FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Cindy Deppe, media relations, 641-269-4834

February 5, 2008

DES MOINES COMMUNITY GARDENER DISCUSSES FOOD SELF-SUFFICIENCY AT GRINNELL COLLEGE

GRINNELL, IA.- Des Moines Community Garden Coordinator Teva Dawson will present "Digging Deeper: A Food Self-Sufficiency Program for Low-Income Residents of Des Moines" on Tues., Feb. 12, at 7:30 p.m. in ARH 102 on the Grinnell College campus. Dawson will discuss the "Digging Deeper" program that she developed in Des Moines to increase low-income residents’ access to locally produced food.

Dawson became Des Moines’ first community garden coordinator in 1998, following graduation from Drake University. "Digging Deeper" is a collaborative project that Dawson coordinates between the Des Moines Community Gardening Coalition, Practical Farmers of Iowa, and other public and private institutions to expand the local and regional food system and strengthen relationships between local producers and central city consumers.

Dawson’s presentation is sponsored by the Grinnell College Center for Prairie Studies and is the first in a series of talks on "Spreading Sustainable Agriculture." For more information about the Center, go to http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/cps/. Alumni Recitation Hall (ARH) is located at 1226 Park St. on the Grinnell College campus.

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