Food Policy Working Group Notes

Memphis and Shelby County Food Policy Working Group

Meeting Notes, October 21, 2010

In attendance:  Josephine Williams (GrowMemphis), Otho Sawyer (Shelby Co Health Department), Rosalie Bouck (Delta Directions Consortium), Nathan Cook (Christ Community Health Services), Christian Man (Knowledge Quest), Erica Christensen (community member), Robin Rodriguez (Slow Food Memphis), Melissa Petersen (Edible Memphis Magazine), John Paul Shaffer (urban planner)

A.  Discussion of Lessons Learned from the Community Food Security Coalition Conference in New Orleans

Robin Rodriguez gave a synopsis of the Food Policy Council short course and gave Josephine her handouts which have been scanned and emailed to the group list.  Robin discussed

1.     Different strategies for relationship with government:

a.     Statute/Resolution/Ordinance calling for or establishing the council

b.     Executive Order – ties the council to a particular administration

c.      Independent

d.     Hybrid of independent and government affiliated

In the opinion of the presenter, Mark Winne, who leads the FPC program at the CFSC, option a. is best because official ties to policy makers gives the councils necessary clout and often assured funding.

2.     Right-sizing.  Typically 15-20 is the right size with good sector representation

3.     Better public education to build a common vocabulary  and transparency of the council, having open meetings, posting minutes and agendas online

4.     Naming the council.  Some policy makers are put off by having the word “policy” in the same of the council because it implies that the council makes policy, while it’s role is to research, recommend, educate and possibly advocate for policies.   

5.     Representation.  Is this group representative of the people we intend to serve?

Conference attendees Josephine Williams, Melissa Petersen and John Paul Shaffer discussed the following

1. a.     community based vs. commodity based food systems
2. b.     evaluation and assessment; showing you made a difference vs. demonstrating success; telling stories; visual representations
3. c.      media and public relations
4. d.     mapping and data collection; involving youth, civic groups and students; sharing data in a legible form; greenmaps.org

B.  Conference Follow-Up and Next Steps – based on the above these items warrant further discussion:

1.  Name of council and geographic scope.  Discussion followed.  Should the group be Memphis or include Shelby?  Metro Memphis and Greater Memphis were also offered.  Loose consensus that Shelby should be retained for strategic political reasons, and outside Shelby is really beyond our current scope.  How do we work with other groups in TN?  How do we work with other groups in our foodshed (MS and AR)?  Challenges of having a foodshed that overlaps so many state lines. 

The group also reached informal consensus that the word “policy” be dropped from the name.  Proposed names are Memphis Shelby Food Advisory Council, or Food Advisory Council for Memphis and Shelby County.  No official decisions were reached on this item, members will continue to mull it over. 

2.  Defining and Mapping Food Deserts.  Although the term “food desert” is getting used often in relation to specific neighborhoods in Memphis, no one has defined criteria for labeling areas as food deserts nor mapped where those areas are located.  Discussed facilitating a community conversation about Food Deserts to come up with an acceptable definition for stakeholders and then create some maps of where food deserts are located in Memphis.  This can also be an opportunity to grow the group, invite other stakeholders, and conduct outreach.   Ellen Holtzman of the Food Trust also shared some interesting maps of “areas of greatest need” in Memphis during her presentation at the Community Foundation.  Making an action plan for this item will be on the next meeting agenda.

3.  Outreach, Representation, and Relationship to Government.  Some group members expressed that we should grow the group before attempting to answer question of relation to government.   We will work on getting the blog out and getting agendas and notes on the blog. 

NEXT MEETING, Wednesday November 17^th, 3pm to 4:30pm at the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center

Meetings are open to the public, but please let us know in advance if you plan to attend.

For more information contact Josephine Williams, josephine@midsouthpeace.org or 901-725-4990