Oakland Food Policy Council

Oakland Mobile Food Vendors & Pushcart Workshop - Oakland Food Policy Council

Come to a public workshop on mobile food vending and pushcart vending in Oakland on Monday, November 15, 10:00 am. For more information, click here.

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The Ecology Center, People’s Grocery, Haiti Action Committee, Food First, Planting Justice, Phat Beets Produce, and KPFA’s Hard Knock Radio have partnered to produce a series of events to benefit the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund (HERF) sustainable agriculture programs and to help people in the Bay Area understand what’s really going on in Haiti. Click on the events below to learn more details.  Full list of events, descriptions, and locations here:

• Thursday, Sept. 16 Wild Fermentation–Sourdough
• Sunday, Sept. 19 Worm Composting with People's Grocery
• Friday, Oct. 1 Film Screening, “Lafanmi Selavi”
• Sunday, Oct. 3 Fall Seed and Guerilla Plant Propagation
• Thursday, Oct 7 Wild Fermentation: Ginger Ale, Mead & Kombucha
• Thursday, Oct. 14 Haitian activist Pierre Labossiere and the Haitian Action Committee: visit Phat Beets Produce for more information.

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Alameda County Leadership Academy

This year Alameda County will be hosting its 10^th Leadership Academy. The Leadership Academy is a free six session interactive forum for people who live, work, or own a business in the County. With monthly sessions beginning in October, participants will hear from top county leaders and learn more about their local government. The program accepts up to 45 applicants to participate each year. The deadline to submit applications for the 10^th Leadership Academy is Friday, August 27^th. For more information, check out this story on A Better Oakland and visit the Alameda County website for application details.

East Bay Evolution Bike Tours
Eat Real Bike Tour $40 early registration includes tastings
Saturday August 28 12pm-4:30pm
$10 discount for members of Walk Oakland/Bike Oakland or East Bay Bike Coalition
Register at http://www.hesternet.net/events.html 

Did you miss something?

The Oakland Planning Commission is scheduled to hear a report on a proposal to seek a health element for Oakland's General Plan on July 7th at 6 p.m. in Hearing Room 1 in City Hall at One Frank Ogawa Plaza.  This item will be first on the agenda.  Anyone interested in seeing Oakland adopt a health element in the General Plan should plan on attending this meeting to express their support.

PROJECT YOUTH CONNECT
For Youth & Young Families Ages 16—24
Friday, June 25, 2010
1:00pm—5:00pm
YOUTH UPRISING
8711 MacArthur Blvd
Oakland, CA 94605

The OFPC will have a table with plenty of informational materials, interactive maps, and several councilmembers on hand. We will also participate in the Healthy Food & Nutrition workshop.

Oakland Mayoral Forum

OaklandSeen and 100 Black Men of the Bay Area will be hosting the first mayoral forum with candidates Terence Candell, Orlando Johnson, Rebecca Kaplan, Don Macleay, and Jean Quan. Community members are encouraged to attend and submit questions for the candidates.

Thursday, June 10th 6:00-9:00pm

First Unitarian Church

685 14th Street, Downtown Oakland

For more information click here.

State of the Plate:

The Oakland Food Alliance is sponsoring this event inviting the public to their second annual “State of the Plate”.  They will be going over the changes and progress that has been made to provide healthier food in Oaklnad schools in the past year.  Speakers will include Jennifer LeBarre, Director of Nutrition Services in the Oakland Unified School District, Chuck Davies, Associate Director of Residential Dining of UCB, and parents from Stonehurst and East Oakland Pride

Invites the public to:

            2^nd Annual “State of the Plate”

            Thursday, June 3^rd

            MetWest High School 314 East 10^thSt.

            330-5

Contact:

510-593-6978

email:oaklandschoolfoodalliance@googlegroups.com

Facebook: Oakland School Food Alliance

San Francisco Planning + Urban Research Association (SPUR) Sustainable Development Commitee Meeting:

Heather Wooten of Planning for Healthy Places will be giving a presentation on planning sustainable food systems!

