Training
The FPN team provides training and technical assistance to FPCs and groups of FPCs that wish to collaborate on local, state, regional, and tribal food policy. Below is a sampling of past and future trainings that we have facilitated. Please contact apalmer6@jhu.edu for more information.
Is your food policy council looking for a consultant? The FPN team has compiled a roster of consultants with experience working on community food assessments, strategic planning processes, organizational development, policy evaluation, meeting facilitation plus a range of other areas.
- Find a Consultant (Learn on how to use AirTable here)
- Here is the link to the survey for people to be added to the consultant list.
Events
FPCs and COVID-19
The FPN project is supporting food policy councils in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic by hosting roundtable discussions and webinars that feature food policy councils talking about the strategies that they are trying and the policies that they are recommending to address COVID-19. Learn more about the webinars here.
September 20-22, 2021
The Power of Food: Cultivating equitable policy through collective action, Kansas City, MO
The Power of Food Forum is the first-ever national forum dedicated to supporting food policy councils (FPCs) and similar groups advocating to advance policies that create a more equitable and sustainable food system at the local, regional, state and national levels. It will use a mix of innovative convening formats to create an interactive, engaging, and welcoming space for attendees to: share experiences and ideas; explore how to shift power in the policy process; develop advanced organizing and advocacy skills; and examine the intersections of the food system with other emergent policy issues. The Forum aims to strengthen the effectiveness of FPCs as a collaborative, civic engagement model for equitable food systems policy change. Read about the Forum values, goals and outcome here.
January 24-25, 2020
Shaping State Policy Through Local Mobilization, Little Rock, AR
Mark Winne and Karen Bassarab led a session about the state of state food systems legislation at the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group annual conference. The session highlighted examples of state legislation that support local food systems efforts and efforts to mobilize local coalitions to engage in state policy issues.
January 21, 2020
Resident Food Equity Advisors as a Civic Engagement Strategy Workshop, Baltimore, MD
Anne Palmer and Karen Bassarab partnered with Holly Freishtat and Alice Huang (Baltimore City Food Policy Initiative) to host a workshop exploring the creation and evolution of the Resident Food Equity Advisors model for the creation of resident-informed policy. Funded by the Urban-Driven Innovations for Sustainable Food Systems project, participants from cities across the US met in person to learn about the model, hear about other resident engagement projects, and discuss how to adapt this model.
December 9-11, 2019
Three Decades of Food Policy Councils: Lessons from the Field, Savannah, GA
Anne Palmer and Mark Winne led a workshop session with Laureen Husband (Operation New Hope) and Dawn Plummer (Pittsburgh Food Policy Council) at the 2019 Community Food Systems Conference on the evolution of food councils and effective strategies for community inclusion and advocacy. The session highlighted how to apply a systems approach to better understand the community context and policy priorities of FPCs.
December 5, 2019
Placing North Carolina in the National Context: Lessons Learned from Food Councils Across the US, Rocky Mount, NC
Raychel Santo led a workshop at the North Carolina Food Council Gathering on of how food policy councils are advancing a variety of policy initiatives and elevating equity and community leadership in the policy process. The session explored how the examples could be used or modified in North Carolina.
November 14, 2019
Food Policy and Food Policy Councils, Alexandria, LA
Karen Bassarab and Elisa Muñoz-Miller (New Orleans Food Policy Advisory Committee) led a workshop for the Louisiana Food Fellows on the role of food policy councils in food systems policy change and the process of determining appropriate policy solutions to food systems problems.
October 28, 2019
Redesigning the table: Using equity and systems for collective action and Placing the Ohio Food Policy Network in context: An Overview of Food Policy Councils across North America, Columbus, OH
Anne Palmer and Raychel Santo hosted a co-learning and sharing workshop at the Ohio Food Policy Summit on how to integrate equity and systems practices into food policy councils’ organizational structures and policy work. They also shared specific, tangible examples of how food councils are applying systems thinking and equity commitments in practice.
September 3-5, 2019
Feeding Democracy: Equipping Residents to be Food Systems Policy Leaders, Raleigh, NC
Karen Bassarab facilitated a panel discussion at the Closing the Hunger Gap Conference featuring Alice Huang (Baltimore Food Policy Initiative), Winnie Huston (DC Greens) and Clare Fox (Los Angeles Food Policy Council) talking about strategies to build the advocacy capacity and amplify the voices of community members for food systems policy change.
August 28-29, 2019
Building Equity Through Strength Workshop, Alexandria, LA
Mark Winne and Karen Bassarab co-hosted a workshop with Andy Fisher (Central Louisiana Economic Development Alliance) and New Entry Sustainable Farming Project on how to grow support for food systems change through collaboration and federal funding. Attendees explored elements of successful and productive partnerships, how to align efforts for collective action, how to effectively win USDA Community Food Projects Competitive Grants, and funders’ considerations for investing in food systems projects.
June 26-29, 2019
Food policy councils as strategies for finding a home in the wilderness, Anchorage, AK
Anne Palmer participated on a panel with Gail Feenstra (University of California, Davis) and Elizabeth Hodges Snyder (Alaska Food Policy Council) on the politics of food system change at the joint annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Food and Society and the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society.
May 7, 2019
Reducing Food Insecurity through Local Food Policy Council Community Advocacy, Hunt Valley, MD
Karen Bassarab participated in a panel discussion with Heather Bruskin (Montgomery County Food Council), Dan Fiscus (Western Maryland Food Council), Holly Freishtat (Baltimore Food Policy Initiative) and Sydney Daigle (Prince George’s County Food Equity Council) at the Maryland Community Action Partnership Human Service Conference. The panel discussed the role of food councils as partnership models to help reduce food insecurity.
April 12, 2019
Building a Sustainable Food Future for Western Maryland
Anne Palmer, Mark Winne and Caitlin Misciazek led a presentation at the 2nd annual conference of the Western Maryland Food Policy Council to discuss the state of the food system in Garrett, Allegany, and Washington Counties.
March 29, 2019
Food policy work at the state level: examples from the U.S., Dover, DE
Anne Palmer and Karen Bassarab led a presentation during the Delaware Farm & Food Planning and Networking Seminar on current legislative initiatives led by food policy councils to increase access and affordability of healthy food through initiatives aimed at consumers and incentive programs for producers.
January 24, 2019
Connecting community and building capacity in the Southeast, Little Rock, AR
Karen Bassarab and Mark Winne co-hosted an interactive conversation with Jared Cates (Community Food Strategies) about what is needed for communities in the Southeast to increase their capacity to address community food security, sustainability, and equity. This event at the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group conference explored the current state of food systems in the Southeast and engaged attendees in conversation about problems and solutions to food systems issues in the Southeast.