Working Groups

To be successful, a food policy for Cleveland and Cuyahoga County requires the collaboration of government agencies, businesses, non-profit organizations, and individuals with a concern for insuring healthy food access for all citizens. To increase collaboration across the spectrum of issues confronting our local food system, the Cleveland/Cuyahoga County Food Policy Council has organized six working groups to focus efforts around clearly defined initiatives.

Each working group is working to promote policies, projects, and partnerships that address the following three general topics:

Social Justice *** Local Economic Development *** Environmental Sustainability

The six working groups include:

• Health and Nutrition: working to promote policies that improve food access in under-served communities and raise the capacity for residents to make changes in diet that address health and nutrition.

• Community Food Assessment: Conduct assessments at the neighborhood, city, and county levels to better understand current needs and long-term impacts of food efforts.

• Land Use and Planning: Develop policies that encourage re-use of vacant lands for urban agriculture or local food districts that improve the availability of local foods in neighborhoods around the city.

• Rural/Urban Interface: Encourage policies that increase opportunities for social and economic interactions between urban residents and rural farmers and businesses in Northeast Ohio

• Local Purchasing: Encourage local food purchasing policies for city and county government and foster collaboration between businesses to increase purchasing of locally grown and processed foods.

• Food Waste Recovery: Facilitate policies that increase the amount of food waste and municipal waste that is composted and made available to support urban or rural farming efforts.