by Marianna Spence, CFSA Membership Coordinator | Nov. 15, 2016 –
We all can agree that food, health, and agriculture have a huge impact on the quality of life in our local communities. But how can local leaders and community members address issues and work together to improve local policy, food access, farming and economic development, and community health?
“I’ve been working in this county for a long time, and starting our food council has been the most thoughtful, inclusive process I’ve ever been a part of,” said Alice Keene, Pitt County Recreation Projects Coordinator, who has been with the City of Greenville and Pitt County, North Carolina, for 43 years.
The road towards founding Pitt County’s first food council started in 2014 with a chance meeting in Beaufort, NC. Jared Cates, the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association’s (CFSA) Community Mobilizer, was dining out after concluding a public forum held by community members to form a food council in Beaufort County. He and his partners from Community Food Strategies were chatting when diners at the next table introduced themselves and asked to hear more about their food council support.
The diners were two employees of Farm Services Agency based in Greenville. They were excited to hear about CFSA’s work with Community Food Strategies on supporting food councils and their development. They shared news of a similar group that had been meeting in Greenville and was exploring the possibility of forming a food council to serve the Pitt County community.
CFSA and Community Food Strategies shared resources with the Pitt County group on the initial stages of food council development, such as forming the organizing group or “Task Force,” engaging local government leaders, writing a food council charter, and hosting public meetings. Within six months, the group had reached back out to Community Food Strategies and CFSA to provide facilitation support and help guide them through the process of forming a food council.
“Alice, Joni, and Leigh had already pulled together department heads from schools, parks and rec, health department, soil and water, and planning, plus community members and a good cross-section of folks from their local food system,” said Jared. “It was really impressive who they had at the table from day one.”
By August 2015, the interagency team from Community Food Strategies went to Greenville to help the group determine its goals and explore next steps. They supported the group in articulating its Mission and Vision statements, and came up with an 8-month timeline that included stakeholder engagement and development of a full food council charter.
“Community Food Strategies and CFSA have provided a lot of expertise – what’s working in similar food councils, how to facilitate meetings, how to identify our goals,” said Alice Keene.
“Community Food Strategies and CFSA have provided a lot of expertise – what’s working in similar food councils, how to facilitate meetings, how to identify our goals,” said Alice. “Jared has glued us together and helped us get through the weeds of organization. We all do other things, but the beauty of Jared’s work is that this IS what he does. “
With encouragement from Community Food Strategies and CFSA, Joni Young-Torres, Community Gardening Technician with the Pitt County Cooperative Extension, took the lead in organizing a brown bag lunch series. These monthly events are hosted around the community and now draw around 30 people per meeting. Participants bring their own lunch and engage in a brief presentation and discussion with a community expert on topics ranging from food waste to farm workers and food labor to community gardens.
“We’ve really seen a cross-pollination of ideas,” said Joni. “You go to these lunches and find out what your neighbors are working on in the community. The lunches are helping us build our base of support for the Food and Farm Council and generating new ideas and collaborations within the community.”
Funding through Vidant Health Foundation paid for the creation of a baseline food system assessment which helped the newly named Pitt Council Food & Farm Council better identify its goals. By July 2016, they had finalized their charter and started planning three public forums as a way to introduce the Food & Farm Council to the community and generate broad interest for council seats and action circles.
“We’ve come a long way because Jared knows how to encourage everyone to share their thoughts,” said Leigh Guth, Pitt County Cooperative Extension Director. “At the end of the meeting he always wants to know exactly what we’re going to do about X, Y, and Z. We can’t just only talk about it, we have lists of “to do” items and real tasks to work on between meetings.”
One thing that makes Pitt County’s council unique is its status as a county-sanctioned group. After nearly a year of intentional discussions and with the approval of the County Manager, they went before their County Commissioners and asked that the council become an official county committee. The Commissioners approved, and now several members of the council will be appointed by the Commissioners through an application process. The other members of the council will be appointed from the Pitt County Cooperative Extension, the Pitt County Planning Department, the Pitt County Health Department, one person directly involved with agricultural food production, and one hunger relief representative. The fact that their group is now a county-sanctioned body means that the council will have the ability to make a meaningful impact on local policy.
The council hopes to create lasting ways for the community and community organizations to come together to collaboratively improve their local food system.
The council was also designed in a way that maximizes community and organizational engagement. By creating “Action Circles” that will focus on “Food Access,” “Farming and Economic Development,” and other issues, the council hopes to create lasting ways for the community and community organizations to come together to collaboratively improve their local food system.
“We have a long-standing history of partnership is this county,” said Alice. “At that same time, I know we can’t tackle it all at once. Working with Jared, CFSA and Community Food Strategies has given us the tools to boil it down and create something we can succeed at. And that’s how you spur growth.”
The Pitt County Food & Farm Council, as a county-sanctioned committee of the Board of Commissioners, will have the ability to make a meaningful impact on local policy and hopes to address issues around health, food, and farming by engaging the community through education and networking. The ultimate goal will be to create access to healthy food for all members of the community.
