The Syracuse Sustainability Plan is part of the greater City of Syracuse Comprehensive Plan 2040. The Sustainability Plan examines community needs through five components: energy and green building, education and training, food systems, natural environment, and waste and recycling. The plan aims to address each component by establishing goals, objectives and action steps. Goals of the plan include reducing energy consumption and environmental impact of buildings, increasing renewable capacity, supporting needs of the Syracuse City School district, engaging residents in creating a sustainable city and green economy, creating an open space network to connect parks and public spaces with neighborhood green-ways, increase tree coverage, improve ecological value of tributaries, improve ecological management and storm water management, and increase efficiency and effectiveness of waste and recycling operations while minimizing waste production. The plan outlines five goals for the food systems component: 1) partner in the creation of a food system council to sustain municipal and community food initiatives; 2) restore local food system infrastructure by integrating area/regional food production, processing, distribution, and marketing as part of economic development plans; 3) increase urban agriculture in Syracuse; 4) increase access to whole food production pathways; and 5) improve the overall diet of the city’s population. Issues such as land use, transportation and economic development are discussed in the larger Comprehensive Plan.
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Chicago Public Schools Wellness Policy, Chicago, Illinois
Adopted in 2017 by the Chicago Board of Education, the Chicago Public Schools Wellness Policy introduces new provisions that advance the health and wellness of students through strengthening school food policy, increasing access to nutritious foods, restricting junk food marketing, and promoting healthy classrooms and schools. The updated policy integrates the Good Food Purchasing Program, which provides a metric-based framework and tools that guide institutions to direct their food purchasing to suppliers that meet standards related to the program’s core values. The five core values consist of: (1) local economies; (2) environmental sustainability; (3) valued workforce; (4) animal welfare; and (5) nutrition. As Chicago Public Schools serve millions of free breakfast and lunches to students each year, it has been made a priority to provide better food through using procurement dollars to improve freshness, quality, and nutrition, while simultaneously creating opportunities for local, sustainable entities within the food system. Under this policy, the district is committed to values-based purchasing and providing healthy food for children in the city.
Greensboro Fresh Food Action Plan, Greensboro, North Carolina
Funded by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP), this plan set goals to increase retail access to fresh, local produce, and to strengthen the local food system in Greensboro. In order to meet these goals, the Greensboro Fresh Food Action Plan offers three comprehensive strategies: (1) improve retail access to fresh local foods in neighborhoods through community efforts and initiatives; (2) expand existing local food business enterprises; and (3) create new local food business enterprises that address identified gaps in food access. Based on findings from interviews and surveys of residents, businesses, and food system stakeholders, the plan’s recommendations and analyses were compiled to supplement pre-existing community efforts and to address issues related to food access. Some key recommendations are to conduct a Know your Farmer education and outreach campaign to bring awareness to locally available fresh foods, to establish a Food Hub in order to narrow the gap in local food access, to build and sustain relationships between producers, distributors, and customers in effort to create a sustainable market demand for local fresh foods in Greensboro, and several other tangible suggestions. The City of Greensboro offers these recommendations as opportunities of optional participation and encourage public engagement and formation of partnerships amid implementation. The plan was adopted by the Greensboro City Council in 2015.
Take Care New York 2020, New York, New York
Take Care New York 2020 serves as a blueprint that guides New York City’s Health Department in making strides to improve the health of all New Yorkers and to narrow the gap in health equity between residents with more favorable health outcomes and those with adverse health outcomes. Launched in 2015, this plan sets goals to: (1) Promote Healthy Childhoods; (2) Create Healthier Neighborhoods; (3) Support Healthy Living; and (4) Increase Access to Quality Care, with aims to achieve all goals by year 2020. Under the Take Care New York’s 2020 Community Health Improvement Plan, the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene provides detailed recommendations and action items to improve health-related outcomes, and also includes involved partners and how such outcomes will reduce health disparities. For example, the plan recommends public health professionals work with physicians and pharmacists in ‘Health Action Center’ areas (e.g., neighborhoods with low health outcomes) to conduct community health assessments and outreach, as well as increasing outreach at food markets to increase residential enrollment in food assistance programs. The latter is planned to be further supplemented by ‘Health Bucks,’ a program that provides benefits beyond SNAP for low-income residents. TCNY’s first annual update also reports that Shop Healthy NYC and the Urban Health Plan network have partnered with local bodegas and supermarkets to increase access to healthier food options and to educate their residents about healthy eating.
