LAFPC Quarterly Newsletter

Fall 2012

Contents

UPCOMING EVENTS:

• Thurs, 10/11/12 — Panel Discussion: The Farm Bill, Federal SNAP Benefits and the Economy (Keynote speaker: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa)
• Thurs, 10/11/12 — Street Vending Community Meeting
• Thurs, 10/16/12 — “The Hands That Feed Us: Turning the Tables on the Corporate Food System”
• Wed, 10/24/12 — FOOD DAY AT CITY HALL
• Fri - Sun, 11/2/12 - 11/4/12 — Good Food Festival & Conference

NEWS:

• LAFPC Hosts Innovative Healthy Neighborhood Market Training

INTERVIEW:

• Mary Lee, Deputy Director of PolicyLink and LAFPC Member

The California Endowment invites you to join us for “Food for Our Families, Fuel for Our Economy: Why the Farm Bill Matters to Cities.” The panel discussion & workshop will delve into the many ways that federal SNAP benefits and other programs play an important role in the local health and economic vitality of California residents.

Keynote Speaker:

Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, City of Los Angeles

Panelists:
• Secretary Karen Ross, California Department of Food and Agriculture
• George Manalo-LeClair, Executive Director, California Food Policy Advocates
• Michael Flood, President/CEO, LA Regional Food Bank
• Additional Panelists Forthcoming

The event will be held on Thursday, October 11th from 1:00pm to 2:30pm at the Edward R. Roybal Board of Public Works Session Room (City Hall, Room 350, 200 North Spring Street, Los Angeles, California). Please RSVP by Monday, October 8th to (213) 236-3751 or via email at gwasson@rabengroup.com. Parking arrangements will be available at City Hall East.

Show your support for good food in Los Angeles! Please join the Los Angeles Food Policy Council for "Food Day," on Wednesday, October 24, 2012 at 9:00 am. The day will begin at the City Hall Rotunda (3rd floor) with special guest speakers and information tables, and then will continue in the City Council chambers, where L.A. City councilmembers will vote on two food-related motions. Come out and show City Council that Good Food is important to you!

Featured speakers at Rotunda gathering include:

• Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
• Dr. Jonathan Fielding, Director of Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and County Health Officer
• Members of the Los Angeles City Council

Representatives from the LAFPC Working Groups will be on hand to share progress on their initiatives and highlight exciting recent accomplishments. Following keynote remarks, we will move to City Council Chambers to (1) celebrate a Food Day Resolution presented by the Los Angeles City Council, declaring its support for Good Food policy priorities and recognizing L.A.’s commitment to Good Food; and (2) show support for a Good Food Purchasing & Procurement motion that would apply to city government.

The Food Day Resolution calls for:

• Equitable access to affordable, healthy food for all Angelenos;
• Building healthy, vibrant neighborhoods and eliminating health disparities through street food vending, urban agriculture, farmers’ markets and community market conversions; and
• Creating markets to support local growers, sustainable agriculture, and fair pay and working conditions for food chain workers.

The Good Food Purchasing & Procurement Motion calls for:

• The City of Los Angeles will to commit to the Los Angeles Food Policy Council's "Good Food Purchasing Pledge."
• The pledge would require the City to purchase a percentage of its food from sources that meet Good Food guidelines.
• The guidelines emphasize five key values: (1) Local Economies, (2) Environmental Sustainability, (3) Valued Workforce, (4) Animal Welfare, and (5) Health & Nutrition.

More about Food Day:
Food Day is a nationwide celebration and a movement toward more healthy, affordable, and sustainable food. Food Day is powered by a diverse coalition of food movement leaders, organizations, and people from all walks of life. Food Day takes place annually on October 24th to address issues as varied as health and nutrition, hunger, agricultural policy, animal welfare, and farm worker justice. The ultimate goal of Food Day is to strengthen and unify the food movement in order to improve our nation’s food policies. Join this push for a stronger, more united food movement by signing up to organize or attend Food Day events in your community. www.foodday.org.

The Good Food Festival & Conference connects the NGOs, businesses, and individuals who are driving the Good Food movement. This November they’re back in Southern California with a big weekend celebration, including panel discussions, entertainment and, of course, great food. Complete event information can be found at http://goodfoodfestivals.com/la/

Friday, November 2 — Urban Barn Raising (Pasadena)
Join pioneering urban farmer Will Allen and the students of John Muir High School in a community barn raising. The event includes workshops, and an address from Will Allen, and a farm dinner prepared by some top of L.A.'s top chefs.

Saturday, November 3 - Good Food Conference at LACMA
In-depth panel discussions on Building Communities with Food, Good Food = Good Jobs, and Is GMO Labeling Coming to California?

Sunday, November 4 — Localicious Dinner and Fundraiser (Santa Monica)
Be a part of L.A.'s local food party of the year — the Good Food Dinner and Fundraiser on the ocean at the Annenberg Community Beach House. 30 of L.A.'s best chefs will be paired with the famous fare of the Santa Monica Farmers' Market.

On July 26th, 2012, the Los Angeles Food Policy Council produced and hosted a first-of-its-kind business and leadership development training for neighborhood markets in Los Angeles County. About 150 people came out for the training, “From Corner Store to Community Grocer: Everything You Need to Know to be a Healthy Neighborhood Market.” The event built the capacity of store owners and community groups to successfully transform neighborhood markets into healthy food retailers.

The purpose of “converting” corner stores, convenience and liquor stores into community-based grocers that offer nutritious, healthy food is to expand access to healthy food in underserved neighborhoods, support neighborhood development and invest in local business. The objective of the training was to promote the benefits of selling healthy food, and to provide resources and information to assist storeowners.

