TriCorner Nutrition Security Coalition

Working to improve our community food system

Since 2022, the North East Community Center has facilitated a regional “Tri-Corner Nutrition Security Coalition (“Coalition”)”. Members of the coalition represent public health, human services, agriculture and food access organizations who serve adjoining areas of Columbia, Dutchess and Litchfield Counties. The group meets regularly with a primary mission to improve the nutrition security of community members. While food security is about access to a certain quantity of food, nutrition security considers food quality and the health of the regional food system.

Coalition Projects

Since 2022, the Coalition has completed several regional projects focused on identifying food access needs and gaps and working to build capacity within the regional farm and food pantry network. Project descriptions and reports are linked below

Fair Food Assessment

Capacity Building for Food Pantries

Current Work

In 2026 the Coalition continues to work on building resilience and meeting community needs within the regional food system in the face of increasing instability impacting community members and service providers. Our focus areas for 2026 include:

Community Engagement: designing responsive ways to include people experiencing food insecurity in shaping community food access work in the Tri Corner region;
Strengthening the regional farm to food pantry network: despite reductions in federal funding for agricultural producers, farm to food access programs, and non-profit organizations working within the urgent food system;
Capacity Building: Enhancing the capacity building work among regional food pantries via a peer learning series facilitated by the Coalition.
Strengthen Access to Coalition: Supporting the accessibility of coalition work and ensuring that it is well connected to broader efforts towards regional food security at the county and state levels.