OFPC in the News

Check out what people are saying about the OFPC and how the council is getting involved in the local community!

Fall 2011

Jennifer LeBarre, OFPC council member, has been awarded the title of a “Health Happens Hero” by the California Endowment

18 October 2011

LeBarre is recognized as an innovator for bringing healthier, fresher foods to public schools throughout Oakland. As the Director of Nutrition Services of Oakland Unified, LeBarre works within a budget of just $1.20/plate. About 55.9% of California students are eligible for free or reduced-fare lunches and in Oakland Unified, more than 1/3 of the students are overweight. LeBarre is taking the necessary steps to bring more options to students that are freshly prepared and high in nutritional value. Though this means changing youth’s “normal” diets, LeBarre is promoting the new menu by being real with the students. “We don’t emphasize what’s not there,” LeBarre told the Bay Citizen. “We tell them, ‘you don’t need beef or pork or chicken to have a complete lunch.’”

New CA financing initiative to increase access to healthy food in Oakland (Community Voices)

13 October 2011

“AB 581 has the potential to bring more grocery stores and farmers markets to the city. It also will provide start-up funding to fresh food vendors. This expansion would create more jobs and improve the health of communities in Oakland and across the state.”

Governor Jerry Brown recently signed the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative, as put forth by John A. Perez of Los Angeles. The bill declares that “access to healthy food items is a basic human right” and may have a large impact on Oakland. The Oakland Food Policy Council is just one supporter of a fresh food financing initiative and will continue to play a role in ensuring that communities receive appropriate financial and technical assistance to battle health disparities, strive for food justice, and improve the local economy through local funding awards.

Justice—and Good Grub—For All

18 Sept 2011

“The 21 members of the council, whose work is supported by city, county, and foundation funding, imagine an Oakland where fresh food is available within walking distance of all its residents, where swaths of green space are cultivated for edible production, and where small, local food entrepreneurs flourish along with full-service grocery outlets.”

Cal Alumni Association writes about the OFPC’s rise to action within the City of Oakland. The Association provides quotes from current and previous members, including Wooten, McClintock, and LeBarre. The Council’s recent arrival to the food policy scene has not gone unnoticed. The “quickly put together” Statement of Urban Agriculture and 10-point Plan For Action to expand accessible and affordable farmers’ markets, encourage healthy mobile food vending, and develop a fresh food financing initiative, created under former coordinator, Alethea Harper, are proving to have successful results within Oakland’s own policies. The Council recently helped to amend zoning regulations for urban farmers, the first changes since 1965. The OFPC plans to go well beyond “that of cities like San Francisco [to] include conditions for raising farm animals without a permit.” Though this may take some time, the Council is pursuing its efforts and gaining supporters across the board from partnerships and from its own represented fields.

Oakland Urban Livestock Report explores impacts of raising animals on city farms

Oct 4: Former OFPC member, Nathan McClintock and urban farmer, Esperanza Pallana, published the Urban Livestock Report to assess the conditions under which Oakland urban farmers are raising their livestock, if any. The report intends to influence the policies surrounding the ability to raise and sell animals as a means of food, food products or soil upkeep, within city limits. There will be a city meeting Tuesday, Oct 4 that will discuss the terms of the Conditional Use Permit to sell produce directly from urban farms, but "regulations concerning animals will not be discussed Tuesday; the city council is considering the issue of urban livestock as part of a wider update to urban agriculture policies." View the Urban Livestock Report here.

Heather Wooten speaks out for AB 581: "The access to healthy food is a basic human right"

The Healthy Food Financing Initiative is currently awaiting Governor Jerry Brown's signature. Though the Bill came out of an initiative with corporations to create new supermarkets, there is opportunity available for growth of local merchants and production. "The bill defines food deserts as neighborhoods lacking access to “affordable, quality, and nutritious foods.” This is different from the federal definition of a food desert, which uses the distance from households to the nearest supermarket as a measure. Wooten said the definition of a food desert needs to take into account that supermarkets are not the only venues selling healthy, affordable food. Community gardens, produce shops and farmers’ markets can also bring fresh produce to a community."

Critical Consumerism : The 2012 Farm Bill: National food policy debate sparks local food justice concerns

22 Sept 2011

“The workshop was simultaneously a place to learn and a space to organize around food justice. Access and price of healthy, un-processed whole foods were discussed, as were the environmental implications of factory farms and subsidies. A diverse array of Oakland residents was present, with differing concerns and interactions with the food community and food politics.”

