Humble Beginnings
Background
CLiCK began in 2009 after local residents and members of the Willimantic Food Co-op discussed the idea of a shared processing kitchen and ways to better serve farmers in the Windham Area. CLiCKs funding began with a pilot grant from the Access Community Action Agency as part of their poverty reduction program As a result, CLiCK expanded its vision to include addressing issues of poverty through educational programming centered around food. After a few years of experience to learn from, CLiCK’s mission has expanded to include serving the needs of entrepreneur chefs and bakers, who can use CLiCK’s commercially licensed kitchen space to create products to sell and grow their business while minimizing the burden of and overhead costs of managing their own kitchen space in order to sell their products legally and grow their businesses.
2008 Food Coop Idea for Commercial Kitchen/ 2009 Initial IDEA meeting, applied for Access Poverty Reduction Grant/ 2011 Certificate of Incorporation/ 2012 Non-Profit Status Granted /2014 Purchased Building at 41 Club Rd / 2015 Commercial kitchens ready for business, Grand Opening, first member businesses join, orchard planted, work on teaching kitchen begins./ 2016 Teaching Kitchen completed , classes start, community garden beds planted /2017 Expansion of business amenities like storage and equipment , development of summer programs/ 2018 37 member businesses are Involved with CLiCK, Teaching Kitchen Updated, Education Coordinator hired, family-friendly bathroom constructed / 2021 CLiCK survived Pandemic while supporting local food resilience in times of shortages /2023 CLiCK receives its biggest grant ever through Senator Murphy’s Office for Building Renovations, CLiCK starts LFPP Program securing its position as a key distributor and support nexus for local farms
