The Center’s Mission

To promote healthy local communities and build a vibrant agricultural scene through facilitation, collaboration, and education.

Vision

A San Diego where local food access serves as a pathway of better health, economic development, and community connectedness.

Goals

1. Increase access to and consumption of healthy foods in collaboration with school districts, hospitals, and institutional partners.

2. Support farmers in the creation of a vibrant, diverse, and growing local agricultural scene.

3. Instill a passion for local, healthy food through education, advocacy, and community engagement.

Further Background

The Farm to Institution Center is a division of Community Health Improvement Partners (CHIP). Established in 1995, CHIP has been a leader in innovative, collaborative solutions to address critical community health issues in the San Diego region.

CHIP brings together diverse partners to assess community health needs, educate, and advocate to create policy, systems and environmental change which reduce health disparities. CHIP provides backbone support to plan, coordinate, and support collaborative initiatives to solve our most complex health problems.

CHIP signature programs and initiatives include the Farm to Institution Center, Suicide Prevention Council, Behavioral Work Team, Independent Living Association, Recovery Residents Association, Lemon Grove Healthy Active Living (HEAL) Zone, Resident Leadership Academy, and Public Health Policy Committee.

Meet Our Team

Alexis Anderson

Alexis Anderson
Program Manager
858-609-7961
aanderson@sdchip.org

Testimonials

Mike Reeske, Owner of Rio Del Rey Farm

“The Center has provided our farm with a valuable way to form partnerships with institutions and schools. Their outreach programs such as the Good Food Showcase, where farmers display their produce and interact with a variety of potential buyers, has proved to be invaluable in sustaining the San Diego food community.”
The Farm to Institution Center
2020-03-31T21:25:36+00:00
“The Center has provided our farm with a valuable way to form partnerships with institutions and schools. Their outreach programs such as the Good Food Showcase, where farmers display their produce and interact with a variety of potential buyers, has proved to be invaluable in sustaining the San Diego food community.”

Jill Martin, Nutrition Service Director at UC San Diego Health

“The Center has provided us the opportunity to collaborate on sustainable purchasing from local farmers all the way up to our large distributors...We have been able to connect with one another to share best practices and help provide the support needed for San Diego County schools, hospitals, and the community.”
The Farm to Institution Center
2020-03-31T21:31:12+00:00
“The Center has provided us the opportunity to collaborate on sustainable purchasing from local farmers all the way up to our large distributors...We have been able to connect with one another to share best practices and help provide the support needed for San Diego County schools, hospitals, and the community.”

Janelle Manzano, Farm to School Program Specialist at San Diego USD

“[The Center has] connected us with other school districts throughout the county to collaborate in best practices and participate in activities to further enhance our farm to school efforts. Additionally, they have been wonderful at helping us engage our local communities in advocating what farm to school means.”
The Farm to Institution Center
2020-03-31T21:31:55+00:00
“[The Center has] connected us with other school districts throughout the county to collaborate in best practices and participate in activities to further enhance our farm to school efforts. Additionally, they have been wonderful at helping us engage our local communities in advocating what farm to school means.”

Courtney Crenshaw, Western U.S. Regional Coordinator at Health Care Without Harm

“It has been a real pleasure working with the folks at San Diego CHIP's Farm to Institution Center over the years, primarily in respect to the Nutrition in Healthcare Leadership Team (NHLT). They have been strategic regional partners who facilitate the NHLT as a platform to engage hospital leadership, clinicians, and healthcare stakeholders on the importance of a healthy and sustainable food system.”
The Farm to Institution Center
2020-04-01T20:29:08+00:00
“It has been a real pleasure working with the folks at San Diego CHIP's Farm to Institution Center over the years, primarily in respect to the Nutrition in Healthcare Leadership Team (NHLT). They have been strategic regional partners who facilitate the NHLT as a platform to engage hospital leadership, clinicians, and healthcare stakeholders on the importance of a healthy and sustainable food system.”
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The Farm to Institution Center

Our Impact

What We Do

As CHIP grows as an organization, it has become increasingly important to explicitly define the core values from which we develop our culture, our identity, and our business strategies.
These are the seven core values that we live by:

Work Collaboratively

Complex community problems are best solved when people work together. CHIP drives successful outcomes by building multi-sector partnerships to create the most effective solutions to identified community health needs. We do this by providing a neutral and inclusive venue in which diverse partners work together to realize shared goals. Collaboration is core to our mission and is the essence of who we are.

Be Strategic and Smart

Health is in everything. We are strategic, thoughtful, and resourceful in the way we come together to create change and opportunities for better health in the communities we serve. At CHIP, we are forward thinking, knowledgeable, and smart about how we work to achieve our goals.

Be Innovative and Nimble

We believe in innovation with a purpose. We inspire bold thinking to tackle seemingly unsolvable health problems, and take risks as needed, but will also use well-established best practices when we know they will lead to the desired solution. We capitalize on change and view challenges from new angles to effectively meet the changing needs of our community. At CHIP, we are ready to respond and can modify our approach as environments, systems, and needs change. We are willing to take on different roles and learn new tools and techniques in order to best serve our community.

Exude Passion and Optimism

Our passion is contagious and drives the dedication of our partners. We are empowered with a can-do attitude and the freedom to think forward to bring vision to reality. We believe that we can make a change in the health of the community, and are compelled to do so.

Have Fun with Flair

We do our work with flair, generating fun and enthusiasm for the cause. CHIP believes that a positive and energetic culture leads to better outcomes. As the master collaborator, we create a welcoming team spirit that encourages the full participation of all our partners.

Promote Integrity

CHIP emphasizes integrity in every aspect of our business, resulting in an organization that is trusted. We treat our staff, partners, funders, and the community with esteem, value and respect.

Create Meaningful Impact

At CHIP, we strive toward accomplishing positive, measurable improvements to community health, when and where change is needed. We don’t just get things done, we do things that are meaningful, measurable and valuable.