Danone Institute North America launches second grant program

27-Apr-2020 - Last updated on 27-Apr-2020 at 10:20 GMT

The farm in Longmont, Colorado, where the 2019 program participants visited and learned from the proprietors, who run a local restaurant using produce they grow on their own land. Pic: Danone North America

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Danone Institute North America, a non-profit innovation center established by Danone North America, has launched its second annual “One Planet. One Health” Initiative grant program.

Academic and community leaders from across the US and Canada can apply for the program in which teams will design, implement and evaluate community-based projects that drive the sustainability of local food systems.

Now in the grant program's second year, Danone Institute North America will award a total of up to $90,000 to four selected teams to implement their projects. The initiative will provide seed funding for projects such as pilot studies, feasibility testing, needs assessments and planning grants.

The teams receiving grants will attend a four-day program in Boulder, Colorado, that will include training on sustainable food systems from experts in sustainability, implementation science, communication, nutrition, and economics, as well as presentations and panels of community stakeholders involved in the food sustainability ecosystem.

April_Danone-Institute — Pic: Danone North America

In the first year of the program, project topics included urban agriculture, household food waste reduction, local food options for school menus, and energy-efficient food production in food-insecure neighborhoods.

Grant winners included teams from the University of Guelph, in Ontario, Canada, and the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, as well as non-profit organizations Project New Village in San Diego and the City of Minneapolis.

Leslie Lytle, president of Danone Institute North America and Professor at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, said the first year of the ‘One Planet. One Health’ Initiative grant program showed academic and community-based teams representing a wide range of practices, fields of study, and experiences can work together to uncover innovative solutions to food systems challenges.

“Now in our second year we look forward to expanding the network of sustainable food systems leaders by inviting the first class of participants to share their lessons and successes with the new award recipients,” Lytle said.

“We encourage all practitioners and scholars interested in being change agents for sustainable food systems to submit a project idea that brings together both human health and environmental stewardship.”

The call for entries is open to June 22, 2020, with application forms available online.