California Food & Justice Coalition | July 2011

Leadership for Troubled Times

Summer and the times they are a changing. For those of us who have been here before, its beginning to look a lot like yesteryear. In California, like most states in the rest of the country, we are struggling with an economy that seems to be going nowhere, while our national leadership appears to be dysfunctional, at best.

What's Coming Up?

Phat Beets Produce presents Summer Food n' Justice Workshop Series, every Saturday from July through October, Oakland, CA.

Transition Berkeley's Weekly Instead of solutions for our economic problems, today it is all about the debt ceiling Crop Swap, every Monday and cutting programs that define our social safety net and well-being; last month it starting July 18th, North was about war; two months before that it was a showdown between a Continuing Berkeley, CA. Questions: Resolution and a federal government shutdown. Contact Carole BennettSimmons at caroleannbs@yahoo.com To many of us this smacks of personalities and partisan politics instead of governing for the common good. The Food Project - Summer Yet all across California, residents are taking steps to make government work: Institute, August 3-5, 2011, Lincoln and Boston, MA. "Cultivating Sustainable Agriculture Education: In San Diego, a community coalition worked with city council to make Growing a Collaborative community gardens possible and affordable for both residential and Legacy": 4th National commercial properties Sustainable Agriculture y In Oxnard, neighborhood residents partnered with community liaisons from Education Association the health department and city to secure a 1 acre plot of public land to Conference, August 4-5, convert to a community garden, with water and maintenance support from 2011, University of Kentucky the city - Lexington. y From offices in Visalia, the Community Water Center facilitates access to clean water for San Joaquin Valley communities still underserved by 37th Northeast Organic governmental agencies Farming Association (NOFA) y In Sacramento representatives of a majority of food alliances and food Summer Conference, August policy councils from around the state met with the California Secretary of Health and Human Services and Secretary of the California Department of 12-14, 2011, UMass Amherst, MA. Food and Agriculture to initiate a process that can develop priorities for a statewide healthy food system La Cocina is hosting the 2nd National Street Food I am amazed by the leadership our members provide in communities across the Conference, August 21-22,
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state. Surely, this is the kind of leadership our times requireleadership that focuses on solutions for the big challenges we face. At CFJC we believe the kind of leadership we can provide is to build a coalition that celebrates our members success and supports their efforts. We do this by helping to clarify the picture of the real challenges and root causes of what ails our food system. By showing how solutions that work for the economy, for people and for communities are possible and can be reality, we build hope for our troubled times and a context in which we can take control of our situation. In this tough economy our efforts are made possible by the many volunteers, the interns and volunteer Steering Committee members who are developing position papers, fundraising, and working with a growing network of individuals, groups and other coalitions likewise focused on solutions/not politics within California and around the country. Because we are focused on our food system we have an opportunity to engage the attention of a large number of people, as it seems that today there is no other issue that resonates with virtually everyone like access to food and the food system. It is the hot-button issue of our times. We therefore feel a duty to get it right, and especially to use the resources entrusted to CFJC responsiblyboth financial and human resources. To do so we rely on the input and feedback of our members, first via the active participation of representative members on the CFJC Steering Committee, but also via listening session, and increasingly from electronic media including our enewsletter, Facebook page, Twitter, and other accounts.

2011, San Francisco, CA. UC Berkeley Center for Health Leadership Conference - Collaboration Matters: Building Effective Partnerships within Communities & Health Organizations and Across Sectors, August 25-26, 2011, Berkeley, CA. California Biosafety Alliance presents "Justice Begins With Seeds" Conference, September 16-17, 2011, San Francisco, CA. Sliding scale registration fee. 15th Annual Community Food Security Coalition Conference: Food Justice: Honoring Our Roots, Growing The Movement, November 5-8, 2011, Oakland, CA. Locally cohosted by Food First and California Food &Justice Coalition.

Building a Healthier Future I want to take a moment to thank you for your participation, and to ask that you Summit: Bringing Together continue to help us build a stronger coalition. Industry and Civic Leaders to End Childhood Obesity, On the national scene CFJC has partnered with a number of organizations to create November 29-30, 2011, the Healthy Farms, Healthy People Coalition. Although a California state coalition, Washington DC. our participation is required to ensure that the issues, priorities and solutions of California residents are represented in federal policy and the Farm Bill 2012 Job & Internship reauthorization process. Opportunities In the near-term, CFJC staff and a 40+ person Local Host Committee are working with the Community Food Security Coalition to hold the 15th Annual Food Justice Conference in Oakland, November 5-8th. We hope you can plan to join with us in Oakland to launch the next phase of a food movement that will change the way we work, live and relate to one another, and to Alameda County Community Food Bank is hiring a Temporary Nutrition Education Coordinator.

food and our food system. This is one way we can all help provide the leadership we deserve. Best.

