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Fall 2011 newsletter:
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November Newsletter
The Oakland Food Policy Council welcomes you to the autumn season! The Council is committed to promoting an equitable and sustainable food system for all residents of Oakland, California. This fall, we've seated five new council members, have hosted our first fundraising event and community gathering, and have been at work refining our first year recommendations.
To learn more about the Oakland Food Policy Council's Transforming the Oakland Food System: A Plan for Action, please attend the December 14 presentation at the Oakland City Council's Life Enrichment Committee. Stay tuned for more details.
Oakland Food Policy Council News
The OFPC Seats Five New Council Members
This past September, the OFPC welcomed five new council members! These new members bring a breadth of experiences and skills to the Council, ad we welcome them on board. We would also like to thank our departing members for being part of the inaugural Oakland Food Policy Council 2009-2010 class; our first year accomplishments would not have been possible without their dedication and commitment to the Council. Thank you Suzan Bateson, Hank Herrera, Abeni Ramsey.
Meet Our New Council Members:
Jason Harvey
Faro Jones
Aja Minor
Allison Pratt
Hai Vo
Please visit this link on the Oakland Food Policy Council website to learn more about our council members.
Oakland Food Policy Council Pizzaiolo Fundraiser
The OFPC held its first public fundraising event last month at Pizzaiolo, the beloved North Oakland restaurant. The fundraising event was an opportunity for Council members to engage with Oaklanders in a casual, community-minded atmosphere, and share the Council's goals and first year policy recommendations. The event featured speakers Anna Lappe and Jason Harvey, both native Oakland-ers who are now spear-heading food justice and health-oriented projects. Anna Lappe's most recent work, Diet for a Hot Planet, connects our decentralized food system and climate change, clearly outlining how eating within our own food shed can help mitigate some of the negative impacts of rising greenhouse gas emissions. Jason Harvey's Oakland Food Connection is an East Oakland-based project that connects community, food, and culture. Jason's groundbreaking project has served as a means to connect local residents with institutions that produce, distribute, and sell locally grown food.
The fundraising event also included a silent auction, and items were generously donated by the following local artisans and organizations: Blue Chair Fruit, the Oakland Raiders, the Golden State Warriors, All Edibles, local artist Macy Chadwick, Dr. Raquelle Martin, Rowena Garcia, and Martha Katigbak-Fernandez, and Robin Plutchok.
Local wine and spirits partners include Dashe Cellars, Linden Street Brewery, Periscope Cellars, Merryvale Starmont Winery, Irish Monkey Cellars, and JC Cellars. Of course a heartfelt thank you goes out to Pizzaiolo, which partnered with the Oakland Food Policy Council in organizing this fundraising event.
Meet Council Member Hai Vo
Hai Vo is a young scholar seeking food justice within his lifetime. He organizes with Live Real, an organization harnessing the power of young people across the nation to radically change the food system in policy and practice. Hai is a 2009 recipient of the Earth Island Institute's Brower Youth Award for his efforts with the Real Food Challenge. He is a 2008-2009 Sustainable Agrifood Systems Fellow with UC Santa Cruz's Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. Honored with a BA in Social Ecology at UC Irvine, Hai is a fervent food fermenter, avid agroecologist, and overzealous outdoors-person.
Meet Intern Lia Mezzio
Lia Mezzio got her start in food politics in high school as a volunteer for East Bay Food Not Bombs, cooking free, healthy vegetarian meals for the community from would-be-wasted edible surplus. Some time elapsed and she went on to major in Political Science and Peace & Conflict Studies at U.C. Berkeley. Her junior year of college took her overseas to Dublin, Ireland where she engaged in fair trade/trade justice work, gaining knowledge of the intersection of E.U. agricultural policies and international development. Lia's passion is to continue on in the development field and trusts that her experience at the Oakland Food Policy Council will help her to be instrumental in improving the vitality of other localities, locally or globally.
Oakland News and Events
Phat Beets Produce aims to create a healthier, more equitable food system in North Oakland through providing affordable access to fresh produce, facilitating youth leadership in health and nutrition education, and connecting small farmers and farmers of color to urban communities via the creation of farm stands, farmers’ markets, and urban youth market gardens.
Phat Beets Produce offers a community workshop series as well. Please visit their website for more information.
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Oakland Food Policy Council to Present its Transforming the Oakland Food System: A Plan for Action to the Life Enrichment Committee on December 14.
Much of 2010 was spent refining our goals and creating first year policy recommendations to the City Council. Please join us for a presentation of our first year recommendations; stay tuned for more details!
National Food Policy News
The Reinvestment Fund and Policy Link's GIS Tool
The Reinvestment Fund, the Brookings Institute, and PolicyMap have created a geographic information system (GIS) mapping tool that is designed to guide the strategic work of policy makers at the local, state, and national level. The interactive mapping software allows one to examine low food access areas (LAA) and layer it against other demographic and economic data, such as educational attainment, age, median household income, and the presence of SNAP and WIC authorized retailers. Click here to read the full article.
November Recipe
John Silva's November recipe:Seasonal Wild Mushroom & Herb Pot Pie. Click here to read the recipe.
Stay Involved with the Oakland Food Policy Council!
