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June 2005: Mayor Jerry Brown’s Office of Sustainability initiates a study in order to begin a process of evaluating each element of the food system in Oakland, and to provide key baseline information on the various activities that represent it.
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January 10, 2006: The Oakland City Council Life Enrichment Committee unanimously passes a resolution authorizing “...the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability to develop an Oakland Food Policy and Plan for thirty percent local area food production, by undertaking an initial food system assessment study, conducted by a research team from the Department of City and Regional Planning, University of California at Berkeley, at no cost to the City.”
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June 2005 – May 2006:Research for the study, called the Food Systems Assessment for Oakland, CA: Toward a Sustainable Food Plan, is conducted by Serena Unger and Heather Wooten, both graduate students in the Department of City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley. Local food groups provide critical input on the study’s research and recommendations, and support the development of the proposed OFPC throughout the process of its creation.
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July 11, 2006: Food Systems Assessment for Oakland, CA is presented to the Life Enrichment Committee, with positive public response (including the support of local businesses such as the Nomad Café) and positive response from the committee. One of the main recommendations from the Food Systems Assessment for Oakland, CA is that Oakland should form a Food Policy Council.
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December 12, 2006: Oakland City Council Life Enrichment Committee unanimously passes a resolution to allocate start-up funding for the establishment of an Oakland Food Policy Council, with the mission to establish an equitable and sustainable food system in Oakland. (Download the Resolution here, and the accompanying Agenda Report here.)
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Spring 2007: The HOPE Collaborative, a Kellogg-funded Food and Fitness Initiative, is founded. HOPE is made up of individuals, agencies, and organizations working to improve food access and places for physical activity in Oakland’s underserved neighborhoods, and will be a major partner for the OFPC.
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October 17, 2007: City of Oakland Department of Human Services issues a Request for Proposals (RFP) to determine which organization will receive the allocated funding in order to incubate and launch the OFPC.
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January 2007: OFPC Working Group formed, made up of Stakeholders from Oakland’s food system, including representatives from local community based organizations and government agencies.
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May 13, 2008: Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy is selected to incubate the OFPC, and immediately begins fundraising and searching for a Coordinator. Additional funds are provided by the Alameda County Public Health Department, the San Francisco Foundation, the HOPE Collaborative, and the Friedman Family Foundation.
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October 20, 2008: OFPC Coordinator begins work of fundraising; reaching out to partners within the City, the County, the HOPE Collaborative, and other local organizations; designing the processing for identifying and selecting potential OFPC members; and planning for the OFPC’s first full year of operation.
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March 1, 2008: OFPC website and listserv launched
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March 23, 2009: OFPC Introductory Meeting / Kick-off event is attended by over 80 people.
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May 27, 2009: Application to become an OFPC member released at the recruitment meeting
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August 3, 2009: Applications for OFPC membership due.
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August 28, 2009: First class of OFPC members announced. The OFPC will be responsible for building new alliances and dialogues across different sectors of the food system, and developing annual Strategic Plans designed to transform the Oakland food system. Our members proudly represent all sectors of the Oakland food system and our city’s many diverse neighborhoods.
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September 30, 2009: First meeting of the OFPC.
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October 2009: Publication of Food Policy Councils: Lessons Learned
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Summer 2010: We produced a Policy and Agency Scan detailing all policies and agencies related to the Oakland food system at the City of Oakland, Alameda County, and state of California levels.
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Summer 2010: We worked with our community engagement partner, PUEBLO (People United for a Better Life in Oakland), to organize three Community Listening and Dialogue sessions in West Oakland, Fruitvale, and East Oakland to gather feedback on a draft of our Plan for Action. In addition, our full-council and workgroup meetings are attended by a growing number of residents, and to further enhance our ties to the community we will be partnering with the HOPE Collaborative’s Food Systems Action Team. We will handle policy work around our common priorities, and will provide opportunities for community members involved in HOPE’s FSAT to participate in food policy advocacy.
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Summer/Fall 2010: We consulted with Food First to guide development of Cutting Through the Red Tape: a Resource Guide for Local Food Policy Practitioners and Organizers, which will be published by Food First in 2011. This is another in Food First’s continuing series of resources for food policy councils.
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Fall 2010: We helped organize support for a successful proposal that the Alameda County Public Health Department be allowed to seek funding for the development of a “Health Element” for Oakland’s General Plan.
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October 17, 2010: We held our first annual “Party with a Purpose” at Pizzaiolo, which was attended by over 160 people and featured food justice activists Jason Harvey and Anna Lappé.
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September 16, 2010: We welcomed our second group of OFPC members, including our first youth members
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November 2010: We participated in the Oakland Museum of California’s “O Zone” event, the first event in what we hope will be a long collaboration with OMCA.
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November 2010: Our all-volunteer council crafted our first official recommendations to address the needs of the community. Transforming the Oakland Food System: A Plan for Action was released in November 2010 and presented to the Oakland City Council’s Life Enrichment Committee in January 2011. You can read about our ten recommended critical “First Steps” and download the full report!
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Fall 2010 - present: We are working with the City of Oakland’s planning department on proposed updates to Oakland’s zoning code that will expand and protect things like urban agriculture, farmers’ markets, healthy mobile vending, and more.
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June 2010: The City of Oakland's planning department announced their intention to hold a series of public meetings on the urban agriculture zoning update process. The first meeting will be held in conjunction with the July 2011 OFPC meeting.
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June 16, 2010: The planning commission approved the planning department's proposal to to allow crop-growing as a home occupation, the first step in updating Oakland's zoning regulations for urban agriculture.
