Ken Patterson, Executive Director Feed Communities
Ken is the executive director for Feed Communities. He is responsible for leading the team to achieve growth and positively impact the region. He supports day-to-day operations, including creative program development and community partnerships, which ensure the organization is responsive to new opportunities to serve.
Feed Communities
Phone: 479.966.4790
221 S. Locust Avenue
Fayetteville, AR 72701
221 S. Locust Avenue
Fayetteville, AR 72701
Feed Communities works with individuals, organizations, schools, universities, government agencies and foundations to create sustainable partnerships for increasing access to healthy foods and improving healthy food choices.
Currently, Feed Communities host a variety of programs all with the aim of supporting local producers and promoting equal access to healthy foods. Our programs include:
- Farm to Preschool
- Plant A Row
- Cooking Classes
- Community Gardens and Food Access Initiatives (partnered with UAMS NW)
- The Ozarkansas Tool Library
- Community Outreach Initiatives
Feed Communities is based in a worn but very loved church @ 221 South Locust Avenue in downtown Fayetteville, Arkansas. Our building hosts our community garden, space for community trainings and meetings, as well as our day to day staff operations.
A partnership of Feed Communities and the Fayetteville Public Library
Neighborhood Garden is to create long-term food security by providing the opportunity and knowledge to grow organic, safe, nutritious and sustainable food in a community environment.
Community Gardens and Food Access
Feed Communities is proudly partnered with The Office of Community Health and Research at UAMS Northwest in an effort to increase access to healthy foods in our community. Together, we are working on a 3 year grant funded by the CDC that focuses on creating community linkages in the Marshallese and Hispanic communities in Northwest Arkansas.
Join Our Plant A Row Initiative
We are calling on local gardeners, farmers, and food growing enthusiasts to join this initiative and pledge to grow a little extra food this season for food insecure families. Grow an extra row, raised bed, or even container of produce and donate it to those in need. Click the button below to take the pledge today!
Feed Communities’ Farm to Preschool Program
Feed Communities’ Farm to Preschool program aims to educate young children about growing and eating nutritious food. This program serves as an extension of Farm to School, a nation wide program that aims to integrate experiential nutrition and garden activities into early education, so as to influence eating habits and lifestyle choices of young children.
The basic goals of our Farm to Preschool program include promoting and increasing access to local foods, supporting school gardening, and offering nutrition and garden-based curricula for early childhood programs. We achieve these goals by providing weekly garden club educational activities, curriculum support, and supporting Head Start gardens in whatever ways we can. Our help can range from weeding gardens to providing yearly garden planting plans for Head Start gardens.
We currently are partnered with three local Head Start Centers. Combined, these schools allow our Farm to Preschool programming to reach approximately 120 low-income children. Our garden club programming includes planting, watering, composting, harvesting, and tasting. These activities allow children to get their hands dirty in an outdoor classroom setting and more importantly, they become directly involved with the food they are consuming.