Introduction The Campus Kitchens Project is currently soliciting proposals from interested college and universities to host the Food Waste & Hunger Summit. About the Organization Founded in 2001, The Campus Kitchens Project (CKP) is a national organization that empowers student volunteers to fight food waste and hunger in their community. On over 60 university and high school campuses across the country, students transform unused food from dining halls, grocery stores, restaurants, and farmers markets into meals that are delivered to local agencies serving those in need. By taking the initiative to run a community kitchen, students develop entrepreneurial and leadership skills, along with a commitment to serve their community, that they will carry with them into future careers. Each Campus Kitchen goes beyond meals by using food as a tool to promote poverty solutions, implement garden initiatives, participate in nutrition education, and convene food policy events. About the Summit Each spring, The Campus Kitchens Project hosts a Food Waste & Hunger Summit that brings together leading national nonprofit organizations and engaged students who are working to fight food waste and hunger, for a packed weekend of learning about advocacy, service and leadership. The Summit provides a forum to learn from experts in the fields of social justice, social enterprise, public health, non-profit management and related fields in addition to the opportunity to share best practices. Hosting the Summit is both an honor and a lot of logistical work. Given the high level of interest in hosting that we have received from students and schools, and our wish to be transparent about the work and in-kind or monetary donations from the host university needed to make the event a success, we are requesting proposals to help us make a fair decision about future locations. Benefits of Hosting the Summit Hosting the Food Waste & Hunger Summit raises the visibility of service learning and civic engagement on your campus, and is a great opportunity to showcase academic research and community partnerships that address food insecurity, social justice, public health, agriculture, civic engagement, service learning, and a variety of inter-related fields. Hosting the Summit raises the visibility and improves the reputation of your institution and your service program externally within the local community, state and region; with other colleges and universities throughout the nation; and among the dozens of national and regional nonprofit organizations that also participate in the Summit. Hosting also provides the opportunity for a large number of your students, staff, and faculty to attend the Summit, and to invite speakers from the community, giving them a national voice. Additionally, the Summit provides an opportunity for your institution to support and advance the fields of service-learning, civic engagement, food insecurity and social justice.
General Information and Summit History Duration of Summit: 1.5 days, typically a half day Friday and full day Saturday OR a full day Saturday and a half-day Sunday. Example timeline: - Saturday: 8am 5pm, followed by 6-8pm awards dinner - Sunday: 8am 2pm Past Summit dates and locations: - Northwestern University, April 4-5, 2014 - University of Georgia, April 17-18, 2015 - University of Arkansas, April 16-17, 2016 - Walsh University, March 24-25, 2017 We would also like to acknowledge and thank the wonderful Campus Kitchens who hosted our annual conference before we transformed it into the Food Waste & Hunger Summit! Anticipated Attendance: 200 300 Base Hotel Room Rates for rooms with two double beds: - 2017: $80, Canton, OH - 2016: $97, Fayetteville, AR - 2015: $89, Athens, GA - 2014: $149, Evanston, IL Preferred Hotel Characteristics: Meals: - Complimentary parking - Complimentary internet access - Complimentary breakfast - Airport shuttles - No attrition rate - Walking distance The event typically includes two breakfasts, two lunches, one awards dinner, continual coffee, and afternoon refreshments. Meal vendors must be able to provide vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, and lactose free options, in addition to labeling known allergens. All meals are typically served buffet style, but occasionally the awards dinner has been a plated meal. Audio Visual: All event rooms should have built in computer or connections for a laptop, wifi, projectors, and one of the following: chalk board, white board, easel with poster paper.
