Policies for Healthy Farms, Food and People – Opportunities for Collaboration...
From the Ground Up: Community-Based Food Policy Development and Implementation in Oakland, CA - PowerPoint Presentation
1. Community-Based Food Policy Development and Implementation in Oakland, CA Food Policy From Neighborhood to Nation May 20, 2011 Portland, OR From the Ground Up
3. Sabrina Wu, HOPE Collaborative sabrina@hopecollaborative.net Alethea Harper, Oakland Food Policy Council alethea@oaklandfood.org Virginia Hall, HOPE Collaborative vkabst@yahoo.com Presenters
4. Welcome and Introductions Review agenda Icebreaker Community Action Model Community-Based Planning Community ownership in food policy development Community engagement in policy implementation Q&A Closing & Evaluations Session Overview
7. Creating change by building community capacity Asset based - focuses on the strengths or capacity of a community to create changes from within Focus on environmental change to address economic and environmental inequalities Community Action Model
8. Train Participants Define, Design, and Do a Community Diagnosis Analyze Results and Prepare Findings Select, Plan and Implement the Action and/or Activity Enforce and Maintain the Action Community Action Model
10. Formation of the Oakland Food Policy Council Mission: Establish an equitable and sustainable food system in Oakland, CA Goals: Healthy food Healthy local economy Healthy environment Healthy choices
11. OFPC Membership From every food system sector From many “working communities” Business Labor Community orgs Residents Health Education Local governance
12. OFPC Work Groups Primary (Content Areas) Neighborhood City Regional Public-Private Partnerships Supporting Outreach + Recruitment Fundraising + Financing Data Management + Research
15. OFPC Listening Sessions Designed to “check in” with the Oakland community on our draft priorities and recommendations Photo: OaklandLocal
16. Sample Listening Session Discussion Questions Do you have community gardens in your neighborhood? Do you have all the fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, and milk/dairy that you want for you and your family available in your neighborhood? Have you heard of “GMO” in the food supply? Photo: OaklandLocal
17. Sample Listening Session Discussion Questions Are the food trucks, produce trucks, and taco carts in your neighborhood a good source of food? Do you, or a friend or neighbor, want to open a business selling food? Would you need help with funds to do this? Photo: OaklandLocal
19. Community Engagement in Policy Implementation HOPE Collaborative and Oakland Food Policy Council
20. HOPE Collaborative Mission HOPE’s mission is to create community driven and sustainable environmental change that will significantly improve the health and wellness of Oakland’s flatland residents most impacted by social inequities
21. Orientation, Intake, and Self-Assessment Training and Identifying Work Area Post-Assessment and On-going Development Engaging the Community
22. Forming Partnerships Develop and advance a food policy agenda that supports both parties’ common goals Increase collective impact through the strengths and opportunities both parties bring Can be formalized in an MOU
23. Training and skill development opportunities for community members to build knowledge and skills Provide stipends or other resources to community residents Outreach to community members about FPC’s meetings and events Coordinate listening, reportback or other sessions in the community Representative may serve on FPC to reinforce lines of communication Role of Community Engagement Partner
24. Handle policy work around common policy priorities Provide opportunities for community members to participate in food policy advocacy Food Policy Council representative participates in the community organization’s work Role of Food Policy Council
25. Training and Leadership Development Introduction to Food Systems Intro to Local Government Advocating for Local Food Policies Leadership Institute
26. What is the GOAL of the policy? Who makes DECISIONS on the issue? Who can INFLUENCE the decision? What LEVERAGE might you have? Who might your SUPPORTERS be? Who might be in OPPOSITION? What FINANCIAL COMMITMENT would be required, if any? What are some SPECIFIC NEXT STEPS to take? Activity: Developing an Advocacy Plan
Virginia:We’re going to get started now.Welcome everyone to our workshop. The title is “From the Ground Up: Community Based food policy development and implementation in Oakland CA”We are very excited to be here to present to you all and glad you are here to join us.