Monday June 14th @ 12:30 pm

654 Mission Street

San Francisco, CA 94105

for more info click here

National Broadcast Premier of Food Inc
April 21, 2010 at 9:00 pm on POV. Check local listings.

ONGOING: FREE Urban Permaculture Design Workshop, beginning Feb. 10! Gavin Rades, the co-founder of Planting Justice, is offereing free urban permaculture design workshops at the Berkeley Sustainability Institute in Berkeley beginning Wednesday, February 10, 2010. The classes meet from 7:00- 9:15 pm at 2130 Center Street in downtown Berkeley. Please follow this link to learn more about Planting Justice's work.

National Broadcast Premier of Food Inc

April 21, 2010 at 9:00 pm on POV. Check local listings.

Soulful Solstice- Mandela Food Co-Op

Join Mandela Food Co-Op for a Soulful Solstice. Learn how to make homemade Jams at the How to JAM session, Arts and Crafts for Children and Adults, Plus raffle of Holiday Turkeys! Meet Farmers Paul and Ruth Buxman from Sweet Home Ranch. Come support your community owned store!

When: Monday Dec. 21, 2009

Time: 12 noon to 1pm and 5 to 6pm

Place: 1430 7th st. across from the West Oakland BART Station.

Eco-Farm Conference

For three decades, EcoFarm's flagship event has brought food system stakeholders together for education, networking and celebration. With over 60 workshops featuring prominent speakers on the latest advances in agricultural techniques, marketing strategies, research and other important food system issues, along with organic meals and lively entertainment, the Eco-Farm Conference is the largest sustainable agriculture gathering in the western United States. Complete conference schedule, fees, and registration information available online.

Location: Asilomar Conference Center, Pacific Grove.
Cost: see website for fees and lodging.
Info: 831-763-2111, http://www.eco-farm.org/programs/efc/.

Permaculture Paradises Found!
Saturday, July 25th, 10am to 4pm, $35
Permaculturists, it doesn't get any better than this! Visit two permaculture sites in the Bay area, beginning in western Marin County at the Permaculture Institute of Northern California (PINC), past home to internationally recognized Permaculture teachers and community developers, Penny Livingston Stark and James Stark. We'll see how they transformed this residential yard into a lush food forest and Permaculture site extraordinaire. The next stop, Commonweal Garden in Bolinas, the current home of Penny and James. They co-founded the Regenerative Design Institute, which works in collaboration with Commonweal, a health and environmental research institute. Join James Stark himself to see how they are transforming this 17-acre farm into a Permaculture model demonstrating how human beings can live in harmony with the earth.
These two sites collectively feature organic gardens, ponds, greywater systems, greenhouse production, an herb spiral, solar panels, waterfalls, chickens, ducks, goats, an earthen wood-fired oven, earthen plasters, a yurt, light straw clay walls, vaulted straw bale cottage, and a cob building with a dragon-mouth pizza oven. Plus, we'll poke around in buildings under construction that demonstrate cordwood, cob, light clay and straw-bale techniques. To register, follow the link in the heading.

Faith Day in the Park
Saturday, July 11, 9am-5pm
Mosswood Park and Recreation Center in Oakland
Kaiser Permanente Community Benefit (East Bay) and the Faith Initiative is sponsoring "Faith Day in the Park." Health Awareness, Fitness, Nutrition and Community Building are the focus of the festival, featuring vital health screenings and information, youth asthma/basketball clinic, faith team sports competition, musical entertainment, children's activity zone and healthy food vendors, along with a local farmer's market.
If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Tracy Smith at 510-752-2003 Tracy.D.Smith@kp.org for more info.

Inaugural class of the Oakland Green Job Corps Graduation & Reception
Monday, June 22:
Laney College Theater
900 Fallon Street
Oakland, CA 94607
Close to Lake Merritt BART
Graduation 4:00-5:00 PM
Reception 5:00-6:00 PM

BIKE to WORK DAY

May 14, 2009 is the official Bike to Work day in the Bay Area! Visit the official website to find out how you can become involved in the festivities!