Located at the Expo Center in South Los Angeles, the training brought together food retail and business development experts, neighborhood market owners and community-based organizations to build skills and relationships needed for successful store conversions. There were nearly 150 in attendance, about half of whom were neighborhood store owners. Most stores in attendance were small, sole proprietorship businesses with at least 7 years operating in low-income neighborhoods. Store owners travelled from all over Los Angeles city and county: San Pedro, Long Beach, Highland Park, Mid-City, Hollywood, and the San Fernando Valley with high numbers from South Los Angeles, where the training was located. Attendees also included staff from community non-profits focused on health and neighborhood development, engaged residents, and food entrepreneurs in a variety of sectors looking for fresh ideas.

The response from participants and presenters was overwhelmingly positive. Training evaluations indicate that 100% of respondents found the information provided at the training satisfied their expectations. Market owners found it valuable to learn about how to engage the community as a way to grow their business, including use of online social networking. Sessions on store layout, merchandising and distribution options were also popular. The corner store owners were appreciative of the resources provided during the training and the attention paid to their challenges and strengths. A number of storeowners were motivated to support CalFresh enrollment at their stores, and to source produce from local non-profits who run urban farms. Nearly every store owner in attendance said they now plan to add healthy foods or offer more!

For photos a full event report, please visit LAFPC's website at http://www.goodfoodla.org/calendar_readmore.php?id=23

For more information on future trainings or store funding opportunities through the Community Market Conversion Program, please email Clare Fox at healthyneighborhoodmarkets@gmail.com.

Mary Lee, Deputy Director at PolicyLink, is a member of the Los Angeles Food Policy Council and participates in the Healthy Food Retail Working Group. Mary helps guide the PolicyLink Center for Health Equity and Place, providing research, technical assistance, and training to public and private agencies collaborating to build healthy communities. She has co-authored reports and journal articles on access to healthy food, the built environment, and the impact of place and race on health.

What is your inspiration for representing people from low-income communities and communities of color? What drives your passion and work?

I went to law school not just to become a courtroom lawyer or a judge—my motivation was much more modest—I just wanted to change the world. I was really young and politically active even as a pre-teen, involved in political campaigns and doing stuff door to door. I used to feel very privileged that I lived in L.A. and not in the South, but as I got a little older I realized that there were actually many of the same inequities in places like L.A, like the arbitrariness of racism and classism. These kinds of things have always been a part of who I am. We have enough to feed people, shelter them, and give them water all over the world, and yet people are still hungry, homeless and thirsty. I don’t get that. So that’s me—really tilting against the windmill.

But I took all this into the way I dealt with law and the way I was practicing law. I was an activist law student and went into legal services. Legal service programs exist to meet the need for civil representation for the poor. So for ten years I did my own practice and worked exclusively with non-profits that did social justice work. I took on individual cases, but also tried to learn about how to change systems. You can pull all the drowning people out of the stream, but if you don’t figure out who’s throwing them in, the problem continues.

How has your past professional experience specifically influenced your current advocacy work and work in the LAFPC?

I had a long history of working on civil rights, social justice, and equity issues before coming to PolicyLink, and I’m lucky that PolicyLink has equity as a big focus of theirs. I’ve worked on a wide range of equity issues, so it wasn’t such a stretch for me to apply it to food. I recognize that food retail and what you eat is an essential component of not just a healthy individual, but of a healthy community.

What are the first signs of a community that does not have adequate access to good food? What are some external signs of a food desert and of a food swamp?

The funny thing is that the phrase "food desert" has gotten so controversial: what is a food desert?

What I normally do when I’m in a place is go about and see what the people look like (in terms of color) and in terms of their income; we tend not to have racially or economically mixed neighborhoods. One indication of food deserts is the absence of mainstream development, and if you do see a supermarket, how well is it maintained? Take Ralphs on Crenshaw vs. Ralphs in Culver City, for example. They’re totally different, and if you covered up the signs, you wouldn’t know that they were both Ralphs stores. In low income areas and communities of color you have to go blocks and blocks and blocks until you see a place that has a variety of healthy food. When you do find food, chances are it’s of very poor quality, or maybe even expired. You don’t know that, though, unless you have the luxury to do comparison shopping.

There are also the issues of access, affordability, and quality. Even if food might be available, if it’s poor quality, overpriced, or if there’s a very limited variety, then I still think we’re uneven in terms of access to healthy food on an equitable basis. Also, if you’re looking for low-salt options, soy options, or diabetic foods, you're usually out of luck. People with food-related health issues often can't get the foods they need in their neighborhood stores.

The other term coined for places like South L.A. is a “food swamp,” meaning that there is food, but it is really bad for you. I think food swamp is very appropriate term for South L.A. At first glance, it may seem that there are adequate food retailers, but many of the stores counted as “markets” predominantly sell processed food and junk food. Apparently, when USDA did its food desert study, they didn’t look too closely at the individual stores, they just counted anything that had “supermarket” or “grocery store” in the name, so even liquor stores that said “deli” or “market” were counted.

Also, in low-income neighborhoods, we often underestimate the barriers that exist to accessing healthy food. We should have a food system that makes healthy food choices easy for everyone. Many people in low-income communities have limited time to cook and shop because they are working multiple jobs, and they may not even have a place to store fresh food. Furthermore, safety can be a barrier, so we should ask: is there a gang problem, is there adequate public transportation?

What is the value of food policy?

Food policy has a potential to reform our food system in some meaningful ways. It is important to remember that the food movement goes beyond sustainable, locally grown food and farmers markets. I’d like to see us take into account that the food system has the opportunity to impact jobs and community development and small business development for middle and low income people, particularly communities of color, that aren’t necessarily at the high end of the market and in the agricultural piece of the market. So I’m hoping these issues will be given the same attention, if not more, as we do our work. I think that food can be an economic engine for the city.

Interview by LAFPC intern Jessica Chen