Virginia
Virginia – introduce yourself first.Each presenter will introduce themselves. Sabrina and Alethea - Give a very short description of each of our orgs here, say that we work together, and that participants will learn more about each org later
Virginia:This is the agenda for our session. We just did Welcome and Introductions and I’m reviewing the agenda. Then you’ll all get a chance to introduce yourselves in an icebreaker. We will go over what a Community Action Model is and review what it looks like in practice by going over HOPE Collaborative’s Planning Phase. Then we’ll discuss community ownership in food policy development and community engagement in policy implementation. We’ll have a Q&A and then closing and evaluations.
Virginia: For our icebreaker today, we’d like everyone to share their name, organization or affiliation, and 1 challenge you face in community engagement.Thank you everyone for sharing your challenges. Hopefully this session will address many of the issues you brought up today.
Sabrina:To start off our session today, I’ll be giving an overview of the framework we use to develop and implement policy and systems change and engage communities.
HOPE uses a Community Action Model, an approach which acknowledges that improving people’s health and well-being necessitateslooking at health and social inequities and the larger root causes and structures. This model stems from the premise that solutions requirethe full involvement and leadership of communities most impacted by inequities. The Community Action Model creates change by building community capacity. It is asset based andbuilds on the strengths or capacity of a community to create change from within. It moves away from projects that focus solely on changing individuallifestyle and behavior toprojects that mobilize community members and agencies tochange environmental factors promoting economic and environmental inequalities.This model provides a framework for community members to acquire the skills and resources to investigate the health of the place where they live and plan, implement and evaluate actions that change the environment to promote and improve health.
Train Participants: This is the first step in the process where you lay out a framework for the work you will do over the course of the project’s term. Participants are recruited and trained to develop skills, increase knowledge and build capacity. The participants will use the knowledge and skills to choose a specific issue or focus and then design and implement an action toaddress it.HOPE began outreach in 2007. We recruited individuals and organizations to join the collaborative. Participants came from a wide spectrum of experience levels. As a result of lessons learned from our planning phase, we realize the importance of ongoing training and have built this into our work, even now in our implementation phase.2. Define, Design and Do a Community Diagnosis: This is the process ofoutlining the types of research a community willdo to find out more about the issue and then design the tools to conductthis research. Types of research activities might include:key leader interviews, surveys, researching existing records and data (city/local policies, codes). Then you make the appropriate tools to do research and do it!We started this process with metanalyses to see what data already exists. We then used this information to develop community assessment tools, such as corner store assessments, storeowner surveys, surveys of community members, and neighborhood-based listening sessions and mapping sessions.3. Analyze the Results of the Diagnosis and Prepare Findings: This isthe step where participantsanalyze data,prepare their findings, and choosean action/activity to use in presentations to policy makersand community groups.Our data was analyzed and interpreted by our Action Teams. Sample exercises are included in your packet.4. Select, Plan and Implement the Action and/or Activity: This is the step where advocates use their findings to list a series ofactivities and actions that would provide solutions to the issues they havechosen to address.The Action should be: 1) achievable, 2) have thepotential for sustainability, and 3) compel a group/agency/organizationto change the place they live for the well being of all. In this step, members develop and implement an action plan to achieve whichmay include development of a model policy or advocating for a policy. Each of our Action Teams created a Community Action Plan with 3 sections: Policy; Modeling, Planning, and Programming (to model what policies look like on the ground); and Community Engagement. Participatory activities used in the development of the Community Action Plans are included in yoru packet. We are currently in the process of implementing the plans. 5. Enforce and Maintain the Action: This is the step where advocates have successfully completed an activityand/or action and now reflect on how well their efforts will be maintainedover the long term and enforced by the appropriate bodies.
