Approved by Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock, this executive order sought to establish city vending machines with healthier offerings and proper nutritional labeling. In particular, all of the public city-owned vending machines offerings must consist of at least 75% foods and beverages that meet the Healthier Vending Nutrition Standards informed by the General Services Administration’s “Health and Sustainable Guidelines for Federal Concessions and Vending Operations,” the U.S.D.A.’s “A Guide to Smart School Snacks in School,” and Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment’s “Colorado Healthy Hospital Compact.” These guidelines include foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds with no added sugar, and other snacks that meet the following standards: are less than or equal to 200 calories, 10% of calories from saturated fat, 230 milligrams of sodium, 35% of calories from sugar, and 0 grams of trans fat. Similar standards exist for beverages.
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Boulder County Comprehensive Plan, Boulder, Colorado
This 2018 version of the Boulder County Comprehensive Plan has a section dedicated to the county-wide element of agriculture which has a history of fragmentation through past planning, policy, and university recommendations. The 2018 plan update seeks to preserve agricultural land use by developing urban centers separately, continuing to foster and promote a “diverse and sustainable” agricultural economy in tandem with land conservation, and using water management and preservation strategies for agricultural purposes.These goals are supported by broad agricultural policies as well as policies focused on infrastructure development and weed/pest management.
Seattle 2035 Comprehensive Plan, Seattle, Washington
The City of Seattle first adopted this Comprehensive Plan in 2016 but has made amendments in subsequent years. The 2019 adopted version of the plan outlines policies and strategies for both the entire city and neighborhoods. Goals of the Comprehensive Plan include: maintaining a vibrant city with livable urban neighborhoods and concentrations of development where residents have access to employment, transportation, and other needs-meeting services; accommodating city expected growth while maintaining/enhancing community identity; maintaining the city’s cultural identity and heritage while promoting economic opportunities, environmental benefits and benefits of preservation; create an interconnected city where people have reliable, easy-to-use, and affordable travel options that contribute to a safer city; provide fair and equal housing for all people in Seattle that is affordable, healthy, safe and environmentally sustainable; provide capital facilities that contribute to a high degree of personal and public health and safety, are equitably distributed based on Seattle’s Race and Justice principles while meeting different needs across individuals and communities, and support a resilient natural environment while building community; foster healthy forest and water habitats and ensure that the environmental benefits and minimized burdens are equitably distributed. All goals and objectives of the plan are driven by “Seattle’s Core Values:” race and social equity, environmental stewardship, community, and economic opportunity and security.
Good Food Purchasing Program, Boston, Massachusetts
The Good Food Purchasing Program, developed by the Center for Good Food Purchasing and implemented through an Ordinance Regarding Good Food Purchasing Standards in the City of Boston, requires the city (all city agencies, but primarily relevant to Boston Public Schools) to meet higher standards for nutrition, animal welfare, environmental sustainability and fair labor when making food purchases. The program seeks to bring greater transparency in the food purchasing process, to support support vendors that invest in disadvantaged and minority communities, to address ongoing inequities and issues caused by unequal access to resources in local minority, disabled, and/or women-owned businesses, and to boost the local economy while making a more equitable food system.
Food Access Resolution 20160303-020, Austin, Texas
This resolution passed in order to increase access of healthy and affordable foods in the City of Austin. In order to do so, four primary objectives were included within the resolution: the establishment of a board consisting of city and food systems organizations to develop food access recommendations regarding grocery stores, educational components, expanding communities gardens, and so on; develop a status update on SNAP enrollment within the Austin area and provide recommendations on how to effectively enroll qualifying families; present the preliminary findings to a City of Austin Council Meeting; and incorporate food access issues as a dimension of the City of Austin Equity Office’s mission.
Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH) Program, New York, New York
This program was designed to establish and maintain grocery stores in underserved areas of New York City in order to decrease disparities in accessing healthy, fresh, and affordable food. To do so, the program targeted barriers that organizations may face when entering underserved markets of New York City, such as regulatory barriers, risk aversion, and start-up costs. To decrease these barriers and increase the likelihood of business establishment, the FRESH program offers financial and zoning incentives. Financially, businesses may benefit from decreased land and building taxes, sales tax exemptions, and mortgage recording tax deferrals. Zoning incentives include additional development rights (one square foot of floor area in mixed residential/commercial zone for every one square foot provided for a grocery store), reduction in require parking, and larger as-of-right stores in light manufacturing areas. As of 2015, evaluations of the program have stated that FRESH has been successful in increasing food retail options in underserved neighborhoods across the city.
ReFresh Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
ReFresh Milwaukee is the city’s first sustainability plan. Although the plan covers a range of topics, it includes a section dedicated solely to food systems. The goals of this section include setting a city-wide food policy and action agenda, improving institutional capacity and leadership to better support the resiliency of food systems, and to increase both demand and access to local, sustainably grown, healthy and nutritious foods. Another section of the plan focuses on a food equity growing program called GR/OWN. The goal of this program in the plan is similar to that of the food systems section of the plan; however, the food equity section specifically targets low-income neighborhoods of Milwaukee. Strategies to meet this goal include increasing the use of city-owned foreclosed land and buildings for growing, processing, and distributing food to catalyze the local food value chain, increasing availability of healthy, locally grown foods at traditional neighborhood retail outlets, implementing educational initiatives for nutrition and training for small businesses and growers, and providing creative opportunities to generate income and commercialize urban agriculture.
Be Healthy Denver: Denver’s Community Health Improvement Plan 2013-2018, Action Plan, Denver, Colorado
The Community Health Improvement Action Plan is a supplementary document for the Full Community Health Improvement Plan. The action plan has two components: access to care and healthy eating and active living (HEAL). The goal for the former component is for at least 95% of Denver residents to have access to primary medical care and behavioral health care by 2018. The goal for HEAL is an increase by 5 percentage points by 2018 of Denver children and adolescents who are at a healthy weight. To accomplish this goal, objectives include increasing access to nutritious food in underserved areas and schools, incorporating health in policy, processing, and planning, and developing a HEAL marketing campaign. Strategies to accomplish these objectives include creating incentives for grocery stores and convenience stores in low-income areas to offer healthy foods, increasing urban agriculture and gardens, improving access to farmers markets for low-income populations, and implementing healthy vending policies. The latter strategy was accomplished in 2018 when the Mayor of Denver, Michael Hancock, passed an executive order for healthier vending machines throughout the city.
Healthy Food for Denver’s Kids Initiative, Denver, Colorado
The Healthy Food for Denver’s Kids was created through a 2018 ballot initiative to provide healthy food and food-based education to Denver’s youth, specifically those who are low-income and at-risk. The program is funded the 0.08% increase in sales taxes (less than one penny to $10), about $11.2 million in its first year. The tax revenues are distributed through the Denver Food Commission to help provide three meals a day year-round for children, provide cooking, gardening, and healthy eating classes, support local farms, ranches, and food businesses, and support schools and non-profit organizations supporting healthy eating in youth populations. The initiative is planned to run for a total of nine years (2018-2027).
Residential Sales Ordinance, Denver, Colorado
The ordinance is an amendment to the Denver Zoning Code that allows city residents to sell fresh produce, eggs and ‘cottage foods’ (e.g., spices, teas, honey, jam) that residents grow or make themselves from their home. The resident requires a zoning permit and a food safety course but has new opportunities for supplemental earnings that can result in better economic and health circumstances. Residents have an income ceiling of $5,000 annually. The amendment was developed by the Denver Sustainable Food Policy Council. The intended goal of this policy is to reduce the distance the food travels from food to table and provide supplemental income opportunities for families seeking greater economic self-sufficiency.