My Fair Food Network Story

Writing 200: Final Project

By: Coco Schwartz

As I walked up to the doors of the Fair Food Network local office to meet the team I would

be working on my digital project with for the semester, a wave of doubt coursed through me. Am

I making the right decision by working with a self-chosen non-profit and designing a unique

project? Should I have just worked with one of the organizations or projects offered to the class?

These thoughts felt over-powering in the moments leading up to my first meeting; however, they

quickly dissipated once I walked through those doors and read the words that seemed to elevate

the entire space: Good food has the power to change everything. It was in this moment that I felt

an instant connection to this organization and I knew I had made the right choice. I knew I

wanted to be apart of this change.

I initially enrolled in Writing 200: Digital Media for Nonprofits because it seemed like

the perfect opportunity for me to practice contemporary communication methods in a way that

also intersected with my passion for social impact and community engagement. While I had

studied and practiced digital media in a variety of contexts prior to taking this class, I was curious

to see digital media through the eyes of those working for social justice organizations-- a field

that I might want to pursue as a career. However, what I didn’t realize at the time was that I

wasn’t just signing up for a service-learning course, but committing to both an academic and

personal journey-- one that would not only intellectually challenge me by forcing me to explore

digital media as it relates to philanthropic organizations, but would also generate a space for

personal expansion and growth by testing my dedication to the food movement and expand my

knowledge and interest in systemically changing the way we eat, grow, cook, buy, and sell food.

Ultimately, the following final comprehensive essay will reflect on this journey by outlining the

chronology of my time spent working with the Fair Food Network this semester—exploring how

this experience allowed me to be apart of telling a story I am passionate about, and how it

ultimately changed the way I see myself along the way.

Before I began my project, I noted in my research journal (date: 1/31/18) the following:

Reflecting on my experience this semester, I can confidently say that I achieved these goals;

and, a prominent factor that allowed me to achieve them was the privilege of my close access to

the organization throughout the semester. From my first meeting to my last, I was able to absorb

so much about the organization and the story they told just through my weekly on-site meetings

and check-in calls. I met with Kari, the woman I worked directly with on my digital project, in-

person every week at the Fair Food Network local offices. Seeing first-hand the incredible people

that work to tell the story of the organization really exposed me to the inner-workings of the non-

profit world and gave me a highly valuable lens to evaluate if this is a field I want to go into.

I had my first on-site meeting on February 14th, and I met with the Communications

Manager Kari Paine and the Communications Director Emilie Engelhard. They told me about

their organizational mission and their individual experiences working in the non-profit field. We

then brainstormed possible digital projects and worked together to figure out how I could best

help share their story. This meeting allowed me to get an initial impression for the inner workings

of the organization. I was able to see the story of the Fair Food Network in real life, and it drove

me to want to be apart of this unit of change. I introduced myself and my goals for the semester,

and after hearing about my skills and experiences, they proposed some ideas about my final

project. Eventually together we came up with a plan for me to design a campaign marketing plan

for the series of promotional videos advertising the Double Up Food Bucks Program they would

soon be releasing. While I came into this project with a lot of experience creating content for

digital marketing campaigns, I had never been on the other side-- researching and strategizing to

optimize success of the campaign itself, so I had my work set out for me.

Excited about the opportunity to combine my skill in tech and digital strategy with my

passion for the food movement, I got to work. I began my digital project by sketching out a rough

timeline of my production plan. This is what I came up with, as noted in my research journal

(2/16/18):

I then

2/14-

2/23:

Learning/

Acquiring

skills

2/23-3/2:

Observing

the nonprofit at

work

3/2-

3/9:

Mid-

point

review

3/9-3/16:

Revision

3/16-

23:

Presen

tation to

class

Meet with

Kari to get

filled in on

digital

marketing

plan

Start part

one of

campaign

marketing plan

Com

plete and

present

research

for the

first

video

release

Continue

research for the

second video

release

Meet

communicatio

ns team and

hear their

goals for

project

Draft plan

for first video

release-- outline

campaign

objectives and

research target

audience and

key digital

media channels

Com

pile

research

and

analysis

for

second

release

Measure

engagement of

first video

release

Research

Double Up

Food Bucks

program

Begin

second part of

campaign

marketing plan

by compiling

research about

past successful

promotional

Relea

se of Why

Food

video

Finish

second part of

campaign

marketing plan

by finalizing

audit based on

case studies and

analysis of

created a rough outline by identifying the content and purpose of my plan, as noted in my

research journal (date: 12/18/18):

After creating this outline, I began researching successful digital marketing campaign plans. I

wanted to find some kind of template to use as a guide since I really didn’t have much

experience. During my research, I first focused on food related organizations, but after a couple

of days I realized that it didn’t matter what the organization was as long as they had a successful

marketing campaign. This stage definitely helped give me some background context about what

digital communicative strategies exist, how they function (both successfully and unsuccessfully),

and what strategies I might want to use eventually to design my own plan.