Alethea
Mention:First meetingHOPE’s ongoing community engagementWhy we have -both- OFPC and HOPEListening sessionsSteeped in research/data, but also based on community processYou can find more on our history starting on page 8 in our written report.December 2006: Oakland City Council Life Enrichment Committee passes resolution allocating start-up funding for establishment of the OFPC ($50,000 from the Williams Energy Settlement)October 2008:Coordinator hired, housed at Food FirstSeptember 2009: First meeting of new membersOctober 2009: Publication of Food Policy Councils: Lessons LearnedDecember 2009 – March 2010: Priorities identifiedApril – June 2010: Recommendations developedJune 2010: Policy and Agency Scan producedJuly 2010:Community listening/dialogue sessionsheld to solicit feedback on policy recommendationsSeptember 2010: Members approve Plan for Action
Alethea
Alethea
HOPE’s community engagement (how to make sure not to lose work that went before)Many formal studies of Oakland food systemFocused on things that are CRITICAL to a healthy, equitable food system, and are MISSING in Oakland
Focused on things that are CRITICAL to a healthy, equitable food system, and are MISSING in OaklandUse this slide to orient folks to Oakland (this is what we want to fix)
1. Do you have community gardens or urban farms in your neighborhood? [If yes] Do you garden or grow food there? [If no] Would you like to see community gardens or urban farms in your neighborhood? [If yes} Would you use them?RELATED OFPC PROPOSAL: Advocate for the development of coordinated City policy and programming strategy to support and expand urban agriculture (including zoning, public land access, and incubation and coordination of urban ag activities).2. Do you have all the fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, and milk/dairy that you want for you and your family available in your neighborhood? [If yes] Where do you get that fresh food? [If no] What do you think you would need in your neighborhood to get that fresh food?RELATED OFPC PROPOSAL: Include and improve access to local governmental agencies that can support the stability of local/regional food infrastructure according to the community's interests. Build relationships with key government representatives and community leaders.3. Have you heard of “GMO” in the food supply? [If yes] Could you please tell us what GMO is? [If no] “GMO” means food made from crops that have been changed by genetic engineering to do things like grow bigger or to grow even when sprayed by herbicides. [Anticipate more questions about GMO and prepare to answer as many as possible.]Do you have any opinions about eating food that comes from GMO crops? Do you mind eating food from GMO crops? Would you prefer not to eat food from GMO crops?What about pesticides? Most growers use pesticides on their crops, which stay on the food that we eat unless we properly wash and rinse the food. Do you mind eating food with pesticide residue? Would you prefer not to eat food with pesticide residue?RELATED OFPC PROPOSAL: Build upon the GMO-ban successes of Marin, Trinity, Mendocino Counties to inform Alameda County-wide policies on pesticide- and GMO-free zones.4. Are the food trucks, produce trucks, and taco carts in your neighborhood a good source of food? Would you want to see more of them? Do you want to see them in different places? Do you own a cart? Do you want to?RELATED OFPC PROPOSAL: Advocate for the development of mobile vending regulations that protect and expand access to mobile vendors providing healthy food. 5. Do you have a farmers’ market in your neighborhood? [If yes] Do you shop there? [If no] Would you like to have a farmers’ market in your neighborhood? Would you shop there? [Anticipate questions asking what a farmers’ market is and prepare to answer them.]RELATED OFPC PROPOSAL: Incorporate use of EBT for healthy food in farmers' markets, WIC programs, and senior nutrition programs. RELATED OFPC PROPOSAL: Develop and approve land use policies (including zoning regulations) to protect and expand farmers’ markets.6. The Council would like the City of Oakland to help set up a fund that will help people from the neighborhood start their own grocery stores and food shops. Do you want to open a business or store selling food? Can you think of a friend or neighbor who might want to do this? Would you use a fund, or any help, to do this?RELATED OFPC PROPOSAL: Advocate for the development of a “Fresh Food Financing Fund” that will provide financing, technical assistance, and location assistance to new food enterprises in underserved communities.7. Is there something else we should work on with the City to solve food access, diet, and nutrition problems in Oakland and in your neighborhood?
