Denver Food in Communities is a three-year project with the goal of strengthening complete neighborhood food environments through needs-assessment analysis and community collaborations to design and test food access, justice, and/or business pilot projects. The project team also plans to support food policy councils to advocate for policies that support community food needs. Predicted outcomes of the project include increasing: food access points, supportive food system policies and laws, equitable access to ‘fresh, affordable, culturally relevant food,’ and investment in neighborhood food environments. Denver Food in Communities is a project outlined in the Denver Food Action Plan, a supplementary document to the city and county food systems plan, Denver Food Vision.
Blog Archives
2015 Santa Fe County Sustainable Growth Management Plan (SGMP), Santa Fe, New Mexico
The Santa Fe County Sustainable Growth Management Plan contains 15 chapters and corresponding goals, as well as policies and strategies, to chart the future of development in the county while providing a high quality of life and protecting natural resources in the area. Although chapter 4 of plan focuses on agriculture and ranching, the two fields are integral parts of the county’s livelihood. Therefore, agriculture appears throughout the plan in reference to economic development, social and community sustainability, and resource (i.e., land, soil and water) conservation. In regards to food systems, three primary goals of plan are to: 1) preserve, support, promote and revitalize agriculture and ranching as critical components of the local economy, culture and character; 2) support local food systems and food security; and 3) preserve and support community-based agriculture as an important part of the county’s heritage and agricultural sustainability. Each goal is followed by sets of policies and strategies for implementation.
Imagine Austin, Austin, Texas
The Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan provides a road map with intent to leverage the city’s strengths while addressing the negative changes (i.e., loss of natural and open space, poverty, food insecurity, child hunger, and inadequate healthcare) that have become prevalent in the city in recent decades. To address these issues, the plan establishes six areas to assess key challenges and create opportunities for change: (1) preserving livability; (2) expanding transportation choices; (3) tackling the ethnic divide; (4) protecting natural resources; (5) promoting prosperity for all; and (6) collaborating regionally. Under this framework, the city of Austin addresses food related challenges by establishing policies and programs that aid in the development of a sustainable local food system. Some examples include the promotion of the availability to and education about food for residents, the city’s Create a Healthy Austin program which aims to support farm-to-school programs and enact strategies that influence federal food and nutrition programs, and implementing initiatives that make healthy foods accessible and affordable. For each priority program or policy, the plan outlines short-term goals, long term goals, and key challenges for the future that correlate to the six challenge areas. The latest updates on the progress of the plan are outlined in the Imagine Austin 2018 Annual Report.
Local Food Action Plan, Columbus, Ohio
This plan was first conceptualized in 2014 by the Local Food Action Plan Project Team, consisting of staff from Columbus Public Health, Franklin County Economic Development & Planning, and Local Matters, a local community nonprofit. The planning process consisted of three phases: (1) current conditions and visioning; (2) policy and program recommendations; and (3) plan development, and included public comment during each phase of development. The Local Food Action Plan is explicitly intended to inform public policy development and influence programming and community collaboration. The plan consists of four main goals: (1) enhance coordination and communication among existing food resources and agencies; (2) improve access to and education about healthy food, affordable food, and local food; (3) increase the role of food in economic development; and (4) prevent food-related waste. These four goal areas contain a total of 27 specific action items, each of which includes current status (e.g., new work, in process, etc.), organization currently working toward each action, objectives, starting steps, potential measures to evaluate implementation, and resources (existing and required).
East End Grocery and Retail Incentive Program Tax Exemption Act of 2018, Washington, D.C.
This bill exempts anchor retail grocery stores and sit-down restaurants in Wards 7 and 8 of Washington D.C. from real property tax, possessory interest tax, transfer tax, license fees, personal property tax, corporate franchise tax and sales or use taxes on property or services used to build the store. These exemptions are valid for 30 years. The act is one part of a three part bill, The East End Health Care Desert, Retail Desert, and Food Desert Elimination Act, which was designed to bring high quality medical services, grocery and retail services to the residents of Wards 7 and 8.
Denver Food Action Plan, Denver, Colorado
The Denver Food Action Plan, a supporting document for the city’s food system plan, Denver Food Vision, identifies activities currently led by City agencies and public partners that can build a healthier city. The action plan provides information on ongoing projects, and outlines the intended combined impact of the projects as they relate to larger ‘winnable goals’ of Denver Food Vision. The two projects detailed in the action plan are Denver Food Matters and Denver Food in Communities; both have three-year projected deliverables that started in 2018 and 2019 respectively, as well as intended outcomes and impacts.
