WASHINGTON, DC – Region Five Development Commission (R5DC), based in Staples, MN has received a 2020 Aliceann Wohlbruck Impact Award from the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) for the RxCSA/VetCSA Program.
This innovative RxCSA/VetCSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Program targets areas of geographically dispersed veterans and their families, people who are working to increase adaptation and lifestyle capacity while living with mental illness, and those who are recovering from opioid or other drug addictions to provide CSA shares of locally grown food, cooking demonstrations, and nutrition education.
“There has never been a project like this in our nation,” according to Staci Headley, senior regional development planner at R5DC. “This project is innovative and unique because of the approach to deliver services to people - taking into consideration their unique needs. It brings people together through the common denominator of food and uses food as medicine to improve quality of life and overall health and wellness, while also supporting our local growers. We have seen our CSA programs deliver amazing results, while our team continues to seek ways to deliver this project to a multitude of people with different needs simultaneously to create efficiencies and greater impact.”
NADO is a Washington, DC-based membership association of regional development organizations that promote programs and policies that strengthen local governments, communities, and economies through regional cooperation, program delivery, and comprehensive strategies. The association’s Impact Awards program recognizes regional development organizations and their partners for improving the economic and community competitiveness of our nation’s regions and local communities.
Award-winning projects were recognized during NADO’s virtual 2020 Annual Training Conference, held online October 20-22. The 2020 class of award recipients consists of 79 projects from 48 organizations spanning 19 states. These projects are presented in an interactive “Story Map” developed by NADO that includes project summaries, partners, and images. The Story Map is available online at: https://www.nado.org/impactawards/.
“Our annual Impact Awards program is an opportunity to highlight the important work our members do every single day to serve their local communities,” said 2019-2020 NADO President Kevin Byrd, executive director of the New River Valley Regional Commission, located in Radford, VA. “These projects show the best that regional development organizations have to offer and are a real testament to the value they add to their regions.”
The NADO Impact Awards are presented in honor of the late Aliceann Wohlbruck who was NADO’s first executive director and served 24 years as a tireless champion for regional approaches to economic development in rural communities.
For more information about this award-winning project, contact Staci Headley at 218-831-0137 or via email at sheadley@regionfive.org.
About NADO
Since 1967 the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) has provided advocacy, education, networking, and research for the national network of 540 regional development organizations. NADO members provide professional, programmatic, and technical assistance to over 2,300 counties and 15,000 municipalities.
About R5DC
The Region Five Development Commission is a high-performing, regionally-focused partner committed to helping their region respond to this unprecedented challenge by implementing strategies that expand the focus within regional economic development and local Comprehensive Plans to include pandemic response strategies, as well as diversifying technical assistance and other opportunities offered to small businesses, with an emphasis on local foods/agricultural and renewable energy economy.