July 2010

• The Oakland Planning Commission is scheduled to hear a report on a proposal to seek a health element for Oakland's General Plan on July 7th at 6 p.m. in Hearing Room 1 in City Hall at One Frank Ogawa Plaza.  This item will be first on the agenda.  Anyone interested in seeing Oakland adopt a health element in the General Plan should plan on attending this meeting to express their support. Such a health element could address a wide range of health-related land use decisions, such as:
  • Access to grocery stores and fresh fruits and vegetables
  • Safe places to exercise and play
  • Clean air and environment
  • Limiting an over-concentration of liquor stores and tobacco outlets
  • Designing communities to be safer and reduce crime
  • Promote economic development to stabilize neighborhoods
  • Safe access to public transit and walking and biking paths
  • Sustainable development

June 2010

• Join the OFPC tomorrow at Project Youth Connect, a directservices fair for youth and young families. The fair will takeplace at Youth UpRising, and you'll have the chance to meetOFPC Council members; pick up a copy of the adult or youthOFPC application; and participate in interactive food milesmapping activites! Click here to read more information aboutProject Youth Connect. Lunch will be served!
• OFPC Coordinator Alethea Harper's piece about the role food policy councils play in influencing food policy locally, regionally, and nationally appeared in the Summer 2010 issue of British journal Food Ethics. Click here to visit the site.

March 2010

• Click here to read Ryan Van Lenning's article that recaps the March 18 OFPC meeting.
• Living in the O, an Oakland-based news source, recently posted information about the OFPC's upcoming meeting. Follow this link to read more and to bookmark the news blog. Pull the Root, Plant the Seed, a broad-based social justice themed blog, also has recently posted information about the Oakland Food Policy Council. Click here to find out what Ryan Van Lenning is saying.

December 2009

• Check out Food First's News & Views Winter newsletter.

October 2009

• New Oakland Food Policy Council Sets Course for Better Access-Social Change. Read the article here.
• Check out Food First's News & Views Fall newsletter.

September 2009

• The Oakland Food Policy Council has been seated! Meet the members here.

July 2009

• Check out Food First's News & Views Summer newsletter.

• At the USDA Agricultural Marketing Serivice West Coast Summit, OFPC Coordinator Alethea Harper and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums agreed that the nascent food policy council will help Oaklanders develop greater food and resources security. Read the Oakland Tribune article and a fewblog entries.
• OFPC Coordinator Alethea Harper joined Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums in a call for greater food security in Oakland at the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service on July 9,2009 hosted by Roots of Change.

• OFPC applications are due on August 3. Click here to download an application here.

June 2009

• Just released! Answers to frequently asked questions about the OFPC and a summary of the May recruitment meeting.

May 2009

• The process of identifying and selecting possible members of the OFPC will begin on May 27, 2009 with a food system-wide recruitment meeting.

April 2009

• On April 30, the Public Health Institute, the Oakland Food Policy Council, and the California Food & Justice Coalition held a free screening of 2009 Academy Award Nominee: Best Documentary Feature THE GARDEN at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland. Doors opened at 5:45 pm. The screening was followed by a panel discussion with the Garden Farm leaders, Rufina Juarez and Tezozomoc.

March 2009

• On Wednesday, March 4, the OFPC Coordinator was part of a panel discussion following a screening of the Academy Award nominated documentary “The Garden”. This event was sponsored by the Public Health Institute and The California Food and Justice Coalition, and was held in conjunction with the Network for a Healthy California annual conference. The screening was held at the Crest Theater in downtown Sacramento.
• The OFPC was officially introduced to the elected officials and staff of the City of Oakland and Alameda County at an event on March 23, 2009. The event was attended by over 80 people. Many of the people who were instrumental in making the OFPC possible were in attendance, and expressed their ongoing commitment to launching a successful council. There was a strong feeling that now is the perfect time to be convening the OFPC, with the food systems work gaining momentum here and across the country, and with the inequalities in our current system becoming more glaringly obvious with each passing month. Each of the speakers expressed their commitment to creating an equitable and sustainable food system, either through their personal work or in their professional role.