Denver Food Vision, Denver, Colorado
Denver’s food systems plan, Denver Food Vision, considers and utilizes the city’s consumers, producers, processors, distributors, and retailers to strengthen the relationships for a more inclusive, vibrant, healthy and resilient food system. The plans vision is to foster a common food agenda, develop goals, metrics, and action steps to address critical gaps, stimulate innovation and investments, and leverage existing strengths in the community. Priorities include investing in building community-driven complete neighborhood food environments, improving access to a wide variety of healthy food retail options and ensure affordable food and food education, develop Denver as an epicenter for the regional food economy by supporting Denver food businesses economic strength, preserving regional food systems assets and infrastructure, promoting environmentally regenerative and climate-smart food systems and reducing food waste. Appendix B of the document continues to outline and define focus areas, priorities, strategies and goals. Since its adoption in 2017, Denver has created a three-year Food Action Plan (2018) that outlines specific short-term strategies and implementation plans. Additionally, the project ‘Denver Food Matters,’ addressed in both the food plan and action plan, began its pilot period in 2018.
Denver Food Matters, Denver, Colorado
Denver Food Matters is a pilot project (2018-2020) in the City and County of Denver to sustain ongoing city-level support for food waste and rescue. The project is part of a larger effort to achieve a 57 percent reduction in tons of residential food waste. The project intends to do so by supporting consumer education on food waste, encouraging businesses to reduce food waste and food donations, and expanding residential and commercial composting opportunities. The first deliverable of the project in 2018 includes consumer, business and health inspector education of food waste. The second deliverable in 2019 is food donation policy change and stakeholder engagement. Lastly, in 2020, the expected deliverable is a sustainability plan for residential and commercial composting. Expected outcomes are three-fold: 1) increased household food scrap recycling in homes by diverting waste; 2) increased neighborhood participation in the Sustainable Neighborhood Program and pilot neighborhood level food waste diversion; and 3) increased number of food service businesses in the Certifiably Green Business Program and increased prevented food waste.
Planning for Santa Fe’s Food Future: Querencia: a story of food, farming, and friends, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Planning for Santa Fe’s Food Future is a city-county food systems plan that was created to ensure a safe, healthy and affordable food supply for all current and future residents of Santa Fe. The plan recommends actions that are designed to promote food security, improve access to healthy and affordable retail food outlets, encourage healthy eating, educate consumers, support farmers, enhance food system infrastructure, and protect natural resources. Since the plan’s publication in 2014, the Santa Fe Food Policy Council has put out an annual report (except for 2015) on the progress of the plan towards strengthening the regional food system. These reports are broken down by various topics: ‘getting food’ (improvement of access, self-reliance and procurement, food assistance programs, and the local and regional food economy), ‘learning about food’ (expansion of creative and learning opportunities through cooking, nutrition, and home economics, promotion of healthy and safe built environments, diversification of food access opportunities, aligning wellness policies), and ‘growing food’ (increasing gardens at schools and senior centers, increasing the viability and presence of local gardens, farms and ranches, using programs, incentives and policies to conserve resources, support small farmers, and maximize food production/distribution, prioritizing sustainability in land/resource management and future development). As an example of progress, in 2018, Santa Fe reported that: the city launched a clearing house of local agricultural information and online networking and connections platform in the local food community; the mayor prioritized eliminating hunger which has led to the beginning stages of an action plan; and a non-profit took control of the Community Farm to strengthen food system independence.
Food for All: Inclusive Neighborhood Planning in North Austin, Austin, Texas
This food systems plan builds upon the city of Austin’s 30-year comprehensive plan by offering targeted priorities, strategies, and actions to address food systems-related challenges within the city. Unlike the broader comprehensive plan which utilizes city-level planning strategies, ‘Food for All’ offers planning strategies at a neighborhood-level in order for residents to participate in developing solutions and participating in change within their own communities. Residents reported four main challenges in the evaluation stage of the food system assessment: (i) access to appropriate information; (ii) availability of good quality, healthy foods in neighborhoods; (iii) accessibility due to lack of public transportation and dangerous neighborhood conditions; and (iv) affordability of healthy food. In response, the Austin Office of Sustainability and community partners developed a variety of policy recommendations, including providing information about food and food assistance programs in a variety of languages; monitoring healthy corner store initiatives to address challenges in retailer sourcing of fresh fruit and vegetables; requiring a food systems analysis for all new transportation projects; expanding transportation options for the elderly population; and advocating for higher city incomes, more affordable houses, and the implementation of community improvement projects, such as parks and recreation services.