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Winter 2024 (January)
A message from our Director:
We’re kicking off the new year in celebration and planning for both continuity and change. First, it’s important to reflect on what we’ve accomplished as a network over the past year—and we’ve done a lot! You can read about some of those collected highlights in the Featured Story below. I know there were many more achievements not captured, so send more our way—whether collaborator kudos or self-brag—and we’ll keep celebrating together!
Looking forward, we’re responding to new opportunities and continuing to build on what we’ve already done. The Farm Bill was extended into 2024, so we’re keeping up with state and national partners to continue advocating for our priorities. At the same time, each Food Policy Council (FPC) Committee is in the process of setting specific project goals for the year that relate to other policies. If you want to be involved in creating and carrying out the work plan for those goals, join a Committee on our Get Involved page (2024 meeting schedule to be announced soon).
I’m particularly excited about amplifying the voices of our members and wider network within the Steering Committee for our region’s climate action planning process, called ThriveTogether. The plan is funded by an EPA Climate Pollution Reduction grant, which is among several other large federal and state investments in collaborative climate action and resilient infrastructure (like these OH and KY programs). Please submit feedback and proposals for ThriveTogether now and as more features are added throughout the planning process.
We extend so much gratitude to the following outgoing FPC Council Members for their service as food systems leaders and supporters of our Committee teams: Garland Butts, Amanda Changet, Erin Dance, Maria Gulley, Morgan Phelps, and Ellen Sundermeyer. Over the next couple of months, we’ll be welcoming and onboarding six new Council Members, new Committee Members, and a new Backbone Support staff member. I can’t wait to see what we have to celebrate throughout 2024!
Cheers, Maddie Chera, PhD Director, Greater Cincinnati Regional Food Policy Council
"Leadership, community connections, and equity for all are the powers of Green Umbrella on our Aiken Agriculture Career Tech Pathway. Organizing ‘people with purpose’ through Green Schoolyards, resilient food networks through the Farms and Land Use committee of the Greater Cincinnati Regional Food Policy Council, and advocacy of the Farm Bill, Green Umbrella is leading the way!"
- Aaron Parker, Agriculture Career Tech Pathway Educator, Aiken High School, Cincinnati Public Schools.
Featured Story
This seasonal fun isn’t just for your second cousin or your favorite old neighbor—we created a classic holiday newsletter sharing what we’ve been up to this past year. Through year-end grant-reporting processes and the much jollier year-end gatherings of our FPC Council Members and Committees, we pulled together a collection of the amazing highlights from 2023. Although not exhaustive, this fun report gives a sense of what we’ve accomplished together, both as the Food Policy Council and as a larger network of dedicated food systems advocates extending across the region.
Other News
“A Manifesto for Cooking & Eating” - Edible Ohio Valley (by our own FPC Council Member, Polly Campbell!)
"This Clermont County Farm Is Trying to Make More Sustainable Food Crops," WCPO (featuring our FPC Council Member, Emalee Richman!)
“University of Cincinnati Keeps Food Pantry and Resource Center Open During Holiday Break to Help Students in Need” - Spectrum News 1 (featuring our Institutions Committee Member, Joy Kostansek!)
Draft National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics - USDA, EPA, and FDA
“Midwest Ag-Focus Climate Outlook” for January - USDA Midwest Climate Hub
“Grants to Be Available to Strengthen State Food System” - The Daily Independent
“A New Year and New Opportunities: What’s Next for the Food Movement” - Food Tank’s Food Talk with Danie Nierenberg podcast
“Can $3 Billion Persuade Black Farmers to Trust the Department of Agriculture?” - NPR’s All Things Considered
“‘Unacceptable’: 10 Million American Seniors Worry about Getting Enough to Eat” - Salon
Upcoming Events
Featured Event: Feb. 15-17: Ohio Ecological Food and Farming Association’s 45th Annual Conference (Newark, OH)
Ohio’s largest sustainable agriculture conference is three days full of live learning, shopping, sharing, and connecting with sustainable farmers, gardeners, and local food supporters. There will be sessions on policy and systems issues to complement the workshops and sessions on the nuts-and-bolts of farming, plus regional chapter meetings (there is a southwest Ohio chapter), and several FPC members attending. More info and online registration (early bird pricing ends THIS FRIDAY, Jan. 12).
