Culinary Leadership Institute

The term “farm” is inclusive i.e. farms, ranches, orchards, hunting preserves, fisheries, apiaries.We invite your participation as a Fellow, Educator, Sponsor or Mentor.

Summary of program

The Culinary Leadership Institute (CLI) is a one-year intensive initiative focused on developing emerging leaders in the field of agriculture who will impact the Waller County community. Participants will experience situations outside of their current environment.

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The objectives are to:

Support local farms.
Strengthen the Waller County community by developing its leaders.
Promote healthy eating.

Our goal is to provide opportunities for participants through cultural and educational interactions between agricultural, business and faith-based communities. We will accomplish this through constructive collaboration between farms/ranches/fisheries and community citizens. Our target audience is participants from small towns and surrounding rural areas of Waller County Texas.

Participants will be chosen from recommendations made by ministerial alliances and chambers of commerce in the target geographical areas. Applicants will submit a one-page statement outlining (1) why I want to participate in the program (2) how I will use what I learned during the program to develop my community. Certificates will be awarded. Once accepted into the program participants will be referred to as Fellows. Certificates of achievement will be presented to Fellows who complete more than 90% of the work. Certificates of attendance will be presented to Fellows who complete less than 90% of the work. Rubrics will be provided for each component of the CLI adventure.

Components of the Culinary Leadership Institute (CLI) include: Opening Retreat, Field Experience Days, Sampler Days, Discovery Days, Mentor-Mentee Relationships and Graduation activities.

The project team that we will use to deliver this leadership institute has diverse skill sets.

Agricultural community leaders will provide educational tours of their operations during Field Experiences. Ministry leaders and business people will participate in the Sampler Days. Discovery Day presenters represent various aspects of the agricultural community. Those who have volunteered to be Mentors are at the top of their respective fields. During the Opening Retreat we will be establishing our plan of work. One of the purposes of Field Experience Days and Sampling Days is for Fellows to learn to translate the food products we observe at various operations into healthy meals that the community can consume. During Discovery Days we participate in a working lunch between the end of presentations and the beginning of workshops to conserve continuity. It?s not time efficient to leave the premises in the midst of work. Finally, we analyze outcomes of the CLI and conclude our plan of work during Graduation activities.

Purpose, Rationale and Justification

The purpose of CLI is to provide farm to community adventures that provide insights toward understanding the relationship between sustainable agriculture and community development. We will accomplish this by providing exposure to local farmers, developing agricultural community leaders and promoting healthy eating. We will produce and distribute a historical cookbook. This cookbook will (1) be developed using foods representative of animals/products we witnessed during field experiences (2) feature a brief history of each farm operation. (3) include recipes that are developed or modified to encourage healthy eating habits.