Peer Networking

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Whole School Teams • Farm to School Action Planning • Coaching • Skill Building • Peer Networking

The Northeast Farm to School Institute Model

The Northeast Farm to School Institute provides networking opportunities that allow participants to share innovations, challenges, and dialogue with peers both internal and external to their teams.

  • Affinity groups allow individuals to connect with peers in similar roles across different schools and teams.

  • Unstructured relationship building and sharing is built into the retreat, facilitated via its multi-day intensive format.

  • Ongoing state and national network connections provide resources and inspiration.

  • As a result of these networking opportunities, teams forge valuable relationships and connections to support their farm to school work, within their schools, across teams, and in the broader farm to school community.

✔ Peer Networking Checklist

  • The Institute should provide opportunities to connect individuals in similar roles across different schools and teams

  • The Institute should provide opportunities for connecting with state networks and resources (and potentially national networks) for support and inspiration

  • The Institute should include an opportunity for teams to gather and share their progress and lessons learned at the end of the program year

Connection to the Professional Learning Philosophy

The Institute’s peer networking opportunities align with two key elements of the professional learning philosophy:

  • Relationships: Peer networking allows participants to build relationships and feel connected to the broader farm to school community. This sense of belonging to a larger movement provides motivation and support, combatting potential feelings of isolation. Relationships formed through networking help sustain individual farm to school initiatives by creating a sense of solidarity in working toward a shared vision.

  • Resources: Peers serve as valuable resources via the sharing of innovations, lessons learned, and best practices that provide practical knowledge to enhance each other’s farm to school programs.

Adaptations & Variations

Questions to Consider

  • How will you facilitate structured and unstructured peer networking time during the Institute?

  • What opportunities exist for virtual peer networking and sharing after the Institute concludes? How often should these happen?

  • What topics or roles might benefit from affinity-based networking calls? How will you determine the right groupings?

1. Mid-Year All Team Check-In

Connecting with peer teams during program implementation can provide opportunities to troubleshoot specific issues or challenges, share successes, and boost morale.

Example from the Field: Teams who attend the New York Farm to School Institute come together mid-year for a virtual check-in. As one coordinator noted, this mid-year gathering has been “very helpful, they usually do a Powerpoint presentation and then we give them time to troubleshoot with one another.”

Pros & Cons: 

  • Pros: Mid-year check-ins can help teams sustain momentum during the difficult implementation phase by allowing them to come together and share challenges, best practices, and successes. 

  • Cons: Mid-year check-ins require some degree of coordination and preparation to convene teams, whether you meet virtually or in-person. Teams must also come prepared with presentations to share with their peers.

2. Team Pairings

Team pairings work best when you have a large number of teams attending an Institute and can provide teams with a richer experience, especially during the retreat. (Each team still works with a dedicated coach.)

Example from the Field: Team pairings were first used at the Northeast Farm to School Institute where organizers would pair two similar teams as peers to share common challenges and opportunities. Pairings can be continued throughout the year with teams checking in with each other to share progress on program implementation.


Pros & Cons:

  • Pros: Team pairings can facilitate deeper sharing of challenges and solutions between two teams facing similar circumstances and may lead to ongoing, mutually beneficial relationships. 

  • Cons: Team pairings require coordination to thoughtfully match teams who would benefit from pairing and could potentially reduce networking opportunities with the broader group of Institute attendees.

Lessons Learned: Helpful advice for facilitating peer networking during your Institute

  • If possible, include at least two teams who serve the same student age group (e.g., early childhood, elementary school, middle school, high school) to build more valuable peer-to-peer networking.

  • Limit the number of attendees at affinity group or community of practice meetings. Organizers of the Massachusetts Farm to School Institute found that small groups, comprising eight to ten people, were the right size “for conversation, not so big that you have to split into breakout rooms.”

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