BOH agenda 022416 - Laserfiche WebLink

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MAIN APPLICATION year, the Orange County Food Council proposes to launch the council and further it's development through the following activities: hire a part -time coordinator; conduct the qualitative portion of the baseline community food assessment including working directly with the Orange County Family Success Alliance to assess food insecurity in their two zones; create a community food security action plan for Orange County; and hold two large community forums to continue to build collaborations and implement the action plan to strengthen the food system in Orange County. Our proposed activities will address one of the top six priority areas (Food), identified by Chapel Hill's Human Services Advisory Board, specifically by addressing the need for affordable food and access to healthy food in Orange County. Food affordability and access will be key features of the council's action plan and the taskforce has already engaged Orange County stakeholders addressing these issues including Farmer FoodShare and the InterFaith Council for Social Services. The food council activities are well aligned with the priorities currently coming out of the Orange County Health Department's Healthy Carolinians Community Health Assessment, which is occurring through June 2016. Physical activity and nutrition will be one of their three chosen areas of focus with a specific emphasis on building /increasing community gardens, working in the zones of the Family Success Alliance to pilot activities to assist with eliminating food insecurity, providing family education around healthy foods and cooking skills, partnering with local farms to increase access to low cost healthy foods, and working to improve school - provided nutrition for school kids. The food council will collaborate with the Healthy Carolinians Partnership on these activities. The food council's proposed activities will also support key goals in Carrboro. For example, the action plan will address the following policies in Carrboro's Vision 2020 document: Policy 5.6 to preserve farmland and Policy 1.31 to look for unmet need for human services. c) Describe the local need or problem to be addressed in relation to the Consolidated Plan or other community priorities (i.e. Council /Board Goals). Cite local data to support the need for this program and the population being served. We know that increased access to healthy fruits and vegetables is an effective strategy to address food insecurity; and, when this produce is grown locally, it also supports the local economy ( "Research Based Support and Extension Outreach for Local Food Systems," Dunning, August 2013). For example, according to findings from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Healthy Eating Research, consuming locally grown fruits and vegetables can both increase labor income and create new jobs locally. Bringing together community health and agriculture efforts as the Orange County Food Council proposes to do will help to mitigate poor health outcomes for Orange County citizens and address some of the challenges faced by local food producers and economic development in Orange County. The food system is complex as there are many players including producers, suppliers, and organizations and connecting consumers with local producers of healthy food is not always easy. Food councils are a solution to this problem by acting as connector to a cross - sector of individuals and organizations and by creating community partnerships that promote food access and addressing policy and programmatic barriers to a strong, local food system. Toward this end, a baseline community food assessment completed in November of 2015 analyzed all stages of the food system within Orange County, including food production, food processing and distribution, food consumption and food waste management. The purpose of the assessment was to form foundational knowledge for the food council to set priorities for action. The assessment gathered recent and historical data from established sources such as the United States Department of Agriculture and the American Community Survey, and combined it with stakeholder interviews to understand the strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities facing the food system. The assessment described a strong farming culture in need of additional county support, a surprisingly high number of children needing food assistance at school, a burgeoning local food entrepreneurial environment, and a need for additional food waste management programming. More details can be found here: https:// orangecountyfoodcouncil .files.wordpress.com /2015 /11 /presentation orange - county- food - policy- council -2.pdf . Main Application 2/11/2016 9:25:27 AM Page 7 of 26