Selection Criteria 1. The commitment of the office that will serve as the primary sponsor: It is key that the host office on campus is committed to collaborating with the Planning Committee over an 8-10 month period to plan, implement and evaluate the conference. The individual staff person designated as the primary liaison would be expected to devote a substantial portion of time, including biweekly calls until 2-3 months prior, followed by weekly calls until the event, in addition to coordinating with students, facilities managers and vendors throughout. 2. The cost and logistical arrangements of hosting the conference: The host campus must have facilities and services to effectively implement a mid-sized, modest-budget conference. Past considerations have included: conference facilities and classroom space; availability of outside grant funding from the host university; the cost of meals; low-cost local accommodations; proximity to a major airport; walkability of campus and town; and weather conditions for your locale in late March/early April. Host Responsibilities: 1. Staff Support: a. Designation of a lead staff person or primary liaison on campus to work with the Planning Committee b. Additional staff to serve on the Planning Committee or take on specific roles. c. Highlight any staff, AmeriCorps VISTA members, graduate assistants, work-study students, dedicated Summit interns or other individuals available to help with the planning effort. 2. Connection to Campus Departments / Services a. Facilitation of on-campus relationships, such as facilities, catering, residential life, student government, student activities, IT, campus safety and other offices that will be involved with this event. b. Coordinate appropriate engagement of top university officials. c. Take a multi-disciplinary approach to inviting faculty, students and partners to apply to speak at the event. 3. Facilities: Reservation of all facilities needed for the event. 4. Meals: Arrange for conference meals with campus dining services. 5. Local transportation: If local transportation is needed, or if shuttles between the airport and campus are required, help to arrange free or low-cost local transportation. 6. Housing: a. Identifying and reserving blocks of hotel rooms in nearby hotels at reasonable rates, avoiding fixed financial commitments on the part of either the host campus or the Summit. b. Arranging an alternative low cost housing option for a smaller sub-set of attendees. This might include students hosting in the dorms, making arrangements with local organizations (churches, greek life), making a gym available with access to lockers and showers.
Costs Costs associated with the facilities have varied from year to year. Typically, The Campus Kitchens Project has paid for meals, but at a substantial discount. We trust that Campus Kitchens often have the strong relationships in place with university administration and dining services to secure space, food, and transportation at low-to-no cost. The more that your institution can provide for free or pay for internally, the more competitive your application will be to host the Summit. Access to local foundations already supporting your Campus Kitchen who may be interested in incorporating Summit funding into your existing partnership will also be compelling. Examples of past host institution sponsorship include complimentary parking and volunteer t-shirts in addition to: - Heavily discounted meeting room and meal rates, complimentary awards dinner - Complimentary meeting room and AV, institutional contribution of $3,000 toward expenses - Complimentary meeting rooms, complimentary shuttles, secured corporate sponsorship for $15,000
Please provide the following information: 1. Name of host institution: 2. City and State: 3. Please describe the advantages of bringing the Food Waste & Hunger Summit to your school, including past experience hosting student leadership events: 4. Please describe the staff support that you would be able to provide to assist in planning process: 5. Number of event volunteers provided by the host institution: 6. Suggested Locations: For the following, feel free to offer more than one suggested location. This will give an idea of availability and diversity for these event spaces. Please briefly describe the room setup. If locations are in multiple buildings, please describe the walking distance between locations and link to a campus map. - Registration area: - Plenary sessions (200-300 attendees, ballroom or theater seating): - Breakout sessions (5-8 rooms, with total capacity for 200-300 and individual capacity from 30-100): - Meals: (200-300 attendees): - Awards dinner/ evening reception (200 attendees): - Networking / tabling (200-300 attendees): 7. Available dates between March 23 April 29: 8. What is the average high and low temperature in your region in April on www.weather.com/weather/monthly, and is there still commonly snow? 9. What is the walkability rating of your location on www.walkscore.com? 10. Please list your local airports, driving distance to campus, and average cost of transportation from the airport: 11. What are the main hubs that fly to your local airports? How much do flights cost to Atlanta, DC, Dallas, and Chicago please use April 13-15, 2017 as benchmark dates. 12. Please list other events taking place within the city or surrounding community during the proposed dates of the event that may impact the availability of reasonably priced travel and accommodations: 13. Although we respect that your university may have a religious affiliation or culture, will you be able to commit to Summit being an entirely secular event? 14. Have you ever hosted a zero waste event? If so, please describe what steps you took to eliminate waste. If not, do you have composting and other programs that enable a zero waste event? 15. Please describe recommended lodging options, including: - Hotel name - Distance and driving time to the venue - Best possible rate - Do they require an attrition rate commitment to reserve a block of rooms?
16. Please describe the anticipated event costs of the following, and quote meals per person: Expense item Breakfast pp Lunch pp Awards dinner pp Coffee/tea station throughout event: pp/day Afternoon light snack pp Meeting rooms Tables / linens Audio visual (projectors, microphones, etc.) Volunteer t-shirts Airport shuttle (if not provided by hotels) Hotel campus shuttle (if not walking distance) Optional: event photographer Optional: event videographer Projected cost to CKP after all discounts 17. Please describe any plans to secure in kind or other local sponsorship for event: 18. Please provide any additional information that you think is relevant to our decision: Please direct any questions and email your proposal to Annie Wheeler at awheeler@campuskitchens.org.