Fresh, Local & Equitable (FreshLo) Initiative Evaluation

CSC partnered with Learning for Action and The Kresge Foundation to evaluate the national Fresh, Local & Equitable (FreshLo) initiative — an innovative $2 million investment integrating food, arts, and community development to advance neighborhood revitalization in low-income communities across the United States.

A joint effort of Kresge’s Arts & Culture and Health Programs, FreshLo represented a pioneering approach: recognizing food not only as sustenance, but as a creative platform for strengthening economic vitality, cultural expression, and community health.

Rather than treating evaluation as compliance, the engagement focused on strategic learning — examining how cross-sector collaboration and community-led innovation contribute to durable systems change.

CSC’s role included:

• Supporting a multi-layered evaluation framework across 20+ grantee communities nationwide
• Assessing how arts, culture, and food intersected to advance equitable revitalization
• Identifying patterns of relational strength, cross-sector alignment, and adaptive capacity
• Surfacing lessons to inform future philanthropic strategy

The initiative intentionally avoided prescriptive solutions, encouraging locally rooted experimentation. Our evaluation honored that spirit — examining how diverse communities translated shared funding priorities into context-responsive action.

Through this work, FreshLo advanced a deeper understanding of how integrated capital strategies — spanning health, culture, and economic development — can foster regenerative neighborhood ecosystems.

This engagement reflects CSC’s broader commitment to supporting philanthropic institutions in designing and evaluating initiatives that align relational trust, community leadership, and structural investment to produce equitable and lasting change.