An Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech) research initiative led by Weslynne Ashton, professor of environmental management and sustainability at has been awarded a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) in partnership with the National Science Foundation. The project, Community Food Mobilization in Chicago (CF-MOB), aims to leverage the purchasing power of large public institutions to foster a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient food production and distribution system.
The year-long pilot project—which counts Chicago Public Schools, the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center and Rush University Medical Center as participants—seeks to address the challenges and opportunities within institutional food procurement processes, focusing on the integration of locally sourced foods. CF-MOB “is focused on how institutional supply chains can integrate locally produced food,” says Ashton. “We’ll examine critical policy, economic and practical barriers, and creatively reimagine the pathways to improving food access.”