What you need to know: Telling a compelling story to funders

October 24, 2024, 12:30 PM EST | 11:30 AM CST

Join the Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center for a webinar on October 24 to help prepare your food or farm business for upcoming grant applications.

Obtaining grant funding requires telling your business story in a compelling way. In this session, presenters will describe how farmers, Tribal producers, and food business owners can tell a compelling story to attract funding. Speakers Jane Cajuste, Chicago Food Policy Action Council, and Madelina DiLisi, MSU Center for Regional Food Systems, will join co-hosts Julie Jesmer and Jamie Rahrig of the MSU Center for Regional Food Systems in this informative session to prepare businesses for funding opportunities.

Attendees will also learn about grant funding that will be available across the Great Lakes Midwest in late 2024. This includes the first phase of the Business Builder grant program for food and/or farm businesses in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. Over $10 million dollars will be distributed across the region to assistance providers and through the grant program over the next four years.

Our Featured Speakers

Jane Cajuste, Illinois Program Coordinator, Chicago Food Policy Action Council

Jane brings over a decade of diverse experience in mental health and housing non-profit work, culinary arts education, and small business ownership to her role. Her most recent role was teaching culinary arts at Cook County Jail. With a strong focus on culturally relevant, people-centered approaches to food justice, Jane aims to promote equitable access to resources, diversify economic opportunities in underserved communities, and reduce barriers for overlooked food businesses, growers, and producers throughout Illinois and the region. Outside of work, she enjoys gardening, hiking, and exploring new cuisines.

Madelina DiLisi, Food and Farm Network Specialist, MSU Center for Regional Food Systems

Madelina is the Food and Farm Network Specialist for the Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center (GLM-RFBC) with the MSU Center for Regional Food Systems. Madelina has been engaged in local food systems work in the Western Upper Peninsula for years. She first worked as the Calumet Farmers Market Manager and then moved on to work as a local food coordinator with Taste the Local Difference. Most recently, she was a Farm to School Education Consultant for the Western Upper Peninsula region. Madelina holds a Master's degree in Environmental and Energy Policy from Michigan Technological University and a Bachelor's degree in Sustainability, Science, and Society from Michigan Technological University.

Join us Thursday, October 24, 11:30 AM CT | 12:30 PM ET on Zoom, to learn more about applying for grants. This session will be recorded and shared at glm-rfbc.msu.edu and on Youtube.

Link to register: https://bit.ly/funderstory

For more information, email glm-rfbc@msu.edu or visit glm-rfbc.msu.edu.

About the Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center

The Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center is dedicated to offering coordination, technical assistance, and capacity building opportunities for small- to mid-sized or historically marginalized food and farm business entrepreneurs in support of a more resilient, diverse, and competitive food system. Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems (MI) coordinates the Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center that is comprised of network coordinators – Chicago Food Policy Action Council (IL), Northwest Indiana Food Council (IN), Food Finance Institute of the University of Wisconsin System (WI), and the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin Department of Agriculture and Food Systems – who seek to take a transformational, rather than transactional, approach. Learn more at glm-rfbc.msu.edu

Support for the Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center comes from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service Regional Food Business Centers Program. The 12 USDA Regional Food Business Centers support all 50 U.S. States and Territories, and are inclusive of all types of agricultural products produced locally or regionally.

This institution is an equal opportunity provider. USDA Non-Discrimination Statement