Research & Engagement

Creating and using community-generated knowledge for the public good

Working Landscapes’ leadership has decades of experience conducting place-based research and creating productive spaces for dialog and problem-solving. We specialize in working with rural and natural resource dependent communities in the US South and internationally.

We believe that effective and lasting community development depends on having solid information to build upon, and a thorough understanding of your community’s assets as well as the root causes of the challenges. We have facilitated projects that have engaged thousands of people in asking and answering questions like these:

What are our community’s assets?
What changes and challenges are we facing?
What is our vision for the future, and how can we turn it into a reality?

Working Landscapes founders Carla and Gabriel are the originators of the Community Voice Method (CVM), an approach to stakeholder engagement in which original documentary films and analyses are created based on interviews with diverse individual stakeholders. These films and analyses are then presented at workshops in which community members work together to solve local problems and chart a course forward.

In addition to film-based projects, we can develop customized research instruments, plan enriching community workshops, conduct interviews, perform qualitative analysis, and produce research reports and white papers. We have subject-matter expertise that spans rural economic development, small town revitalization, greenway development, food systems planning, community-supported fisheries, marine protected areas, regenerative agriculture and climate adaptation.

Example food system planning projects

We believe that regional collaboration offers the best opportunity to build the food system we need. Read more about some examples of this work below.

Carlina Farm Stewardship / USDA Ag Conference (2023)

We brought Jenny Lester Moffitt, Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs at the USDA to town for a round table discussion with the real beneficiaries of the USDA’s local food procurement program. These partnerships built between institutions, food hubs and farmers weave the network that is the local food system.

Kerr Tar Council of Governments Regional Food Policy Development (2019-2020)

We helped craft and lead the adoption of a new regional food policy for North Carolina’s Kerr-Tar region, encompassing Franklin, Granville, Person, Vance, and Warren counties. More than 200 people participated in the project, which involved meetings in all five member counties. The resulting policy, which reflected stakeholders’ priorities, was adopted by the Council in 2020. This project was completed in collaboration with the Kerr Tar Council of Governments, Green Rural Redevelopment Organization (GRRO), and Community Food Strategies.

Healthy Food Access Mapping Project (2019-2021)

Healthy FAM is a regional food system assessment convened by the Upper Coastal Plain Council of Governments, representing Edgecombe, Halifax, Nash, Northampton, and Wilson counties of North Carolina. With partners, Working Landscapes collected input from more than 400 stakeholders (including consumers, farmers, food businesses, etc.) using facilitated dialogs, focus groups, surveys, and interviews. We synthesized findings for inclusion in the assessment report.

Growing Opportunities (2017-2018)

Check out the film we produced for Growing Opportunities, a 2018 CVM project connecting food system stakeholders across northeastern North Carolina.

Growing Local/Buying Local (2010-2011)

Working Landscapes’ original CVM project: we talked to 170 Warren County residents about how to build a healthy, local food system in the county. Their responses have guided Working Landscapes ever since. Watch the film that launched our work.