The DC Farm-to-Child-Care Coalition, led by the DC Office of the State Superintendent (OSSE) and FRESHFARM, was created with support from the Association of Public Health Nutritionists to provide greater access to food education for ECEs through training that is collaboratively informed and designed by coalition members. Our evaluation of the D.C. Farm to Child Care Implementation Grant examined how the initiative’s coalition and training were implemented and the outcomes each achieved in their first year. We took a participatory approach to the evaluation by sharing leadership and decision-making in the evaluation process with FRESHFARM coalition facilitators Martine Hippolyte and Tailor Coble. Our findings from analyses of administrative data, meeting notes, focus groups, and interviews demonstrate the transition from a larger coalition structure to a smaller, ECE-centered space and the specific facilitation methods implemented by Ms. Hippolyte and Ms. Coble led to greater ECE participation in developing recommendations to strengthen Farm to ECE implementation in D.C. The smaller group structure and ECE-centered space created more comfort among participants in sharing information and fostered greater participation and input from ECE center staff. As a result, both training and coalition participants shared recommendations that were directly related to their lived experiences working in ECE centers and with children and parents from the communities they serve.  

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