City Level Community Engagement; an Equitable Approach to Sustainability

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Noel McBride
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1 City Level Community Engagement; an Equitable Approach to Sustainability Making it Better Conference: Creating a Healthier Community Together Tuesday, November 15, 2:00-3:00pm Presenters: June Mathiowetz, M.P.P. Homegrown Minneapolis Coordinator Maria Sarabia, M.A. Community Engagement Project Coordinator

2 City Goals & Strategic Directions A City That Works -Shared democracy empowers residents as valued partners Ecofocused -Locally grown food available and chosen Many People, One Minneapolis -New arrivals welcomed, diversity embraced -Seniors stay and talents are tapped A Safe Place to Call Home -Youth, in school, involved, inspired and connected to an adult

Department of Health and Family Support goal Healthy Weight Through Active Living and Healthy Eating Affordable and accessible healthy choices

3 Department of Health and Family Support goal Healthy Weight Through Active Living and Healthy Eating Affordable and accessible healthy choices for all ages and abilities Opportunities to grow, prepare and distribute food locally Communities informed and engaged for healthy environments

4 MDHFS Mission: To promote health equity in Minneapolis and meet the unique needs of our urban population by providing leadership and fostering partnerships

5 City Level Community Engagement; an equitable approach to sustainability The VOICE Project Promote interdisciplinary learning Gain clear understanding of VOICE as it relates to sustainability and partnership Hear messages from communities

6 The VOICE Project (Valuing Our Individual Cultures through Engagement ) A community engagement strategy Story Based Community Dialogue Fosters Partnerships Shares Knowledge Promotes Sustainability & Community Buy-In

7 VOICE is a strategy that builds upon core community engagement principles- 1. Right to be involved 2. Contribution will be thoughtfully considered 3. Recognize the needs of all 4. Seek out involvement 5. Participants design participation 6. Adequate information 7. Known effect of participation City of Minneapolis The Voice Project (Valuing Our Individual Cultures through Engagement )

8 Core community engagement principles continued. CDC Become knowledgeable about the community s culture, economic conditions, social networks, political and power structures, norms and values, demographic trends, history, and experience Go to the community, establish relationships, build trust, work with the formal and informal leadership create processes for mobilizing the community All aspects of community engagement must recognize and respect the diversity of the community. Awareness of the various cultures of a community is paramount in planning, designing, and implementing approaches to engaging a community Community engagement can only be sustained by identifying and mobilizing community assets and strengths Community collaboration requires long-term commitment by the engaging organization and its partners

9 Cooperation MDHFS VOICE Project Partnership Collaboration Community Residents *UHACAC- Urban Health Agenda Community Advisory Committee

10 The VOICE strategy can be applied in other public health work Purpose Process Methods Protocol

11 VOICE purpose Investigate factors that impact the prevalence of obesity in cultural communities Identify gaps in knowledge and awareness related to obesity and health programming

12 VOICE process Story based community dialogue about experiences with culture, weight, and size * Inspire stories Photos and video record the discussions Community chooses the most important topics & helps create a plan to share results Participants complete an evaluation

13 *part of Process VOICE inquiry questions How would you describe a good meal? How does a good meal make you feel? Does your size impact how you are viewed or how you view/feel about yourself? How have cultural traditions around food evolved or changed over time?

14 Stories from VOICE..

15 VOICE Project process Engage Stakeholders Build Trust Create Buy-in Refine Project Plan/Budget Define Inquiry Questions Acquire Resources Apply for IRB *consent Data Collection Activities with each community Recruit Participants Execute Contracts Event Planning & Recruitment of Community Participants Return wisdom and knowledge to communities Reflection and Analysis Phase I: African American, American Indian, and Somali Phase II: Latino & Hmong Community Events and Exhibits MDHFS Evaluation of process Communications planning

16 VOICE methods Community based facilitators & recruiters Incentives for participation Healthy meal at each event Create a summary of key themes Conduct qualitative analyses of data using NVIVO qualitative analysis software

17 VOICE protocol Adult Consent Adult Release Parent Child Release Parental Consent Youth Assent

18 Tailoring engagement to connect with vulnerable communities with high rates of obesity Include a cultural activity Partner with community leaders to recruit & facilitate dialogue Recruit a larger number of participants; offer incentives Pose broad questions Produces a final media product Communities reconvene & identify common themes Information collected & will be used to fill gaps in knowledge and awareness related to obesity and health programming

19 Homegrown Minneapolis Building a Healthy, Sustainable, Local Food System for All Minneapolis Residents

20 WHAT IS HOMEGROWN MINNEAPOLIS? A city-wide initiative expanding our community s ability to grow, process, distribute, consume and compost more healthy, sustainable, locally grown foods.

