BERKELEY     FOOD POLICY     COUNCIL

Celebrating a Year of Work

Accomplishments in 2002


In 2001 our crowning accomplishment was the passage of the City of Berkeley Food and Nutrition.  We spent the first few months of this year brainstorming and focusing our ideas for implementing the new Berkeley Food Policy. We talked as a group about the feasibility, resources available, interest, and strategic priority of our top ideas and developed working groups and action strategies accordingly.  Progress was made on the following ideas:

  • Berkeley Food Policy Council (BFPC) support for B.O.S.S. Urban Garden Institute use of Santa Fe Right of Way land
  • Farmers' Market education and outreach project, i.e., school to farm fieldtrips
  • Inventory of vacant/available land in Berkeley
  • Matching land with gardeners/backyard garden exchange project
  • Resource guide on local food
  • True cost of food flyer
  • Land development issues - agricultural easements/regional action
  • Mapping existing resources within our membership, the community, and the city government
  • Increasing access to healthy foods (specifically fresh produce) for underserved areas of the city.  Farm Fresh Choice, initiated as a Berkeley Food Policy Council, went on to become a project of the Ecology Center.
  • Collaboration with the City Department of Parks, Recreation and Waterfront on a range of issues such as future edible public parks and food served in after-school/summer programs.
  • Exploring supports for corner markets and liquor stores to increase quality and quantity of fresh produce.
  • Outreach to community residents in South and West Berkeley about local food sources.
  • Mapping existing resources within city departments and within Alameda and Contra Costa County as well as non-profit community groups that can help implement the Food Policy.

As part of our efforts to participate in regional and state collaborations to impact policy and improve our local food systems, members were involved in:

  • Presenting at or participating in the California Community Food Security Network summit:  Organizing for Action and presented summaries at Council.
  • The development of the Community Food Security Coalition publication:  “Weaving the Food Web:  Community Food Security in California”.

We also continued in our intention of serving as an information clearinghouse for community food security.  In 2002 we hosted or sponsored the following events and presentations

  • Tamara Gardner, student in the Master's program at UC Berkeley School of Public Health, presented results from her food survey of SouthWest Berkeley
  • Sponsored one of the California Food Security Network (CFSN) Listening and Networking sessions.  The purpose of this session was to introduce participants to the work of the CFSN organizing project; elicit participant input on issues and priorities for building community food security in the state; and to build buy-in and participation leading up to the CFSN Organizing Summit in June and beyond.
  • Claire Cummings discussed "Ten Things you should know about Food", addressing a range of food issues such as local food sheds, "sustainable" versus "organic", and regional food topics.
  • Katy Mamen from the International Society for Ecology and Culture made a special presentation:  "Local Food, Globally: the role of local food systems in building a just world", a slideshow outlining the arguments for localizing our food systems, showing how what is happening with food is part of the much broader process of economic globalization as a whole.
  • Presentation on BREAD (Bay Area Regional Exchange and Development)
  • Presentation by the Eco Center's delegation to Cuba
  • Informal highlights of the Eco-Farm Conference from people who attended
  • A report on Hunger in Alameda County from the Alameda County Community Food Bank and data from the Farm Fresh Choice project.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens
can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

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