Michigan Good Food Charter Shared Measurement Project

The Michigan Good Food Charter Shared Measurement Project is building local and statewide capacity for assessing and communicating food systems change in Michigan. In order to better understand the impacts of Good Food efforts throughout Michigan, this highly collaborative project is:

• Identifying existing data that could also be used to measure progress toward Good Food Charter goals
• Determining overlap, strengths, and gaps in currently available data that could measure progress toward Charter goals
• Identifying what additional data is needed to indicate successes and difficulties
• Considering current and future capacity for data collection
• Prioritizing a short list of key indicators and data-sharing solutions
• Establishing consensus on which measures have the most value, and agree on common methodologies for data collection for each measure
• Providing training and support as stakeholders pilot shared measures

These shared metrics will help those participating in Michigan Good Food work by:

1. Ensuring that efforts to measure Good Food Charter success are aligned
2. Providing an opportunity for participants to learn from others’ experiences and build on shared measures as they start new Good Food projects
3. Enabling participants to add their measures and make a more comprehensive, compelling case for Good Food progress in the state

This project looks at measures that can be easily obtained and can help track changes in areas like: food access, Michigan food sales in various markets, and Michigan jobs created through increased sales to Michigan markets. The project will not attempt to characterize foods according to the four elements of the Good Food definition: healthy, green, fair, or affordable.

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