Ben Rasmussen will speak to Rotary at noon on Tuesday April 29. He is director of Frontier Food Hub, a program of the National Center for Frontier Communities (NCFC). He will speak on the activities of NCFC and the challenges it faces.

American frontier lands are remote, and often historically indigenous. They are rural and agricultural. They are towns built around mining and other natural resources. They include reservations, trusts, and other federally controlled areas managed by the forest service, military, national parks, the Bureau of Land Management, and other agencies.

NCFC works to drive better-informed public and economic policy that recognizes frontier variations so these communities can thrive. This means clear paths to federal and state funding and programs, equitable resource distribution, infrastructure, and effective regional and community non-profit organizations.

Among the key issues facing rural communities are: food insecurity, little or no new economic activity, climate change threats for arid and semi-arid areas, freshwater resource issues, mass outmigration of youth leaving behind older, chronically poor people, and growing economic inequality.

Mr. Rasmussen has been with NCFC since 2015, where he led groundbreaking regional food system studies and subsequently launched the Frontier Food Hub in 2018. His work is informed by a deep, lived understanding of the unique policy and programmatic challenges faced by frontier and rural communities.

The Rotary Club will meet at the Hearth at 1915 Swan Street. There is a brief "meet and greet", a short business meeting and then the speaker has the floor. The club welcomes members of the public to the meetings. The lunch format is BYO. 

Rotary is an organization of business and professional persons united worldwide to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. Since its founding in 1923, the Silver City Rotary Club has provided support and service to numerous non-profit organizations and civic causes in Silver City and Grant County as well as supporting and participating in humanitarian projects sponsored by Rotary International.