The OFPC, HOPE Collaborative, California Food and Justice Coalition, and People’s Grocery sponsored and facilitated a Farm Bill workshop in August of 2011. The workshops were established to help put the Bill into perspective of how it affects urban residents in terms of access to fresh, healthy food and create a forum that allows people to express ideas and beginning finding solutions to food-related problems. The workshop used vocabulary and methods that are common “organizing tools for progressive groups.” The author, Kelly Ernst Friedman’s “goal with this column is to discuss issues of consumer activism and critical consumption organizing both at the local, grassroots level as well as the national discourse around the protection and consumption food, space and resources.”

Summer 2011

CFJC, HOPE and the OFPC host West Oakland Farm Bill Workshop (Community Voices)

The OFPC co-hosted two Farm Bill workshops in August 2011 with California Food and Justice Coalition, HOPE Collaborative, and People’s Grocery. The hosts facilitated an active discussion that got community members assessing the impacts of the Farm Bill upon their own communities. “The workshop hoped to clarify some of the complex language of the 2008 Farm Bill, relate it to our daily lives, engage residents in discussion surrounding food access, quality and nutrition, and bring people together to create solutions and positive changes in our food system.” Lotta Chan of CFJC gives an account of the activities, problems addressed, and conclusions reached in this article.

Watch Aaron Lehmer’s introduction to the Oakland Urban Agriculture Community Meeting that took place in July after an OFPC urban ag all-council meeting. Aaron speaks on behalf of the OFPC and supporters of Urban Agriculture for a new definition of urban ag that incorporates a sustainable and appropriate food system in Oakland that serves the local community as an economic, environmental, and community health incentive.

Aaron Lehmer of the Oakland Food Policy Council in the Oakland Tribune on the Power and Promise of Growing Local

"...As our oil-based, corporate food system continues to falter, more of us are realizing that growing local is an economical and ecological solution for our communities.

Here in Oakland, a broad, diverse coalition is working to update the city's outdated zoning codes in ways that will create a vibrant, humane and neighbor-friendly local food system. Obsolete laws currently place undue barriers on residents and community groups who wish to grow and sell their own produce, and conflicting or unclear language has left a murky legal environment for urban gardeners and farmers.

By breaking down these barriers, we can create more community gardens, more local food enterprises, and more affordable, healthy food options for our low-income residents. We can also open up more safe and welcoming spaces where the community can come together, learn hands-on gardening skills and nutrition, and reconnect with the land. Expanding urban agriculture can also help Oakland reduce the impact of carbon emissions by cutting the need to transport food, and boost the local economy by encouraging food dollars to stay within the community.

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Let's take a stand together for a strong, integrated, and locally resilient food economy where everyone can take part in growing their future. In the process, we can make Oakland a national model for urban sustainability and local self-reliance. Join your fellow Oaklanders in seizing the power and promise of growing local."

Planning commission votes to ease restrictions on selling backyard produce

Oakland Takes First Step Toward Embracing Urban Agriculture

By Nate Seltenrich
East Bay Express
Thu, Jun 16, 2011

"At last night's city planning commission meeting, Oakland quietly took its first steps toward allowing commercial urban agriculture on private land. Tucked amidst a packed agenda featuring fifteen separate items was a provision to amend the city's Planning Code to allow crop-growing as a home occupation — meaning it would be legal to sell produce grown on private residential land, provided the activity did not result in noise, traffic, or smell nuisances.

"...In the coming months, the city plans to hold a series of meetings with community members, advisory committees, and the Oakland Food Policy Council to address related issues..."

Spring 2011

Food First! A Conversation with Eric Holt-Gimenez

Food First Executive Director Eric Holt-Gimenez talks about the Oakland Food Policy Council with the North Coast Journal: "It’s probably one of the most representative councils in the country. It’s a very promising development regarding our food system because its really about democratizing our food system at the local level."

Author Raj Patel’s food revolution: From chips to salad

Raj Patel mentions the OFPC in an interview with Berkeleyside: "Close to home, the Oakland Food Policy Council — local doesn’t have to mean parochial — are doing good work. It’s an exciting time to be organizing around food."

Winter 2010/2011

Upcoming conference: Food Policy from Neighborhood to Nation

The OFPC Coordinator will present during two workshops at the CFSC's "Food Policy from Neighborhood to Nation" conference in Portland, OR, May 19-21, 2011. Check out the workshop descriptions here.

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