jan 28, 2026; Feb 25, 2026; Mar 25, 2026.
3. Approved 2025–2027 Strategic Plan as governance anchor
A multi-stakeholder SOAR-based plan developed July 2024 through February 2025 was approved by Council in September 2025. It organizes the Collaborative’s work around four priorities and gives subcommittees a shared roadmap to plan against rather than reinventing direction every meeting.
“The Food Collaborative received an approved strategic plan from council in September.” (Sep 2025 Board Report)
“the result of a dedicated, multi-stakeholder effort.” (Strategic Plan)
Source meetings: Jan, Mar, Apr, Jun, Aug, Sep 2025 Board Reports; Strategic Plan.
4. Signature flagship event — the Local Table Tour
The Local Table Tour, a progressive multi-stop dinner on April 24, 2026, is tied to the COPR Health and Poverty Summit and features confirmed stops with MSU Dietetics, SPS Ag Academy, Springfield Community Gardens, and CPO. It is designed to engage legislators and decision-makers around local food, and the group has explicitly named it as a model for an annual event.
“A progressive dinner event highlighting local food organizations.” (Feb 25, 2026)
“Goal: Make this an annual event.” (Feb 25, 2026)
Source meetings: Nov 2025 subcommittee; Jan 28, Feb 25, Mar 25, 2026.
5. Active legislative advocacy and policy engagement
Members are advancing the Missouri Food is Medicine bills (with thirty-one testimonies submitted), the Local Farm and Food Advocacy Day, Empower Missouri events, and the statewide Food Charter — with documented testimony, multiple legislative pathways, and direct legislator contact across the year.
“Amanda reported 31 testimonies in support of ‘Food is Medicine’ bills.” (Feb 25, 2026)
“There are now multiple pathways (approx. four) for adoption into statute.” (Mar 25, 2026)
Source meetings: Jan 28, Feb 25, Mar 25, 2026.
6. Cross-collaborative integration with Transportation, Housing, and Health
Food Collaborative members regularly contribute the food-access and food-barrier section to Transportation Walk and Talk worksheets, and explicitly link housing affordability to food access. The Collaborative is recognized inside the Council of Collaboratives as a connective node rather than a silo.
“transportation is a key barrier impacting food access work.” (Mar 25, 2026)
“strong connection between affordable housing and food access.” (Mar 25, 2026)
Source meetings: Apr 2025 Transportation; Jan 28, Mar 25, 2026.
7. Academic and research partnerships generating data
“CASL students with MSU are continuing work on the development of a landscape assessment.” (Mar 2025 Board Report)
“Food Collab is working with OPHI to add Food to Community Focus.” (Jan 28, 2026)
Source meetings: Mar 2025; Apr 2025; Jan 28, Feb 25, Mar 25, 2026.
8. Statewide and regional alignment through MRFAP and the Food Charter
The Collaborative is joining the Missouri Rural Food Access Partnership as an MOU partner through CPO, and members are co-authoring the statewide Food Charter — now at seven priorities. This pulls Springfield’s local work into a state-level policy frame.
“plans to join as an MOU partner through CPO.” (May 2025 Board Report)
“Rural Food Access Partnership working on statewide food charter.” (Mar 25, 2026)
Source meetings: May 2025; Jun 2025; Jan 28, Feb 25, Mar 25, 2026.
9. Grant capture and an active funding pipeline
Members have written and won meaningful grants — a $1M USDA Regional Food Systems Partnerships award (March 2026), a co-written bodega grant from Springfield Community Gardens and Empower Missouri, and Healthy Food Financing Initiative capacity-building funds supporting the broader partnership. The Collaborative is not waiting on outside funders; members are sourcing the money themselves.
“a $1M USDA RFSP grant was awarded for regional food systems work.” (Mar 25, 2026)
“writing a grant to implement a bodega inside the coffee shop at DLF.” (Mar 25, 2026)
Source meetings: Feb 25, Mar 25, 2026; Strategic Plan.
10. Stress-tested crisis coordination — the SNAP suspension response
When SNAP suspension threatened in October and November 2025, the broader collaborative network including Food Collaborative members immediately aligned around shared priorities with weekly emergency meetings — a real-world stress test that confirmed the Collaborative can coordinate under pressure, not just plan in stable conditions.
“immediately aligned around shared priorities, demonstrating both urgency and unity.” (Oct/Nov 2025 Board Reports)
“the need for a collaborative response.” (Oct 2025 Board Report)
Source meetings: Oct, Nov 2025 Board Reports; SNAP Suspension emergency meeting series.
Top 10 Weaknesses
The ten themes below are the barriers, gaps, and unresolved problems attendees returned to most often — the friction points that consistently threatened or slowed the Collaborative’s work.
1. Federal funding cuts threatening member organizations
The Strategic Plan and March 2025 minutes flagged USDA and federal budget cuts that eliminated $2.2 million over three years from Springfield Community Gardens alone, with downstream threats to mobile markets, produce distribution, and similar programs across the partnership.
“$2.2 million loss over three years for Springfield Community Gardens.” (Strategic Plan)
“shared updates on the impact of recent USDA cuts.” (Mar 2025 Board Report)
Source meetings: Strategic Plan; Mar 2025 Board Report; Oct/Nov 2025 SNAP discussion.
