Good Food for All

Weekly Digest: CSU's Aquaponics Program and 2010 State of the Plate on Sustainable Meat

This week's digest is cross-posted at ChicagoREgen.com.

• The Green Chicago Restaurant Co-op is sponsoring a one-day seminar on sustainable meat on Nov. 17.  Register today for the 2010 State of the Plate at Harold Washington Library.

• Chicago State University’s aquaponics facility, a research and resource program on campus, uses tilapia to help grow fruits and vegetables.

• Growing Power is offering a Commercial Urban Agriculture Training Program in 2011. Click here to learn more and to download an application.

• Chicago Tribune examines the regulations that bar CPS school garden produce from entering the lunchroom. An increasing number of studies show that students engaged in school gardens score higher on standardized tests.

 

Daily Digest: FoodCorps Seeking Host Organizations, USDA Healthy Incentives Pilot and Shared-Use Kitchen Update

Kitchen Chicago has a useful overview of the City's shared-use kitchen draft ordinance. Read the key points here. 

FoodCorps, a new AmeriCorps program that will support school gardens and Farm to School programs, is seeking host sites for its program.  Deadline for LOIs is Sept. 17. 

A Northbrook resident started growing vegetables in his front yard, sparking a debate about the use of lawns. 

USDA launched its Healthy Incentives Pilot in Massachusetts and a Peoples Garden School Pilot Program nationwide. Applications for the school pilot program are due Nov. 8. 

NYTimes and LATimes weigh in on the impact of industrialized agriculture on public health, in light of the recent salmonella outbreak from egg farms in Iowa. 

A potential model for Illinois? CNN covers the "Veggie Rx" program in Massachusetts, a program of the Wholesome Wave Foundation. 

Daily Digest: Go for the Gold Campaign and LINK at Chicago Farmers Markets

Chicago Public Schools and Healthy Schools Campaign officially launched the Go for the Gold Campaign, in partnership with USDA Midwest, as part of the HealthierUS Schools initiative to promote healthier school environments.

Food & Water Watch has produced a blueprint for a healthy food system, in preparation for the reauthorization of the Farm Bill in 2012.

Walgreens is converting some of its Chicago stores into full-service grocery stores.

Fed Up with School Lunch, a blog written by a teacher in Illinois who is eating school lunch for a year, volunteered at Common Threads summer camp at Kennedy-King College in Englewood.  Read her post(s) here.

City governments are growing food for local food pantries from Madison to Des Moines.

Check out the updated Jobs and Opportunities page at Good Food for All.

LINK cards are currently accepted at five Chicago farmers markets.  Groundswell Films produced this short video below on the LINK program. Read more about The Experimental Station, which began the pilot program this year.

Daily Digest: Inspired by Slow Money (ISM), Mobile Food Collective and School Lunch Reform

Community Food Security Coalition and Farmers Market Coalition released a report, "Real Food, Real Choice", detailing the obstacles for SNAP participants to redeem benefits at farmers markets.  Download the full report here. 

The Mobile Food Collective visited Logan Square Farmers Market this past weekend.  Check out the video and blog for upcoming events. 

An increasing number of local Illinois farms are offering "haycations" for families.   

Civil Eats offers insight on last month's Slow Money National Gathering. Watch this video to learn about "ISM" = Inspired by Slow Money. 

The House Education and Labor Committee passed the "Improving Nutrition for America's Children Act".   Both bills are now on the House and Senate floors and must be passed by each chamber before becoming law. 

Daily Digest: Hunger-Free Communities Grant, Food Banks Supplying School Lunches and Wal-Mart Sourcing Local Food

Illinois food banks are helping fill the demand for school lunches this summer. 

USDA announced it will invest more funding in research and planning for hunger relief efforts, as part of the Hunger-Free Communities grant program.  

Wal-Mart's Heritage Agriculture program focuses on sourcing more local foods from small growers. 

Learn more about Black Oaks Center's Healthy Food Hub as well as job and volunteer opportunities. 

A bipartisan group of House legislators introduced the Improving Nutrition for America's Children Act of 2010 this week in Congress. 

Daily Digest: FoodCorps, Farmers Markets, and Food Truck Legislation

FoodCorps is in the planning stages for developing an AmeriCorps School Garden and Farm to School program.  If you would like to participate in a working group, you can fill out this survey. 

Food truck legislation was delayed until further notice at the Chicago City Council meeting this week. 

To promote farmers markets across the country, American Farmland Trust is sponsoring its annual "America's Favorite Farmers Markets" contest.  Vote here! 

The USDA Food Environment Atlas is an excellent tool for food security and food access data. 

Prairie Fruits Farm in Champaign, IL will receive a USDA Value-Added Producer Grant to conduct a feasibility study and create a business plan "for an on-farm, goat-milk-to-gelato operation."  Click here to see what other Chicago foodshed farm enterprises will receive funding.  

Good Food for All has an updated listing of jobs and opportunities in the Chicago foodshed, as well as links to other useful websites. 

Daily Digest: Farm to Restaurant in Central Illinois and a Chicago Urban Agriculture Resource Wiki

Advocates for Urban Agriculture launched a Resource Wiki, which includes a Chicago Urban Agriculture Directory.   Add your project today! 

