Planting the Seeds of Change: Germinating a Greener Future An Exercise in Co-Creation

Abstract

The nascent and burgeoning realm of co-creation in community formed the basis for this project. The central realm: food sovereignty and food justice organizations on the Northside of Minneapolis. Main players were Project Sweetie Pie's two principal people — the founder/executive director and the CFO, the four members of the capstone team with the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, the faculty advisor, and from that center, radiating out, was an ever-widening array of other groups and individuals, working together and eventually creating six major deliverables, or outcomes. We envisioned this project, and these deliverables, as setting foundations for future work. Our goal was to create materials that could easily be edited, expanded, and updated over time to provide the greatest use to Project Sweetie Pie (PSP) and its partners. Our work should be contextualized as a first “phase” for making collaboration on food, climate, racial, social, and economic justice in Minneapolis more effective and efficient in the months and years to come. While the work described in this report further grows roots for the organization, further phases will flower and harvest the fruits of this labor to strengthen the work of PSP.