Building a more equitable, healthy, and sustainable District food system

Co-Chairs:

• Dalila Boclin, Hungry Harvest
• Rachel Clark, Redstone Global Center for Prevention and Wellness
• Tariq Sheriff, DC Office of Planning

2022 Projects:

1. Convene farmers markets and recommend policies to extend operations and expand to more locations, particularly in Wards 5, 7, and 8. (Joint project with Entrepreneurship & Food Jobs)
2. Track the implementation of District laws related to food and climate, including the Save Good Food Act, Green Food Purchasing Act, and the Zero Waste Omnibus Act.
3. Support the Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) and Office of Contracts and Procurement (OCP) in implementing the Green Food Purchasing Act. (Joint project with Entrepreneurship & Food Jobs)
4. Publish policy brief and increase awareness on the District’s commitments under the Glasgow Food and Climate Declaration.

Accomplishments:

Values Based Food Procurement Guide (2022): The Guide is an on-ramp for small businesses, organizations, and individuals, who want to understand how to use their purchasing power to drive positive change for the food system. The Guide was modeled on best practices and structures from procurement programs and acknowledges their work as a foundation for this document. The information is broken out into a broad overview of four big issue areas – Local Economies, Health, Valued Workforce, and Animal Welfare – and provides options for how to incrementally change purchasing behavior. Each issue area is examined through a racial equity, environmental impact, and resiliency lens.

Glasgow Food and Climate Policy Brief (2022): In October 2021, Mayor Bowser signed the Glasgow Food & Climate Declaration. This commitment centers food policy in government strategies to directly address the climate crisis. The Summer M. Redstone Global Center for Prevention and Wellness at George Washington University published a Policy Brief to serve as a roadmap for achieving the District’s commitments under the Declaration. 

Advocacy guides: The FPC creates advocacy guides for legislation related to food and sustainability, including the Healthy Students Amendment Act of 2018, which amended the Healthy Schools Act of 2010 to increase the District’s investment in school breakfast, require a study on best practices for building a central kitchen facility, and require DCPS to undergo a Good Food Purchasing Program baseline assessment, and the Save Good Food Amendment Act of 2018 (passed October 2018), which expanded liability protections for food donors, limiting the types of products required to carry date labels, and created a food donation best practices guide.

Partnerships: The FPC is an active contributor in several DC coalitions, including the DC Good Food Purchasing Program coalition, the DCPS School Food Advisory Group, and the DC Food Recovery Working Group.