OurSpace World’s (OSW) “Scaling and Multiplying the Calabash” project will build a national, one-stop technical assistance (TA) and learning network that helps link Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Food Producers to various USDA offerings. This project will build on OSW’s existing Calabash Program, which has been providing intergenerational educational, cooperative, and on-farm infrastructure support to farmers and growers of the Black Diaspora in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast US since 2018. The project will target small-scale farmers and food producers of the Black Diaspora – initially among the immediate networks of the project’s core team members (including Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Wisconsin, California) and will expand to reach other socially disadvantaged farmers and food producers (including Indigenous farmers and food producers, immigrant farmers and food producers from the Global South, and other non-White farmers and food producers) as the project team grows and the project’s reach expands in its later years.

Throughout the entire project period, OSW will build in continuous needs assessment mechanisms to solicit feedback from our target audience, the USDA, and other Cooperators so we can adapt TA offerings to ensure that the needs of socially disadvantaged farmers’ and food producers’ needs are met and that we are addressing gaps in existing programs. Our TA offerings will take into account diverse audience needs (including seasonal availability and learning styles) and will take various forms to ensure broadest possible access. These offerings will include: in-person, on-farm workshops in various regions, consultations by phone, 1:1 or group office-hours, synchronous and asynchronous learning cohorts, self-directed online and mobile app access to archived content/tailored curricula/document library, and in-person/hybrid/virtual summits and/or convenings. Finally, our TA training program will take an apprenticeship-style approach where trainees will go through a structured didactic training followed by several hours of mentorship/shadowing on-the-job learning with experienced TA providers.