Want to Change the Food System? Join a Food Policy Council

I know I keep talking about it. Here's why you should do it.

Photo by Chad Stembridge on Unsplash

One question I get asked a lot is some version of: "How can I get involved in making food a more equitable space?" and the answer based on my experience is: Join a local food policy council! I also recommended it as a strategy to counter the unbearable whiteness of "eating local," and as a way to help ensure food system changes don't inadvertently displace BIPOC communities.

If you've been like, "Okay, calm down about food policy councils—what's the big deal?" this is the day I get to tell you what the big deal is, and why, if you are someone who enjoys this newsletter, I think you should get involved with yours.

Why Local?

In 2017, I had my eyes opened to the power of local food policy making. I was in a GO BIG OR GO HOME mindset, wanting to transform food systems on a huge scale, and believing that anything less was kind of a waste of time. Of course, I was living in a deep red state during Trump's reign of terror, so the food policies being enacted at the state and federal level were grim. So was any prospect of change in the near future.

Then I visited the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and learned about why so much of their current food systems work was focused on the local level. And it made complete sense to me. It is much easier to move the needle locally, especially if you live in a progressive city within a conservative state or country. Changes can be responsive to the unique needs of a specific community, and the smaller size of local governments mean they can take risks and try new things. (I'm thinking about Denver's first round of reparations grants for Black-owned businesses, contrasted with the furor around the national Restaurant Revitalization Fund, which initially prioritized historically underserved groups, until they got sued.)

I returned to New Orleans with a renewed appreciation for the food systems work going on at the city level, and an interest in getting more involved with the New Orleans Food Policy Action Council (NOLA FPAC). I began attending meetings, and became involved with their Food Business Development Working Group. Here in Colorado, I'm currently working with the Denver Sustainable Food Policy Council on changes to address dietary racism, and in 2023 will be a member of the Jefferson County Food Policy Council's first-ever Community Advisory Board! I am so excited about this opportunity, and I'm sure I will share more about it in the year to come.

But for now…

3 Reasons Why You Should Join Your Local Food Policy Council

1. You'll meet other people who care about food and equity.

Okay, maybe not everyone you meet will care about equity; we are all on our own journeys. But food policy councils are generally a place where people are rethinking how their local food system operates, particularly after 2020's food supply chain shocks and increase in households experiencing food insecurity, and racial equity is often a priority for food policy councils and the organizations involved in them, who see how disparities affect their participants' lives.

I rarely meet other dietitians in food policy councils, and that saddens me. Dietitians have a lot to contribute. Depending on your job and expertise, you might know a lot about school food policy, unmet food needs for patients, opportunities for farm-to-institution partnerships, dietetic interns looking for meaningful internship opportunities, and more. The letters after your name can also open doors or add more credibility to an effort, especially if another dietitian is a gatekeeper to change (such as in school food or hospital food).

Of course, it's not only dietitians who have something to contribute—people who do work related to food access, farming, or food production, people who work in the food service industry or in healthcare, food entrepreneurs, parents, college students, or truly anyone who believes their food system could be better serving their community has an important perspective to contribute. 

As Hallie Nelson, the executive director of Jefferson County Food Policy Council (Jeffco FPC), told me,

"Often policy is created based on who is in the room when decisions are made. That has often not included people of color or people with lived or living experience of food insecurity."

So it is especially impactful when those from marginalized, underrepresented communities join food policy councils, to be in the room and part of the decision-making process.

2. Synergy > reinventing the wheel.

Food systems work can be exhausting. There is so much to do. But one of the best things about getting involved with a food policy council is that you realize how many organizations there are doing great work, and through partnerships and collaboration, you can help build on that work, instead of doing it all yourself.

The work I did in New Orleans, supporting corner store owners in stocking and selling more fresh produce, was built on such collaborations. My organization, Propeller, provided the business technical assistance for store owners, Top Box Foods—a nonprofit dedicated to equitable access to fresh foods—handled ordering, storage, and delivery, and graduates of Liberty's Kitchen—a nonprofit providing paid culinary training to youth ages 16-24—handled the preparation of fresh prepared foods sold in corner stores. None of us could have done the work alone, or expanded our operations into new, specialized focus areas in order to get it done. Working together leveraged our strengths, and minimized the funding needed. (Always a central concern in food systems work, sigh.)

And it doesn't have to be as big as a whole new program. Having one organization with the capacity and expertise to make materials explaining the changes to SNAP in both Spanish, Vietnamese, and English—as NOLA FPAC did early on in the pandemic—means that everyone else can put their time and energy toward getting those materials into the communities that need them.

Even if you don't work in a food-related organization, you still have the power to tap into the other networks you are a part of—your kid's school, your faith community, your alumni group, your social media network—to both bring new information and perspective to the council, and share out what you learn.

3. It feels good to contribute to grassroots change.

We are more than consumers. "Voting with your fork"—which essentially means your wallet because how else are you paying for those local, organic carrots?—is a limited form of political expression, and as I wrote about previously, can actually exacerbate problems like gentrification.

We Need to Talk About Food & Gentrification

There are so many small and disruptive impediments to equitable change in local food systems, and they are often hyper-local. Policies around zoning, permitting, waste management, and other topics that on the surface may seem unrelated to food can actually have huge impacts on the equity and accessibility of local food systems. If you take a peek at NOLA FPAC's A Greener NOLA policy platform, which seeks to encourage growing food in the city, it asks for changes that involve reporting of blight, installation of agricultural water meters, and property value appraisals. Very local considerations that at the moment are creating very real barriers for those trying to grow food in the city.

Where did all those identified barriers and suggested changes come from? They could only come from community members who are deeply familiar with the process of growing food in New Orleans. And there is something so satisfying about that, when so much policy-making happens in closed-door rooms, between people who have little direct experience with the issue they are legislating.

(Related side note: I love that these NOLA FPAC members talked about the Greener NOLA policy campaign at their wedding! That’s local food systems love.)

"Big businesses are good at navigating policy systems," Hallie pointed out when I asked her about the benefits of joining an FPC. "[C]ommunity members, local food businesses and nonprofits can join a FPC to make their voices heard in local decisions."

Connection is healing. Connection to others as you work together toward a shared vision, connection to your community as you support organizations doing important work, and connection to the results of your labor. So much of the work we do day-to-day is unseen and ephemeral—emails sent, meeting agendas completed, TikToks made irrelevant two days later—there is something nourishing (pun intended) about food work that can lead to concrete results.

It all starts with finding your local food policy and joining a meeting. They are often virtual, or have a hybrid option. I like getting involved in working groups or subcommittees, because they are smaller, so it is easier to get to know people, and they are typically where the policy action happens. And where you go from there is up to you and your community.

I would LOVE to know if you are involved in your local food policy council. If so, what are you working on? Feel free to comment or reply and let me know!

For free subscribers, this is the last post of 2022. See you in the new year! For paid subscribers, look for a Very Special Friday Joy newsletter at the end of this week.