Chicago Public Schools and other Illinois school districts are changing the contents of their vending machines to provide healthier options for students. 

The deadline for registering farmers markets in the USDA 2010 Farmers Market Directory is June 4, 2010. 

The Illinois Farm Service Agency planted a "People's Garden" in Springfield, which will benefit the Central Illinois Food Bank. 

In central Illinois, young chefs are building a world-class farm to restaurant model at Epiphany Farms.  

Belleville Farmers Market received a $25,000 grant from Pepsi for its healthy eating educational initiative, Taste Buds.  Read the article or watch the video here. 

Complete the Illinois Farm to School survey today!

Illinois Farm to School Survey

in partnership with Northwestern University program on "Learning and Organizational Change" (MSLOC)

A movement has started across the country… 

   A movement to fight childhood obesity 
     A movement to create local jobs and stimulate the local economy 
       A movement to connect farmers with consumers 
         A movement to serve fresh, locally-grown food to our children 

Illinois cannot be left behind. The Illinois Food, Farms, and Jobs Act was passed in August 2009 to help schools and other institutions purchase more locally-grown food. But how do we reach the goal of sourcing 10% of the food served to our children from local sources by 2020?

To help reach this goal, F2S and Northwestern's M.S. of Learning and Organizational Change program are administering a survey to learn more about local food sourcing in schools across the state. Results from the survey will equip ILF2S to educate and promote the increase of local and organic foods in Illinois children's school diets.

We need your participation. Please consider taking the survey if you are:

1. An Illinois resident, and

2. Currently any one of the following:

• A K-12 teacher
• A K-12 principal
• An K-12 superintendent
• A K-12 school food director (or equivalent)
• A K-12 parent
• A farmer

To begin the survey, simply click here:

www.farmtoschool.org/IL/survey.htm

Your participation in this survey is a critical first step to helping Illinois Farm to School programs:

 - Identify schools, parents, and farmers that would like to change the way we feed our children

- Identify schools and farmers that are already doing work in this area (share your expertise!)

- Identify barriers you face to providing local, healthy foods to children

- Gather data to impact food policy and to seek funding to help schools and farmers

Survey participants will be entered into a raffle to win one of 5 Visa gift cards, each valued at $100*.

 *Win $100 Visa Gift Card:   You must submit your contact information at the end of the survey in order to be eligible for the drawing to win one of 5 x $100 Visa Gift Cards.  These gift cards will be awarded randomly once the survey has closed.  Prizes will be mailed to winners, no later than June 1  2010; the winner’s names will be posted on the survey web site.

_________________________________________________________________________

READ FURTHER TO LEARN MORE...

Visit the Illinois Farm to School webpage.    

A message from Governor Pat Quinn about the survey.  

_________________________________________________________________________

HELP SPREAD THE WORD 

1. Forward this e-mail to everyone you know in Illinois and encourage them to take the survey -- especially parents, teachers, farmers, school administrators, and food service directors!

2. Facebook:    Become a fan of IL Farm to School.

3. Facebook and LinkedIn:  Post the following status:  

IL parents, teachers, farmers, school administrators…join me in helping to improve the food that our children eat at school by taking the IL Farm to School survey by May 25th at http://www.farmtoschool.org/IL/surveyinformation.htm - win $100!!

4. Twitter:  Post this to Twitter:

Take the IL Farm to School survey by May 25 and win $100: www.farmtoschool.org/IL/surveyinformation.htm

5.  Questions?  If you have questions regarding the survey or Illinois Farm to School’s work, please contact ilfarmtoschool@gmail.com.

Daily Digest: Feeding Chicago's Refugees, Albany Park Theater Project, and Farm to School Legislation

The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago released a Chicago Food Industry White Paper, based on recommendations from last year's Farm to Fork Conference.  Also, a Chicago and Illinois Handbook for Food Entrepreneurs is now available online. 

Slow Food USA profiles Chicago Honey Co-op and their many contributions to communities in Chicago. 

Worldview on WBEZ features the work of Heartland Health Outreach, an organization providing food and nutrition assistance to refugees in Chicago. 

The Albany Park Theater Project, a multi-ethnic youth theater ensemble, will perform "Feast" from April 2 - April 24th.  In preparation for the production, APTP visited Mint Creek Farm in Central Illinois. 

Many school nutrition policy developments are taking place, including the introduction of national Farm to School legislation, as well as continued debate about the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act. 

More press about the recent FamilyFarmed Expo is available here.  

Daily Digest: USDA Farm to School Site Visits, Dill Pickle Food Co-op, and Sustainable Food Jobs

If your school district is interested in being a site visit for a USDA Farm to School Tactical Team, apply online today. Deadline is Jan. 31. More info is available here. 

USDA Economic Research Service released its farm income and agricultural outlook report for 2009. 

Dill Pickle Food Co-op, Chicago's newest community-owned grocery store, published its first newsletter, "The Brine", available online. 

Chicago Rarities Orchard Project (CROP) will host a fundraiser at Uncommon Ground on Jan. 25. Visit the Good Food for All Calendar for more upcoming events and workshops in the Chicago foodshed. 

City Farm and the Resource Center is looking for a Director of Urban Agriculture.  

Links to: 

Jobs & Opportunities 

Grants Database