Dane County Food Action Plan Project Newsletter | December 18, 2025

Looking Forward to Building More Community Strength in 2026!

Thank you for all your support and engagement in the Food Action Plan project—we’re excited to build on this work in 2026!

From left to right: Nick Heckman, Noah Bloedorn, Rebecca Kemble, Bill Warner, Abha Thakkar, Jess Guffey Calkins. Not pictured: Cristina Johnson, Devika Suri

Year in Review By the Numbers

As we close the year, we took a second to tally the numbers on our community engagement efforts in 2025. Through this engagement we’ve learned so much about our food system from agricultural production, to consumption and waste streams, and everything in between. Thanks for being a part of this process. As we look ahead to 2026 we are taking all the information we’ve learned from our literature review and our community engagement phases and we are launching our third and final phase as we begin to draft the food plan.

Year in Review:

Total Events attended and hosted - 63
Total People engaged in surveys and events - 3205
Different Municipalities where we did engagement in Dane County - 15
Post-It Responses - Over 1,500 Post-It note responses
Survey Responses - Over 750 survey responses across multiple surveys
Presentations & Town Halls - 12

Save Our SNAP

By Nicholas Heckman, Public Health Planner – Food Security, Public Health Madison & Dane County

There’s a saying in public health: if we do everything right, no one will notice. The reality is that people tend not to notice prevention measures when things are going well. Hunger prevention is no different. Many people do not regularly think about the vast network of nutrition programs that serve different populations throughout their lifespans, or the emergency food safety net that helps make sure people don’t fall through the cracks.

Read More

Food Action Plan Website

Food Action Plan Newsletters

Nourishing Conversations Podcast: Cadre Restaurant

Noah Bloedorn speaks with Evan Dannells and Colton Schara from Cadre Restaurant.

Watch the Video

Whiteboard Short: Foodshed Partnership

Watch this short video to learn more about the Foodshed Partnership Project.

Watch the Video

We look forward to collaborating with you and building a healthier, more resilient food system for Dane County.

University of Wisconsin, USDA, and Wisconsin counties cooperating.

The University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of Extension provides equal opportunities in employment and programming in compliance with state and federal law.

La University of Wisconsin–Madison División de Extensión proporciona igualdad de oportunidades en el empleo y en sus programas, según lo que exige la ley federal y estatal.

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You may request an interpreter, materials in an alternative language or format, or other services to make Extension programs and resources more accessible by contacting our office at extension@danecounty.gov or 608-224-3700 at least 2 weeks prior. There's no added cost to you for these services.

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