2. SNAP suspension and benefit instability
The threatened SNAP suspension for November 2025 forced emergency response across the partnership, and new federal work requirements and restrictions continue to reshape the field. Much of the Collaborative’s advocacy work is driven by uncertainty about the next benefit-program change.
“potential SNAP suspension for November.” (Oct 2025 Board Report)
“new work requirements & restrictions.” (Feb 25, 2026)
Source meetings: Oct 2025; Feb 25, 2026; SNAP Suspension weekly meetings.
3. Persistent food deserts — about 37,000 people food-insecure
Springfield’s March 2025 food desert resolution is one year in, and members described the urban food desert problem as intensifying. The Strategic Plan documents roughly thirty-seven thousand food-insecure people in low-access areas, with recent neighborhood grocery closures particularly hard on Zone 1.
“Approximately 37,000 people are food insecure.” (Mar 25, 2026)
“recent closures of neighborhood grocery stores have intensified the problem of urban food deserts.” (Strategic Plan)
Source meetings: Mar 25, 2026; Strategic Plan.
4. Transportation barriers to food access
Transportation appears repeatedly on both sides of the food system — for individuals trying to reach food and for producers trying to transport it. The Collaborative has tied this directly to walkability audits and CU Transit gaps, working through the Transportation Collaborative.
“transportation is a key barrier impacting food access work.” (Mar 25, 2026)
“cost burden on farmers to transport food and transportation barriers that limit individual access.” (Strategic Plan)
Source meetings: Strategic Plan; Apr 2025 Transportation; Mar 25, 2026.
5. Food systems underrepresented in city and regional planning
The Strategic Plan states explicitly that food systems remain underrepresented in key planning documents — including Forward SGF and the most recent Community Focus Report. This is a structural advocacy gap the Collaborative is actively working to close (Food Collab is now working with OPHI to add Food to Community Focus).
“food systems remain underrepresented in key strategic documents for Springfield, such as Forward SGF.” (Strategic Plan)
Source meetings: Strategic Plan; Jan 28, 2026.
6. Vulnerable populations underrepresented in the Collaborative itself
Strategic Plan Goal VP1 is explicitly to recruit and sustain active participation from individuals representing vulnerable populations — meaning the Collaborative has acknowledged that the people most affected by food insecurity are not yet meaningfully at the table. Listening sessions are described as ongoing rather than regularly scheduled.
“Recruit and sustain active participation from individuals representing vulnerable populations.” (Strategic Plan VP1.1)
“Create an inclusive engagement strategy to ensure recruited voices are meaningfully involved.” (Strategic Plan VP1.2)
Source meetings: Strategic Plan.
Honorable Mentions
Additional strengths
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Capable, distributed leadership: Jordan Mize (Cox College) elected Chair January 2025; Christina Ryder, Amanda Berry, Sophia Farnan, Sarah Waterman, Stephanie Ulrich, Maile, and Megan Garrett carry subcommittees and external representation.
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Data infrastructure being built: The NEMS-P survey tool is under revision, Rachael’s mapping shows farms, future food hubs, grocery stores, and food-desert overlays, and food-desert resolution data is being integrated.
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Public visibility and earned media: A KSMU interview with Traci spotlighted the Food Collaborative, a new CPO Facebook group is live, and the Collaborative is visible in the Center for Ozarks Poverty Research conference and Forward SGF discussions.
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Member recruitment and onboarding push: A new quarterly one-hour Collaborative Member Orientation is being developed, Food Collab is due for a review, and a thirty-three-page SOP is documented.
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Local food economy momentum and innovative ventures: Member-led ventures include an electric food van for restaurant and grocer delivery, the AVA Farmers Exchange aggregating to high-poverty counties, and exploration of a Farm Stop for Springfield.
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Aspirational impact dashboard in the Strategic Plan: Goal CP2.3 commits the Collaborative to contributing to a shared impact dashboard with member contributions and success stories — currently a planning aspiration.
Additional weaknesses
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Statewide partnership has a free-rider problem: Amanda observed near-100 members in the Rural Food Access Partnership but many are not contributing, prompting a separate “DOERS” charter side-track.
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Producer-side economic fragility: Producers struggle to insure their products or their families; the region has a deficiency of slaughterhouse employees and facilities; a living-wage gap runs across the food system.
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Farmers-market waitlists signal aggregation gaps: Many Missouri markets have waitlists, signaling that demand outstrips infrastructure; commercial kitchens and food hubs are still to be built.
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Health disparities driven by food: Greene County’s obesity rate is 39.4% and diabetes 11.2%, both above the state average; 41% have had to choose between paying for utilities and buying food.
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Sponsorship and fundraising shortfall for the Local Table Tour: The presenting sponsor spot ($1,500) remained open weeks before the event; in-kind donations are still being solicited.
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CPO budget approval and funding-flow friction: All funding routes through CPO; requests over $50,000 need Board approval — flagged in onboarding as a process layer subcommittee chairs must navigate.
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Advocacy subcommittee for legislative forums still nascent: Strategic Plan EA Goal 2 calls for legislative candidate forums engaging 50+ community members; recurring meeting traction on forum logistics is thin.
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Rising food-insecurity trendline: Food insecurity in Springfield households rose from 12.8% (2021) to 15.5% (2022) — the macro environment is worsening, not improving.
Action Plan Priorities
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Food Access
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Education & Advocacy
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Support Vulnerable Populations
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Collaboration and Partnerships