Niagara Falls Local Food Action Plan, Niagara Falls, New York
This plan provides a framework, composed of four priority areas with sub-themes, that demonstrate clear and tangible steps that can be taken to improve food systems in the City of Niagara Falls. The four priority areas consist of: (1) agriculture; (2) healthy neighborhoods; (3) education; and (4) economic development with supporting sub-themes, such as proposed actions (measures to be taken in order to reach goals of priority areas) and promising practices (examples of other models, programs, projects, or organizations across the country that exhibit the Local Food Action Plan’s proposed actions). Prior to finalizing the plan in 2018, surveys were administered to Niagara Falls residents to identify communities’ baseline ideas and interests for local healthy food improvements. By gauging community needs, goals such as improving (farmers’) market operations and increasing access and food procurement for residents have been created to improve the food environment of the city. This resident-centered plan offers recommendations and guides to organizations, planners, and residents with steps to mitigate challenges facing the city’s food system and resident adversities, such as chronic disease and poor socioeconomic conditions.
Open Space PGH, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
The Open Space Plan, a component of Pittsburgh’s Comprehensive Plan, is a guide to the optimal use of vacant, green and recreational spaces. Adopted in 2013, the plan introduced five central goals that seek to transform and sustain the city’s open space system in compliance with the visions of city residents. In 2015, there was an update to the plan’s information of the municipal zoning code in the interest of improving and increasing agriculture, and other food production methods (e.g., aquaponics), in the city. Also included in the plan are other action steps related to urban agriculture, such as ensuring urban agriculture is completed outside of environmentally sensitive areas, and altering regulations to allow urban farmers to sell their produce on publicly-owned land through commercial use agreements (outside of community gardens). Programs and initiatives under the provision of the Open Space Plan have shown to attract new users and partners to Pittsburgh’s open space system. For example, Grow Pittsburgh, an organization that advocates for local food production and healthy living through projects such as Edible Schoolyards and community gardens, is one of several innovative programs demonstrating use of forgotten spaces under OpenSpacePGH. With guidance from the plan, decision makers can re-organize current systems to redevelop them to serve Pittsburgh in an efficient and effective manner. OpenSpacePGH encourages stewardship and documentation of progress toward city goals to advance toward sustainable open spaces that provide opportunity for their users.
Food Scraps Recycling Program, Buffalo, New York
This pilot program, created in collaboration with the City of Buffalo and Massachusetts Avenue Project, seeks to improve recycling rates and allow the City to become cleaner and healthier through the creation of compost using food scraps which would serve as natural healthy fertilizer, and therefore can be useful for our community parks, gardens, and trees, instead of being sent to landfill. This program is viewed as a response to excessive food scrap waste in the city of Buffalo contaminating water streams and therefore negatively impacting the environment and surrounding land. The details of this pilot include further instruction as to food scraps that are considered acceptable for the program such as: vegetable & fruit scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags, cut or dried flowers, nut & egg shells. Unacceptable materials include: meat, chicken, fish, greasy & oily food, dairy, animal waste, litter or bedding, coal or charcoal, coconuts, diseased or insect-infested houseplants, or biodegradable /compostable plastics. The accepted materials will be transferred courtesy of the City of Buffalo to the Buffalo River Compost.
Thunder Bay and Area Food Strategy, Thunder Bay Metropolitan Area, Ontario
Developed by various municipalities in the Thunder Bay Area, the strategy is a regionally-coordinated approach to identify areas of opportunity within the collective food system. Included are strategic points of focus that will contribute to the cultural, ecological, economic, and social health of the region, as well as to a more healthy and sustainable food system. Thus far, the strategy has been successful in increasing local food consumption and continuing the development of the food system through ongoing workshops, conferences, and publications. Pilot studies on increased local food access in institutions (schools, hospitals, etc.) and in community stadiums/arenas have also been completed.
Food and Urban Agriculture Plan: Harvesting Our Potential, Kamloops, British Columbia
The plan adopts a comprehensive approach for developing and implementing policy by taking into consideration the holistic local food and urban agriculture system. Emphasis is given to healthy social and ecological relationships, the development of an equitable economic system, and education and skills training. Additionally, emphasis is given to developing the urban agriculture system in order for Kamloops to be a leader in local urban agriculture policy and planning. This plan is also meant to assist local governments in incorporating food systems planning into existing policies and sustainability plans.
Markham’s Greenprint Sustainability Plan, Markham, Ontario
The sustainability plan includes a section on food security, which explores topics such as food insecurity, health, and waste. Also included are measurements of variables to assess current food system performance, such as agricultural land use, established community gardens, food bank usage, and retail food environments. The section later provides recommendations to increase food security through education, engagement, and increased opportunities in the local food system. Thus far, the sustainability plan has been successful in creating community and allotment gardens within the town.