The Elgin Local Food Center (ELF) is an exciting project to build a commercial kitchen and healthy food education center in downtown Elgin! The ELF will serve people living in the areas east of Austin in the counties of Bastrop, Travis, Lee, Williamson and Caldwell. ELF services will be so useful that even folks from farther away will come to the ELF!

Donate to Be a Part of the ELF!

We are raising money now to build the ELF and any new member of the Texas Center for Local Food in 2019 will get their name on the wall. The ELF will support access to healthier food through cooking classes and our Farm-to-Kids Texas program with Elgin ISD. We'll have meet your farmer events and all kids of engaging and fun ways to learn together. The ELF will leverage Austin’s high demand for healthy local food to create jobs in the Elgin area. It will also provide healthy food education to central Texas families living on the eastern outskirts of Austin and be a local food entrepreneur development center.

About the Elgin Local Food Center Project

In 2015, the City of Elgin received a grant from the USDA to pilot local food processing as a viable driver of our local food economy. We called the pilot the ELF: Elgin Local Food Center.  The $95,000 grant, completed in 2017, paid for technical assistance to help farmers test new products, from sauerkraut to pickled zucchini. We tested 10 products, running a cost analysis on each. We also met many food entrepreneurs interested in starting their new food business in Elgin! The ELF is indeed a viable way to create quality jobs in Elgin and provide new markets for farmers in central Texas. In May 2018, the Elgin Economic Development corporation committed $800,000 in local sales tax revenue as matching fund to build the ELF. That deal expires in September 2019 and we have to raise at least another $800,000 of the remaining $1.55M by September 2019.

ENDORSEMENTS

• City of Austin Office of Sustainability
• Austin ISD Food Service
• Austin Community College
• The Common Market
• Bastrop Emergency Food Pantry
• Texas Hunger Initiatve
• Sustainable Food Center
• Commissioner Donna Snowden
• Robert Jenson, UT Journalism Prof (ret.)
• Elgin Chamber of Commerce
• Elgin NAACP
• TX A&M Extension (partner)
• CAPCOG
• Elgin EDC

The Elgin Local Food Center Will:

Bring scattered programmatic activities together for higher impact

• Cooking classes by Methodist Ministries and Sustainable Food Center
• Farm-to-Kids after school program for K-5
• High school culinary program
• Health and wellness classes and events
• Entrepreneurship opportunities
• Food access information and resources

Deepen community connections

• Local jobs
• Reduced commute time
• Provide gathering place, connections around food
• Increase coordination of healthy lifestyle services
• Meet your farmer events

Addressing Local Food Problems

It's a sad fact that thousands of families are fleeing the high cost of living in Austin - and many are moving east. Elgin Texas is a culturally diverse town of 9,000 located in an increasingly suburban rural area east of Austin. People living on the eastern outskirts of Austin spend 1-2 hours each day in their cars driving to jobs in Austin and many make that drive for jobs that pay $12.30/hr. The ELF will help create local jobs! The demand for local food in Austin is high and growing and we have lots of farms east of Austin. We're leveraging that demand to create jobs in local food - that includes jobs processing food, educating about food and producing food. These jobs may not pay more than $12.50, but when you have a job 15 minutes from home, that's cash in your pocket. Plus you'll have more time to spend with your family and community. How many commuters would love a little more time?

With all this time spent driving and not a lot of extra money, it's no wonder people east of Austin are less healthy than urban dwellers. Bastrop County has some the highest rates of chronic illness in our area - more people with diabetes and heart disease. Access to healthy food is a problem especially for the 40% of households with children under 5 who are living in poverty.

• 44% of families with children under 5 years old are living in poverty.
• Working adults spend 1-2 hours driving to Austin for jobs that pay a median of $12.30/hr.
• Families in Elgin earn a median household income of $43,000.
• Elgin and Bastrop County have some of the highest rates of chronic disease in central Texas.
• More low wage workers are moving to the Elgin area to escape the high cost of living in Austin.
• According to 2018 data from the United Way ALICE program, which considers the costs of basic household survival including transportation, 48% of households in Elgin are living in poverty.

Data Resources that Support the ELF

The food we eat affects our performance in school, at work, with our families and in our communities.  Texas facts from the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy:  

• Percent of children under age 6, whose parents have less than a high school diploma and are economically poor: 63%
• Population of 4th grade students with a below proficient reading level: 72%
• County Health Rankings 2019
• Map the Meal Gap - Bastrop County food insecurity rate is 22%
• Service Area Map for the Elgin Local Food Center (map as PDF) - Note that Bastrop, Lee and Caldwell Counties are rural counties and Travis and Williamson Counties are are mostly urban.  The Austin Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), in 2019, has a population of about 2 million people; the MSA includes counties of Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis and Williamson.
• Educational Attainment for Ages 25+ in Central Texas (map as PDF)
• Household Income Disparities in Central Texas (map as PDF)
• Austin, Texas State of the Food System Report (October 2018) provides an update on City of Austin programs and initiatives designed to enhance the local food system in four areas: growing, selling, eating, and recovering food. See the data sources used for this report.
• Imagine Austin plan - "Austin's diverse population is active and healthy, with access to locally-grown, nourishing foods, and affordable healthcare."
• Capital Area Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy 2015-2020 (2018 Update) - workforce and employment trends
• Good Food Purchasing Program, Austin - increasing demand for healthy local food from the largest institutional buyers who combined, spend $25M on food annually: Austin Independent School District, University of Texas at Austin, Austin Convention Center
• Austin, Texas State of the Food System Report (April 2015) provides key metrics and data about Austin’s dynamic food system, as well as descriptive overviews of City of Austin programs and initiatives related to food. See the data sources used for this report.
• City of Austin Austin Economic Development Report The Economic Impact of Austin's Food Sector (2013)
• Travis County Land, Water and Transportation Plan (2014) - addresses farmland preservation;  Elgin is located in both NW Bastrop County and NE Travis County 
• Bastrop County Plans - The Opportunity Bastrop Plan adopted in 2007 and updated in 2017 describes a priority to "preserve the agricultural and natural aspects of Bastrop County" with the Texas Center for Local Food on page 20.