This initial research phase continued until my next on-site meeting with Kari on February

21st. I arrived to our meeting with my project proposal and a document of my initial findings

about successful past digital marketing campaigns of other organizations. However, as I showed

Kari my work, she began to tailor the project to meet the new needs of the organization. She

explained that rather than a holistic plan for the campaign, it would be more beneficial if I could

conduct a research project focused on both broad industry information on digital marketing

campaigns, and also specific industry focused data within the food and policy sphere. The notes I

took during this meeting demonstrate this tailoring of my project. The following is a copy of my

journal entry (date: 12/18/18):

WHY FOODWHY FARMERS

Why Farmers video is specific to food and

Consider appropriate messaging Filter by channel

Audience based on platforms Bringing social audience to our website

Furthermore, the transformation of my project as traced by this journal entry demonstrates one

example of how this experience allowed me to develop my skills in digital media communication

as it challenged me to adapt to the dynamic, rapidly changing nature of nonprofit

communications. In other words, this experience challenged me to respond to the changing goals

of the specific marketing campaign and thus exposed the ways in which digital media

communicative strategies are highly dependent on the changing needs of the organization itself.

The next stage of my project consisted of both redrafting my proposal and also consolidating

my notes to create a new research objective and outline. This is what I put together, as transcribed

in my journal (date: 2/22/18):

After emailing back and forth with Kari, I got the confirmation that this was more of what she

was looking for, and I got to work. I began by focusing on the former section, and spent about

two weeks researching and compiling my information based on the proposed themes. The

following is the first part of my research project that I worked on from 2/22/18-3/8/18:

WHY FOODWHY FARMERS

Why Farmers video is specific to food and

Consider appropriate messaging Filter by channel

Audience based on platforms Bringing social audience to our website

I then met back with Kari on March 9th for another on-site meeting. I talked her through my

research and my specific recommendations that I had put together. I should also mention that at

this point in the semester, I was working on my Communications Plan for the class; and, as I was

doing my SWOT analysis—a component of the communications plan that required a summarized

list of the organizational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats—I was inspired to

think more broadly about the Fair Food Network’s audience. I felt like they were neglecting a

large market in their reach but I couldn’t figure out exactly who. I then reflected on my own

story and how I became passionate about food and nutrition. I thought about the fact that for so

many years, it never really occurred to me that food was bigger than just myself, that I was never

exposed to the reality that food itself has a story. That it has a power beyond the individual. This

harkens back to my initial connection with the phrase “Good food has the power to change

everything” because it was in that moment, whether I realized it fully at the time or not, that I

solidified my passion for food as a vehicle of valuable societal change. These emotions align with

one of the Fair Food Network’s core principles:

Furthermore, as I worked through my SWOT analysis and reflected on my own personal

journey, I realized that the major audience being overlooked in the Fair Food Network’s current

communication strategy was the “old me”: those who value food for themselves, but don’t realize

the power it has to connect and heal us. I started to think about what it would mean for the

organization to broaden their audience by speaking directly to this group. I ended up pitching this

idea to Kari and talked her through my own personal journey and she was really intrigued by the

At Fair Food Network, we believe nothing is as important to our future as

food. Food matters. It connects us like few things. It reflects our culture and

traditions. It heals and sustains us. And it has outsized environmental, social, and

political impact.

idea. We then decided that in addition to the latter half of my research project, that I would also

think about what sub audiences within my proposed broad group are being overlooked. Excited to

put my ideas on paper, I got to work. The following is what I put together:

This stage became the focus of my project and ended up taking me about three weeks to

compose. While I didn’t meet on-site with Kari during that time, we had weekly phone-calls

where I would update her on my progress and she would continue to tweak my work based on the

needs of the organization. Moreover, after finalizing my research I met back with Kari on March

19th at her office. The following were my notes for that meeting as transcribed in my research

journal (date: 3/19/18):

Reflecting on my time with the Fair Food Network, I realize how much I grew not only

academically, but also personally. In terms of the former, the on-site meetings and constant

tailoring of my project provided the opportunity for me to develop communication skills, specific

to the non-profit world and also more broadly. Additionally, I was able to see the organization

directly through the eyes of an integral member of the communications team, which provided a

lens to view not only this specific organization, but also the field of non-profit work as a whole.

In terms of my personal journey, both the moment I read “Good food has the power to change

everything” and also the meeting in which I shared my own story and was able to build a

productive project around my insight, ultimately helped me to grow as a person because it

provided an opportunity for me to use my own story to actually make a difference. This is

ultimately what I found most valuable in my experience—developing the skills to communicate

3/ 19 Meeting Notes

Organization is Michigan focused. How do we bring it Nation-wide?

Reaching out to a National audience

Promoting Why Food next monthNow developing graphics

Early April releaseAG day

Drafted content ?

my own experience in a way that could actually benefit others and make a change. Perhaps this

was why I was so drawn to this organization when I first walked through those doors—because I

craved the change that could be inspired by using my own story to tell a story that’s bigger than

just myself. Ultimately, this was the core of my Fair Food Network story; however, it is not over

yet. Looking forward, I am excited and prepared to use my new skills to continue this journey.