1. Do you have community gardens or urban farms in your neighborhood? [If yes] Do you garden or grow food there? [If no] Would you like to see community gardens or urban farms in your neighborhood? [If yes} Would you use them?RELATED OFPC PROPOSAL: Advocate for the development of coordinated City policy and programming strategy to support and expand urban agriculture (including zoning, public land access, and incubation and coordination of urban ag activities).2. Do you have all the fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, and milk/dairy that you want for you and your family available in your neighborhood? [If yes] Where do you get that fresh food? [If no] What do you think you would need in your neighborhood to get that fresh food?RELATED OFPC PROPOSAL: Include and improve access to local governmental agencies that can support the stability of local/regional food infrastructure according to the community's interests. Build relationships with key government representatives and community leaders.3. Have you heard of “GMO” in the food supply? [If yes] Could you please tell us what GMO is? [If no] “GMO” means food made from crops that have been changed by genetic engineering to do things like grow bigger or to grow even when sprayed by herbicides. [Anticipate more questions about GMO and prepare to answer as many as possible.]Do you have any opinions about eating food that comes from GMO crops? Do you mind eating food from GMO crops? Would you prefer not to eat food from GMO crops?What about pesticides? Most growers use pesticides on their crops, which stay on the food that we eat unless we properly wash and rinse the food. Do you mind eating food with pesticide residue? Would you prefer not to eat food with pesticide residue?RELATED OFPC PROPOSAL: Build upon the GMO-ban successes of Marin, Trinity, Mendocino Counties to inform Alameda County-wide policies on pesticide- and GMO-free zones.4. Are the food trucks, produce trucks, and taco carts in your neighborhood a good source of food? Would you want to see more of them? Do you want to see them in different places? Do you own a cart? Do you want to?RELATED OFPC PROPOSAL: Advocate for the development of mobile vending regulations that protect and expand access to mobile vendors providing healthy food. 5. Do you have a farmers’ market in your neighborhood? [If yes] Do you shop there? [If no] Would you like to have a farmers’ market in your neighborhood? Would you shop there? [Anticipate questions asking what a farmers’ market is and prepare to answer them.]RELATED OFPC PROPOSAL: Incorporate use of EBT for healthy food in farmers' markets, WIC programs, and senior nutrition programs. RELATED OFPC PROPOSAL: Develop and approve land use policies (including zoning regulations) to protect and expand farmers’ markets.6. The Council would like the City of Oakland to help set up a fund that will help people from the neighborhood start their own grocery stores and food shops. Do you want to open a business or store selling food? Can you think of a friend or neighbor who might want to do this? Would you use a fund, or any help, to do this?RELATED OFPC PROPOSAL: Advocate for the development of a “Fresh Food Financing Fund” that will provide financing, technical assistance, and location assistance to new food enterprises in underserved communities.7. Is there something else we should work on with the City to solve food access, diet, and nutrition problems in Oakland and in your neighborhood?
For each one, every person voted “important” or “not important”Virginia:We are now going to do a small group exercise. Please break into groups of 5 or 6. Each group will get a copy of Oakland Food Policy Council’s policy priorities. When you are in your small groups, read them over together and then rank them from 1 to 10. Each priority is on its own slip of paper so you can easily move them around in the order you want.When the groups are done, have each one share which one they picked as their top policy priority and explain why.
