With support from the Efroymson Family Fund, the Indy Food Council, Butler University, Marian University, University of Indianapolis, and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis have launched the Indy Food Fellows program. The program entails a series of year-long fellowships to improve and strengthen the health and sustainability of the Indianapolis food system. In its inaugural year, the initiative will provide eight fellowships, with each campus receiving two fellows.  Each fellow will be housed with a sponsoring organization that seeks to strengthen the Indianapolis food system in one or more of the Indy Food Council’s four priority areas: health and nutrition; hunger, food access, and/or social justice; ecological sustainability; and community and economic development.  

The relationship with the Indy Food Council represents a great opportunity to extend ICDC’s mission of helping to start and grow cooperatives across Indiana.  Increased interest in local foods has helped fuel an explosion of new cooperatives from food co-ops to food hubs. Partnering with institutions of higher education and the Indy Food Council will continue to raise the profile of cooperative businesses.”

Sarah Robb, IUPUI—Indiana Cooperative Development Center Fellow