National Radio Project (Oakland, CA) is seeking a Development and Communications Director. Green Mountain Farm-toSchool (Newport, VT) is seeking a Farm-to-School Program Director and an Assistant Education Director. Both positions start August 1st. The Organic Farming Research Foundation (Washington DC) is accepting applications for a Washington DC Policy Intern to start in the Fall of 2011.

Y. Armando Nieto Executive Director California Food and Justice Coalition

Recent Coalition Activity

Apply now for scholarships to CFSC's 15th annual conference: Food Justice: Honoring Our Roots, Growing The Movement, November 5-8, 2011, Oakland, CA.

Grants & Funding Opportunities

A limited number of scholarships and The USDA is volunteer positions have been made accepting Value-Added available to cover the costs of full Producer Grants applications, conference registration. Scholarship priority a competitive grants program will be awarded to people of color, people working in communities of color or low- designed to aid producers in income communities, youth, limited resource farmers/producers, food chain developing farm-related workers and new community leaders. Representation from all regions of the country businesses. Deadline is will also be considered. August 29. There will also be a small number of volunteer positions available. In exchange for 12 hours of work during the conference, volunteers will be able to attend the conference for free. People who reside in the Bay Area will be given priority for volunteer positions. Click here to apply online! Application deadline is August 26. Last month, CFJC coalition member One in Ten Coalition helped pass a progressive community gardening ordinance in San Diego. Expensive permitting requirements have been removed, allowing gardeners fuller access to both residential and commercial areas. Read more about their victory on CFJC's blog. The National Hispanic Environmental Council is accepting applications to participate in its "Minority Youth Environmental Training Institute" held August 12-21, 2011, Glorieta, NM. Students age 16-19 are eligible for participation. Full scholarship offered to accepted students.

Newsworthy
Statewide News: Inmates in the Security Housing Unit at Pelican Bay State Prison in California have been on indefinite hunger strike since July 1st to protest inhumane living conditions. Thousands of prisoners across the state have joined the hunger strike in solidarity with the Pelican Bay group's five core demands. Among their demands is improvement of reported unsanitary conditions and inadequate quantities of food that do not meet prison regulations. There is no independent quality control of prison meals. The Pelican Bay State Prison strike serves as a reminder that food justice issues reach across prison gates. We all deserve access to nutritious foods, regardless of our incarceration status.

Beyond California: The GIPSA Rule, which supporters anticipate will protect family farmers and ranchers from unfair treatment by big meatpackers, has recently come under fire. Last month, the Republican-majority House attached an amendment to the 2012 Agriculture Appropriations Bill blocking the rule's implementation. The amendment narrowly passed in a vote of 217 to 203, with only Republicans voting for the measure. R-CALF USA President George Chambers had this to say about the GIPSA ruling: "For going on four generations, USDA resisted writing regulations to properly implement the Packers and Stockyards Act, and after watching generation after generation of good, hardworking young farmers and ranchers exit the industry because meatpackers had reduced the competitiveness of our livestock industries. Congress finally acted to direct the agency to write regulations to prevent meatpackers from engaging in abusive, monopolistic behavior against U.S. family farmers and ranchers." (Rapid City Journal, June 28, 2011) Click to continue reading about how the House is threatening family farmers.

Resources

Last week, the United Nations released its annual World Economic and Social Survey. This year's version, titled "The Great Green Technological Transformation" calls for investment in greener food production and technologies to sustain our growing world population. The report states that investments of nearly $2 trillion per year in sustainable farming operations and energy production are needed to rapidly address environmental degradation. Of great importance is the spread of green farming techniques that require less water and chemical inputs. Although these technologies already exist, says the report, they must be made affordable to all farmers, particularly those in developing countries. Click here to read The Great Green Technological Transformation. [More Resources]

Action Alerts
America's safety-net nutrition programs are being threatened by reckless federal budget cuts. The Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) and SAVE For All Campaign are urging Congress and the White House to protect low-income people from bearing the burden of funding cutbacks from programs like Medicare and SNAP (food stamps). Stand up for food security by contacting Washington lawmakers to ask for their commitment to protect safety-net programs and fair increases in revenue: Call the White House: 1-202-456-1111 Call your Senators (toll-free, thanks to AFSCME): 1-888-907-1485 Continue reading about how our federal budget talks are threatening safety-net programs on CFSC's policy newsletter.

The California Food and Justice Coalition is a statewide membership coalition working to ensure the basic human right to healthy food while advancing social, agricultural and environmental justice. 398 60th Street, Oakland, CA 94618 Phone: 510-704-0245 | FAX: 510-654-4551 cafoodjustice.org | info@cafoodjustice.org Facebook| Twitter | Youtube | Scribd | Flickr CFJC is a fiscally-sponsored project of The Ecology Center.