Milwaukee Common Council

City agencies and/or community partners depending on category

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.