Bull City Cool is… well, inherently Cool… and we’re not the only ones who think so! As winner of the Triangle Community Foundation’s 2015 Innovation Award, it’s clear that the Bull City Cool Food Hub Collaborative (BCCFHC) is growing in popularity.
The BCCFHC was one of many great applicants for the Innovation Award, and one of five finalists chosen to make their “pitch” for the award to seven area judges. Imagine a Triangle-Area “Shark Tank” with local entrepreneurs and philanthropic givers.
Pitch day was nerve-racking for the BCCFHC team, who didn’t even know where they were in the lineup to pitch until their name was called. With post-pitch jitters we awaited a decision from the “sharks” and TCF. Luckily we didn’t have to wait too long – BCCFHC was announced the winner by day’s end!
TCF awarded the BCCFHC $25,000 to revitalize a distressed neighborhood located in Old North Durham, to strengthen the local food supply chain, and to address unmet nutritional needs through the Food Hub. Expansion into the hub will allow our collaborator, Farmer Foodshare, to increase their sales capacity for limited-resource farmers. In turn, more local farmers gain access to new and otherwise unavailable markets. Many of these new markets served are in lower-income and undeserved communities.
The above picture shows the TCF “What Matters” luncheon in April, where the four “Shark Tank” pitchers accepted the award. From left to right:
Amelia O’Rourke-Owens, Community Economic Development Legal Fellow, Reinvestment Partners
Gini Bell, Executive Director, Farmer Foodshare
Karla Capacetti, POP Market Manager, Farmer Foodshare
Easter Maynard, Chair of the Community Engagement Committee, Triangle Community Foundation
Peter Skillern, Executive Director, Reinvestment Partners
The BCCFHC team was all smiles for so many reasons, including being surrounded by our Triangle non-profit peers and being recognized by TCF for the many benefits of the Bull City Cool Food Hub.