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By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had all of these what-ifs happening in real time,\u201d Strauss said. \u201cWe could use that to inform: What are the immediate next steps that we\u2019re taking in \u201926 with pilot projects or collaborations? Whatever we can do right now.\u201d<\/p>\n When the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, saw issues in the shutdown, the food bank, along with city and county leaders and dozens of collaborating nonprofits, worked to meet the needs of hundreds of thousands in the region<\/a> who depend on the program.<\/p>\n Gathering dozens of leaders from across the food system, Strauss launched the Dallas-Dallas County Food Plan Collaborative earlier this year. It became a nonprofit in the spring and has about $150,000 in philanthropic support to spend at least 18 months crafting a comprehensive strategy. The project is still seeking funding as it aims to innovate and help the region manage when the food system is tested, such as with SNAP, the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2021 freeze<\/a>.<\/p>\n While in its early stages, the plan is expected to serve as a road map for resilience, equity and sustainability across a system that touches every corner of daily life, from grocery and corner stores to urban agriculture and food pantries. If it\u2019s eventually adopted by city and county leaders, Dallas would join the ranks of several other cities with similar efforts, including Austin, New York, Boston and Seattle.<\/p>\n Strauss said the food plan collaborative has had conversations with Tarrant County, which has a Food Policy Council and other initiatives.<\/p>\n Strauss and others say plans like these could improve health outcomes, boost local economies by supporting farmers, reduce food waste and foster community involvement.<\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n Everything starts with food, said Ples Montgomery IV, who runs the Oak Cliff Veggie Project and is on the steering committee for a new plan. For Montgomery, food fuels ideas, the workforce, the economy and many other aspects of society. His organization aims to cultivate a healthier, self-reliant community.<\/p>\n \u201cWe chose food because it is the backbone of human civilization, specifically fresh produce,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cOutside of putting a little fire to it, it doesn\u2019t really require any major processing to enjoy it once you\u2019ve cultivated it.\u201d<\/p>\n The veggie project focuses on providing fresh produce to neighborhoods, including those in southern Dallas, which has fewer grocery store options. The nonprofit gets produce from local farms and nearby states and has started community gardens. It works with urban farms like Joppy Momma\u2019s<\/a> and Restorative Farms<\/a>, which are also on a mission to get fresh food into southern Dallas.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not just addressing this problem of food access, but we\u2019re creating a resilient food ecosystem and economy \u2026 with local growers in mind,\u201d Montgomery said.<\/p>\n Ples Montgomery IV, the executive director of the Oak Cliff Veggie Project directs volunteers as Joppy Momma’s Farm partnered with the Oak Cliff Veggie Project to hand out fresh vegetables and turkeys to people in Dallas, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025<\/p>\n Anja Schlein \/ Special Contributor<\/p>\n Montgomery said he expects the area\u2019s food plan, and the collaboration that comes with it, will align with his organization\u2019s work on a larger scale. Montgomery, like others, hopes that addressing food access will improve health in places with higher rates of chronic disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ricky Kowalewski, shed director at the Dallas Farmers Market, is also on the steering committee for the plan. He mentioned working with the veggie project.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re doing a lot of really cool stuff down that way,\u201d Kowalewski said. \u201cI\u2019m really excited to see where some natural synergies come out of that.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the plan could help farmers and ranchers figure out where they fit into efforts. For example, a rancher who has extra ground beef that isn\u2019t moving could offload it to another organization.<\/p>\n \u201cIf something happens, if there\u2019s a disaster, food shortages or things like that, or even if there\u2019s just a breakdown in the supply chain somewhere, we\u2019re in a pretty good spot where we\u2019ve got those contacts and \u2026 we can say, \u2018Hey, our farmer\u2019s got four semis full of tomatoes that are coming down Thursday night. Does somebody want to come in and pick a couple pallets up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Kowalewski noted that the food bank has an office at the market and said he was excited to be involved early in the plan. Organizations can show local officials \u201cwhere the holes are and where there are gaps and where resources can be shifted to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Next year, Strauss said she plans to form task forces to tackle specific aspects of the food plan. The groups are expected to host neighborhood forums, interviews and community meetings, with the project planned to open to the broader community in 2026.<\/p>\n Southern Methodist University, which has been involved in work assessing infrastructure, housing and other issues across the city<\/a>, is also part of the project. The food plan collaborative brought on the master of arts in design and innovation program at SMU, which focuses on \u201chuman-centered design.\u201d The program is handling research and will help craft the plan.<\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n Larger organizations, like United Way<\/a> and the food bank, have been doing work to understand food access. But this project serves more as an \u201cumbrella,\u201d bringing those organizations together and elevating their efforts for a broader approach, Strauss said.<\/p>\n \u201cOne organization will not address all of these issues that impact our food systems,\u201d Strauss said.<\/p>\n While the plan is expected to be unique to the Dallas area and the region\u2019s specific needs, it will mirror plans seen in other cities, like Austin. After adopting its food plan in 2024<\/a>, Austin has outlined nine goals that include expanding community food production, improving the livelihoods of those who work with food, increasing the diversion of surplus food and expanding access.<\/p>\n At least 250 individuals and organizations are engaged with Dallas\u2019 plan so far, Strauss said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s still room at this table,\u201d Strauss said. \u201cWe want people to be engaged in it.\u201d <\/p>\n Feed Oak Cliff founder Anga Sanders pictured near a fast-food restaurant in Oak Cliff, Wednesday, July 31, 2024. Sanders has been advocating for a grocery store in her neighborhood for over a decade.<\/p>\n El\u00edas Valverde II \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Anga Sanders, founder of Feed Oak Cliff<\/a> and a member of the steering committee, has been advocating for a grocery store<\/a> in her neighborhood for over a decade. She thought it was a good idea but had some concerns, as similar cohorts had been pulled together in the past. However, she said other plans may have focused more on funding and were not \u201cquite as comprehensive and wide-ranging.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a many-headed problem, and they\u2019ve got representation from a lot of different aspects of the food universe,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cWhat comes of it is what\u2019s going to really tell the story of whether it\u2019s actually worthwhile or not. So you kind of have to wait for the result.\u201d<\/p>\n Those interested in the plan<\/a> can sign up for its newsletter by emailing info@dallasfoodplan.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For some Dallas residents, the federal government shutdown meant missed paychecks and food assistance, but it was only…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":409490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,14055,56753,50,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-409489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-future-of-north-texas","11":"tag-future-of-north-texas-infrastructure","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-texas","14":"tag-tx","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115624525717154191","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Photos\/DMN](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/7DOKQHM6PBB4FBN2FH6FJFAG2I.jpg\")
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