Community Food Security Coalition Forum
Morning, Feb. 8, 1996, Philadelphia, PA
Summary:
After a round of introductions from the 50 persons present, Kate Fitzgerald
from the Sustainable Food Center in Austin, Texas opened the meeting by
placing community food security squarely in the tradition of Quaker thought,
especially around ideals of economic justice as well as in the long-standing
relationship between rural and urban areas in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Panel 1: Community Food Security: Concept, Organization, and Legislation
Bob Gottlieb, of the UCLA Urban Planning Department addressed the concept and
politics of community food security. He identified as the sum of different
approaches to food issues--environmental concerns, rural development, public
health, food safety, and economic change, informed by developing world
issues. Nevertheless, he concluded that CFS is greater than the sum of its
parts, as an integrative concept that produces a new framework for addressing
many food and agriculture related problems.
He situated CFS within four major arenas. As a political framework, CFS
stresses individual self-reliance over emergency assistance. It is grounded
in regional contexts which inform national policy-making, the goal of which
is to facilitate community-based and regional-based solutions. CFS is
multi-constituent by nature, and focuses on the intersections between
constituencies. CFS provides ample opportunity for planning and policy-making
at local, state, and national levels. As a final note, he cautioned about
potential conflicts and tensions that tend to rise in multi-issue coalitions.
Mark Winne, of the Hartford Food System, presented the activities of the
Community Food Security Coalition over the past year and a half. Since its
founding meeting in Chicago in August, 1994 of representatives from 25
groups, the Coalition has conducted the following activities:
* Written and distributed 1,500 copies of the Community Food Security
Empowerment Act, with a longer 75 page version also available from UCLA's
Lewis Center;
* Gained the endorsement of 126 organizations-many of which are themselves
coalitions of many organizations;
* Created a 2,000 name database of individuals and organizations working in
food and agriculture issues;
* Created three copies of the CFS News newsletter;
* Wrote and coordinated the successful passage of the Community Food Security
Act through Congress;
* Gained the support of 26 bi-partisan House members of the CFSA;
* Conducted outreach to the media, distributing over 400 press kits;
* Published articles about the Coalition in major newspapers, magazines, and
newsletters across the country;
* Promoted CFS at a wide range of conferences across the nation;
* Convened Feb. 8th meeting;
* Received $75,000 in grants, and maintain a balance of $13,000;
Hugh Joseph, Tufts University, and Julie Paradis, staff at the House
Committee on Agriculture, spoke about the evolution and status of the
Community Food Security Act. Important to the success of this program is that
the funds are granted directly to community organizations and not to the
states; that adequate fundable demonstration projects be identified; and that
it will become a mandated program. The Act is now contained within both the
welfare reform and budget reconciliation packages, which were passed by
Congress but vetoed by the President. Julie Paradis noted that the CFSA is
not currently included within the Farm Bill, although with its strong
bi-partisan support there is the possibility that it could be added in.
Panel 2: Reports from the Field: State and Municipal CFS Organizing
Kate Fitzgerald explained Austin, Texas' Sustainable Food Center's activities
as an aggregate of food and agriculture policy and community-based projects.
Their work includes: developing a community garden with 35 plots at a public
housing site; food and nutrition education classes for low income persons as
well as a cooking camp for latchkey kids; research into food access and
publication of the "Access Denied" report; development and staffing of the
Austin/Travis County Food Policy Council, which recently has inaugurated a
new bus line to take residents of a low income community to supermarkets. On
a state level, they have sponsored legislation to provide state land for
community gardens; create a demonstration program for Electronic Benefits
Transfer for food stamps at farmers' markets; and create a Texas Food
Security Council. They also host the Texas Sustainable Agriculture Working
Group with over 1,000 members.
Kathy Lawrence, of New York's Just Food Alliance addressed the need for
coordination and communication between that city's multiple organizations
working on food and farming issues. Just Food Alliance unites parallel groups
to foster collaboration; promote public education of food security; and
develop a legislative agenda. As an example of its activities, it held on
Feb. 10, it held a city-wide drive to sign up community supported agriculture
subscribers for 10 local farmers.
Andy Fisher, of Interfaith Hunger Coalition, described the process in which a
food policy is being developed in Los Angeles. The city appointed Volunteer
Advisory Council on Hunger has proposed the creation of the Food Security and
Hunger Partnership, a public-private partnership to be located in the
Mayor's Office, with advisory authority to the Mayor and City Council. To
maintain financial independence a separate non-profit organization would be
created to raise funds from foundations and other private sector sources. It
would approach food security from the perspective of community economic
development through pilot programs.
Gail Feenstra, of the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
Program described the creation of a Community Food Security committee within
the California Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SAWG). One of the
committee's projects has been an unsuccessful attempt to link local farmers
with residential institutions. The Committee has identified priority areas
for 1996 as being the development of guidelines for food policy councils;
research on food prices and sustainable agriculture in the context of low
income communities; the creation of a speakers bureau; and increasing access
to farmers' markets for food stamp recipients.
Alison Clarke of Politics of Food in Rochester, NY spoke about the efforts of
the New York SAWG in promoting connections between local farmers and low
income persons. They have focused on promoting local produce in the schools;
school gardening; a landscape gardening training program; and a community
supported agriculture project which has established farmstands in
impoverished neighborhoods.