Learning Blueprints

Guides

At AdkAction, we believe that good ideas are meant to be shared. This collection of Learning Blueprints and Toolkits brings together what we’ve learned from projects across the Adirondacks: practical guides, tested approaches, and lessons from the field. Whether you’re a community leader, municipal partner, or neighbor with an idea, these resources are designed to help you adapt, replicate, and build on work that’s already making a difference.

Learning Blueprints

Learning Blueprint

Learning Blueprint: Distributing Local Food Cash Cards in an Emergency

When SNAP benefits were delayed across the Adirondacks in 2025, many families faced sudden gaps in their ability to buy food, especially those unlikely to access traditional emergency services. This Learning Blueprint shares how AdkAction responded with its Emergency Fair Food Card Pilot, distributing prepaid grocery cards through trusted school partners to provide fast, flexible, and discreet support. Designed for organizations preparing for benefit disruptions or addressing rural food insecurity, this guide outlines the program model, key lessons, and practical considerations for launching a similar initiative in your community.

Learn
Sign Up to Receive New Learning Blueprints

Toolkits

SNAP Online Guide

As online grocery shopping becomes more common, ensuring that SNAP participants can access these options is an important step toward more equitable food systems. This guide, Modernizing Food Access with SNAP Online, is designed for small and community-based food retailers interested in accepting SNAP benefits for online purchases. Drawing from AdkAction’s experience, the guide walks through the process of becoming SNAP online authorized, outlining the time, resources, and key steps involved. It also highlights how expanding digital sales and delivery can help reach customers in food deserts, reduce barriers for those with limited mobility, and create new market opportunities for local food providers.

Learn

Farmacy Toolkit

This toolkit shares AdkAction’s innovative “Farmacy” model: an approach to expanding healthy food access by partnering with existing businesses to offer fresh, locally sourced foods alongside their core products. Developed in rural Northern New York, the model reduces startup costs while strengthening connections between communities, small retailers, and local farmers. Designed for organizations and businesses looking to address food insecurity, the toolkit outlines how to adapt and replicate this flexible approach in a range of settings, from rural towns to urban neighborhoods, using any willing brick-and-mortar partner.

Learn