Virginia:HOPE has 3 Action teams, which serves as the heart of its structure: Economic and Civic Community Ownership, Built Environment, and Food Systems Action Team.I became a member of HOPE Collaborative about two & a half years ago when HOPE was still in its planning stage. I joined to collectively make a change in our communities that have been neglected and denied the opportunity to live a decent, fair, and wholesome life. It is my hope and dream that we can come together on a national level to ensure everyone’s right to access the tools required to live a safe and healthy life.I was recently elected as a Co-Chair of the Food Systems Action Team. As Co-Chair of the Food Systems Action Team I have had the opportunity to be involved in several efforts.I participate in the Neighborhood workgroup of the Oakland Food Policy Council and have attended trainings put on by HOPE and OFPC.My most recent task has been doing door knocking in the community and doing surveys to see what kind of grocery and food options we would like to see in our communities. A copy of the survey is included in your packet in case you would like to do a similar activity in your community.HOPE connects community members to nutrition education and urban agriculture projects in Oakland. Through HOPE, I got connected with Peoples Grocery who is spearheading a healthy eating cooking class that educates people in the community on healthy eating and does hands on cooking with fresh vegetables that come from our community gardens.The Food Systems Action Team has also been hosting field trips to different food businesses in the area. I have been contacting Oakland food businesses to set up these field trips.I am also now a member of HOPE’s Steering Committee, which is the decision-making body of the collaborative.
Virginia:Communityparticipation is an important part of HOPE’s work. As community members, we offer on-going feedback and accountability for HOPE’s policy and systems change work. HOPE offers residents opportunities for growth and leadership as part of a larger community capacity-building effort that hopesto influence and shift the power map of Oakland’s policy-making process.The Collaborative is structured to provide opportunities for leadership development for community members and to ensure a community-driven process. For example, each Action Team has 2 co-chairs. One Co-Chair is a representative from an organization and the other is a community member who demonstrates interest and leadership. We also designate many seats on our Steering and Executive Committee, which are HOPE’s decision-making bodies, to community members. The collaborative is structured in this way to make sure the community voice is heard and also to provide informal mentorship.HOPE also offers stipends for community members to participate.Most people’s first contact with the collaborative is attending a community meeting or event. Then you meet with a staff member one-on-one to discuss how you want to get involved and fill out a self-assessment tool, which is included in your packet. At this point you can join the stipend program. Next, you attend trainings on food systems, built environment, policy advocacy, or other areas to figure out what you’re most interested in and learn more about HOPE’s work. You can start going to Action Team meetings and participating in activities and volunteer in the office. After you’ve been participating for several months, you meet with a staff member on-on-one again to fill out the self-assessment again, which is a chance for people to reflect on what they’ve learned and what they’d still like to learn. At this point, people might take on more of a leadership role in the Collaborative. For example, during my one-on-one, I expressed interest in being an Action Team co-chair and Steering Committee member and in the past few months, I was elected as a co-chair and now have a seat on the Steering Committee.
Sabrina:One way we help support on-going leadership development is by plugging community members into larger city-wide policy initiatives, such as the Oakland food Policy Council. This provides more opportunities for community members to get involved with policy work and also assists other projects with their recruitment and community engagement.We believe partnerships between food policy councils and community-based organizations are mutually beneficial. Some of the goals are…..Our common goals: increased food security, greater public health, promotion of local agriculture, community economic development
Sabrina:What is the role of a community engagement partner?Training and skill development opportunities for community members to build knowledge of food systems and leadership and capacity to participate in food policy and advocacy workProvide stipends or other resources to community residents to level the playing field and minimize turnoverCoordinate listening, reportback or other sessions in the community for residents to give input on FPC’s work
Sabrina
Sabrina:Intro to Food Systems – introduces a “food systems framework” and highlights the importance and usefulness of using this framework in addressing food issues.Intro to City Government - how Oakland city government is structured, how local policies are made, and how the public can influence them.Advocating for sustainable and equitable food policies - Participants used their new skills to explore case studies of how the policy process plays out and how to develop an advocacy strategy.Leadership Institute - HOPE’s Leadership Institute is an advanced training program for community members to build their leadership in the Collaborative, in their communities, and in the broader policy-making arena. The Leadership Institute will provide an opportunity for residents who demonstrate leadership potential and a commitment to the Collaborative’s work to deepen their skills in policy advocacy, facilitation, communications, project management, working in collaboratives, and community organizing, and broaden their knowledge of food systems, built environment, and economic and civic community ownership.
Alethea
Virginia:Now we have a few minutes to answer your questions. Any questions?