More Events
Jan. 11, 3-4:30pm: KY General Assembly Prep Training, Kentucky Food Action Network (online)
Jan. 16, 7:15-11:30am: Recognition of Historical Injustices in Agriculture and the Importance of Environmental Experiences for Racial Healing, OH Environmental Professionals Network (Columbus, OH, or online; registration required)
Jan. 20, 10am-noon: Garden Journaling, Civic Garden Center (Cincinnati; registration required)
Jan. 19, 9am-4pm: 2024 KyPolicy Conference, Kentucky Center for Economic Policy (Lexington, KY; registration required)
Jan. 22, 6pm (online): Congresswoman Shontel Brown (OH-11) Black and Indigenous People of Color Food and Farming Network Virtual Roundtable (registration requested)
Jan. 25, 6-7pm (online): Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA) 2024 Advocacy Kickoff (registration required)
Jan. 25-27: Organic Association of Kentucky 13th Annual Conference (Frankfort, KY; registration required)
Jan. 25-26 (online) and Feb. 2-3 (Madison, WI): Organic Vegetable Production Conference, FairShare CSA Coalition and Iowa State University (registration required)
Feb. 17-May 16, 9am-6pm: Winter Weekend Permaculture Design Course, Cincinnati Permaculture Institute (Petersburg, KY; registration required)
Feb. 22, 1-3pm: Heart of the Community Impact Symposium, American Heart Association (Cincinnati; registration required)
Mar. 20, 8am-5:30pm: Kentucky Local Food Systems Summit (Lexington, KY; registration required, early bird deadline Jan. 15)
LOOK OUT FOR: Ohio Food Policy Network virtual convenings, which will include one on the EPA Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Centers Program and food-related work in OH (view past convenings here)
Professional Opportunities
Featured Opportunity: Jan. 12: Proposals Due for the 11th Annual Midwest Regional Sustainability Summit - “From Vision to Action”
The event will feature a full day of programming with 80+ speakers, an exhibitor expo, an art show, breakfast, lunch, a networking reception, and more, right in downtown Cincinnati! Sessions will cover a range of topics, including:
Resilient Local Food Systems,
Healthy & Resilient Communities,
Government & Policy,
Green Workforce Development,
Emergency Preparedness, and
Healthy, High-Performing Infrastructure.
The deadline to submit proposals, art work, and award nominations is fast approaching: THIS FRIDAY, Jan. 12, so let’s get some good food systems representation in! Session proposals can be for 50-minute discussion panels, 50-minute interactive workshops, or 5-minute short talks that explore this year’s theme. Learn more, submit, and register now.
More opportunities & resources:
FSLN Communities of Practice (CoP) Webinars: Network Stewards - Jan. 10 at 4pm; Farm to Food Assistance - Jan. 11 at 1pm; Value Chain Coordination - Jan 16 at 3pm; Food Safety & Quality - Feb. 7 at 1pm
Rural Community Councils with Interact for Health, accepting applications, deadline Jan. 19 (also Rural Changemaker grant proposals being accepted, multiple deadlines)
Food Safety Support for Farmers Webinar, Jan. 24 at 1pm, hosted by the Agriculture and Land Based Training Association (ALBA)
GroMoreGood Grassroots Grant from KidsGardening, accepting applications for $500 for youth gardens, deadline Feb. 9
GusNIP Produce Prescription Program: open for project proposals, deadline Feb. 28
Special Issue on Community-Based Circular Food Systems, call for papers for the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, deadline May 1
Open Positions at Last Mile Food Rescue: Administrator, Project Manager, Driver
Open Positions at OEFFA: Executive Director, Events Management roles, Certification Specialists
Open Positions at Organic Association of Kentucky: Conservation roles at multiple ranks
What We're Digesting
“Edible Activist is a podcast about the Black food movement.”
- Dr. Francoise Knox-Kazimierczuk FPC Council Member and Facilitator of the Steering Committee; Assistant Professor, University of Cincinnati; and Founder & CEO, WiseWoman Health Collective
“Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci. I really like reading about Italian culture and cuisine and all things Mediterranean ‘diet’."
- Amanda Changet
Outgoing FPC Council Member and Facilitator of the Institutions Committee; Community Impact Director, American Heart Association
What's something food-related (podcast, book, TV show, article, etc.) you recommend?
Do you have a must-read/-watch/-eat/etc. you want to share with fellow members? Email us with your suggestion for the chance to be included in our next newsletter!
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