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Kathleen joins the SMIF team as an AmeriCorps VISTA member working on local food initiatives. She will be working on projects for Renewing the Countryside, including providing support for the FEAST! Local Foods Marketplace, and a Farmers Market Food Hub project that will fortify and multiply Minnesota Farmersā€™ Markets Hubs to improve community health and long-term farm viability.

Kathleen comes to them from Sioux Falls, SD, where she served as a Local Food System Coordinator for the SD Specialty Producers Association with the VISTA program, so this is her second tour with AmeriCorps! Sheā€™s no stranger to Minnesota, though, and her roots in the Local Foods Movement go back to the Minneapolis market as a retail grocery buyer. This experience, along with degrees in Marketing and Sociology, has given Kathleen a unique perspective on local food systems that she is excited to apply to her work with SMIF.