21 COMMUNITY FOOD SYSTEM ELEMENTS Processing Growing Distribution and Retailing Waste Prevention, Reduction & Recovery Consumption/ Health

22 COMMUNITY FOOD SYSTEM SUB-ELEMENTS Growing Processing Distribution and Retailing Consumption/ Health Waste Prevention, Reduction, Recovery Home gardens Community gardens Food Hubs Network Greenhouses (Will Allen) Market gardens Small food businesses Local farms Home cooking, canning and freezing Community kitchens Small batch processors Medium size processors Large size processors Farmers markets Wholesalers Food Co-ops Grocery Chains Corner Stores Restaurants Institutional Vending Community Food Systems (Will Allen style) Increased fruit, vegetable and grain consumption Increased exercise Reduced obesity Reduced chronic disease Increased community cohesiveness Expansion of organics recycling Development of compostto-garden systems Reduced packaging Reduced toxins

23 MINNEAPOLIS 35 farmers markets (including mini markets) 100 community gardens on 13 acres 4 health food co-ops Dozens of Community Supported Ag (CSA) drop-off sites 50+ community kitchens Food growing & processing enterprises emerging Local restaurants serving local food

24 Farmers Market Subcommittee Gardens Subcommittee Small Enterprise Urban Ag Subcommittee Commercial Use Subcommittee January April 2009: Community members made recommendations to the Steering Committee June 2009: Recommendations submitted to City Council June Sept 2009: Council Resolution established Implementation Task Force to guide and move work forward Sept 2009 July 2011: Task Force and workgroups implement priority recommendations Steering Committee City Council Task Force January 2012: Homegrown Mpls Food Council begins workgroup workgroup workgroup workgroup workgroup workgroup workgroup

25 Urban Ag Policy Plan Food Access Community Garden Pilot Regulatory Review Implementation Working Groups Local Food Policy Group Small Enterprise Urban Ag Local Food Indicator Municipal Farmers Market

26 CURRENT UNSUSTAINABLE CONDITIONS Minneapolis approaching $1 B per year spent on food; most produced outside of MN Half of Minneapolis population overweight Increasing consolidation and control of food supply High levels of energy, materials and product waste High levels of synthetic inputs polluting water and environment Loss of valuable topsoil and biologically diverse areas Commodity dumping in other countries disrupts people s ability to meet their own needs globally

27 SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY FOOD SYSTEM Relies on local production, processing, distribution and composting systems Protects existing natural areas Applies organic production methods (to eliminate reliance on petroleum and chemicals) Includes a diverse mix of healthy foods Works for farmers Accessible to all consumers Affordable Reliable, Resilient, Secure Requires minimal to no packaging

28 Food Expenditures in Minneapolis (Based on 2008 CEX) Food Category Minneapolis Total Per Household Household Expenditure Expenditure ($/year) Budget Share Cereals and cereal products $21,566,960 $ % Bakery products $45,318,740 $ % Beef $32,161,691 $ % Pork $17,793,405 $ % Other meats $13,543,694 $ % Poultry $17,249,338 $ % Fish and seafood $12,736,103 $ % Eggs $5,550,897 $ % Fresh milk and cream $21,509,390 $ % Other dairy products $34,564,391 $ % Fresh fruits $27,986,811 $ % Fresh vegetables $25,991,547 $ % Processed fruits $14,833,287 $ % Processed vegetables $13,957,943 $ % Sugar and other sweets $19,769,312 $ % Fats and oils $12,008,134 $ % Miscellaneous foods $100,187,883 $ % Nonalcoholic beverages $42,390,983 $ % Food away from home $369,211,804 $2, % Total $848,332,313 $5, %

29 RECOMMENDATIONS COMPLETED OR UNDERWAY Urban agriculture policy plan Community garden process improvements Electronic Benefits Transfer in farmers markets Community kitchen inventory Small business training and financing inventory Local food sustainability indicator Canning/food preservation network Local food resource hub development

30 LOCAL FOOD TARGETS oincrease the food producing gardens in the city by 1 acre to 14 acres by oall residents live within ¼ mile of a healthy food choice by 2015.

31 NEXT STEPS PHASE III o Establishment of local food council o Establishment of local food resource hubs o Improving institutional food purchasing practices o Expanding understanding of complex food system and emerging new business models o Understanding where government has leverage not yet fully utilized o Expansion of strategic collaboration with other partners/efforts o Access to land and improved land use policies

32 FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit the Homegrown Minneapolis website to learn more and become involved!

33 WHAT IS SUSTAINABILITY? Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

34 HOW? By not systematically degrading the ecological and social systems (our commons)

35 PRINCIPLES OF SUSTAINABILITY In a sustainability society, nature is not subject to systematic increases in concentrations of substances extracted from the Earth s crust; concentrations of substances produced by society; degradation by physical means; And, in that society people are not subject to conditions that systematically undermine their capacity to meet their needs. Dr Karl-Henrik Robert and Natural Step Framework

36 City Level Community Engagement; an Equitable Approach to Sustainability Making it Better Conference: Creating a Healthier Community Together Tuesday, November 15, 2:00-3:00pm Presenters: June Mathiowetz, M.P.P. Homegrown Minneapolis Coordinator june.mathiowetz@minneapolismn.gov Maria Sarabia, M.A. Community Engagement Project Coordinator maria.sarabia@minneapolismn.gov

New York City Food Policy

New York City Food Policy The mission of the Office of the Food Policy Director is to advance the City s efforts to increase food security, promote access to and awareness of healthy foods, and support