About the Collaborative

The Appalachian Farm-to-Anchor Collaborative, convened by the Nourish West Virginia Initiative, is a statewide collaborative effort based at the West Virginia University Institute for Community and Rural Health. The Collaborative is an equitable multi-stakeholder collaboration between anchor institutions and their community partners, working together to leverage the purchasing and investment power of anchor institutions to bolster the health of the communities they serve.

The Appalachian Farm-to-Anchor Collaborative seeks to establish a framework and best practices for implementing, evaluating and integrating agriculture and health interventions into communities and healthcare systems. It is focused on leveraging the power of anchor institutions (like hospitals and healthcare systems) to create healthier, more equitable and more resilient communities. The Collaborative provides systems-level thinking to create a community where everyone thrives: local businesses, families and the institutions committed to our region. We believe this strategy is key to reimagining our local economy through facilitated partnerships, curated co-learning opportunities and solutions that have been tested and scaled. 

Governance

The Collaborative’s decision-making and core activities are implemented through a structure that includes a steering committee and project-specific workgroups. Nourish staff convenes these groups to ensure equity is embodied in all aspects of our work.

Using this approach, the Appalachian Farm-to-Anchor Collaborative engages in four main activities:

• Facilitating partnerships among community partners, anchor institutions and key stakeholders;
• Creating co-learning opportunities for all its members and partners;
• Mobilizing projects through predevelopment, administrative and financial support; and
• Scaling the model by documenting evidence and expanding regional participation.

We envision the long-term outcomes as community wealth, health and resilience, as well as market and institutional transformation.

Collaborative Vision

We believe in integrating agriculture and health in West Virginia.

This graphic recording is a compass for the Collaborative’s work. Created during the Institutional Investment Accelerator, facilitated by the Food Systems Leadership Network with support from the Kresge Foundation, the image reflects the vision and values of integrating agriculture and health in West Virginia: breaking down silos to communicate between spaces for collective impact; collaborative planning to integrate agriculture and health for community health and wellness; and cultivating shared values. The illustration also emphasizes the urgency of the opportunities, saying “timing is everything.” The imagery reflects a Central Appalachian community with anchor institutions, farms and natural resources alongside the residents. A waterway runs through rolling hills, representing the interconnectedness of communities, agriculture and anchor institutions.