Good Food for All

Weekly Digest: Apply today for the Local Food Business Plan Competition!

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

• Apply today for the SLoFIG Business Plan Competition! The Sustainably Local Food Finance Group (SLoFIG) is a new angel investment group solely focused on catalyzing the local food system. SLoFIG is sponsoring a Chicago region local food business plan competition in conjunction with the FamilyFarmed.org Expo Financing Fair on March 17th. Applications are due by Feb. 4, 2011.

• Advocates for Urban Agriculture (AUA) has a comprehensive overview of the Urban Agriculture Zoning Ordinance in Chicago. The City Council Zoning Committee will meet next Thursday, Jan. 27.

• Walgreens has plans to add more fresh foods to 400 stores in designated ‘food desert’ areas.

• Wal-Mart is also shifting its strategy to offer healthier foods in its stores nationwide. First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative will monitor Wal-Mart’s progress.

 

 

 

 

Weekly Digest: CAFOs, Cob Connection and Altgeld Garden

This week's digest is cross-posted on ChicagoReGen.com. 

• Illinois Alliance to Prevent Obesity sponsored an action summit on fighting obesity and improving nutrition on Dec. 3rd, with more than 150 stakeholders from 90 different organizations in attendance.

• Illinois Citizens for Clear Air and Water led a successful campaign to have the Illinois EPA strongly regulate CAFOs and enforce the Clean Water Act.

• Chicago Public Radio features a story on the development of a new urban farm, Altgeld Garden on Chicago's South Side.

• Environment Illinois released a report on the status of large-scale farming in Illinois according to the Chicago Tribune.  More news coverage here.

• In time for the holidays, Cob Connection is piloting Roots for Christmas, a program offering greener alternatives to traditional cut or fake trees.

 

Weekly Digest: Food Incubator in Central Illinois, Tracking Fresh Food Access and Heritage Turkeys

This week's digest is cross-posted on ChicagoRegen.com. 

• Using mobile technology, researchers such as Mari Gallagher can easily track stores selling food in the Chicago area.

• Chicago Public Radio featured a story on how Illinois LINK-approved food and liquor stores, gas stations and dollar stores are not fulfilling federal requirements to accept food stamps.

• A Central Illinois food innovation center could support the local food movement by offering a place for producers to process and package their products.

• The Farm Business Development Center at Prairie Crossing has helped launch successful farms such as Dea Dia and Sandhill Organics.

• A niche market is developing in the Chicago region for heritage turkeys.

 

Weekly Digest: Logan Square Kitchen, TEDxWindyCity, and Illinois Food Systems

This week's digest is posted on ChicagoReGen.com. 

• Not able to make TedxWindyCity?  Click here to watch the TED talks on food deserts, the future of food, and vertical farming.

• Register today for 2010 State of the Plate. Join farmers, chefs, and food distributors to discuss sustainable meat supply in the Midwest.

• The Illinois Public Health Association is seeking community input for defining the IPHA "Food and Nutrition Section." The public meeting will take place on Nov. 17. View the agenda and click here to RSVP.

• Sign a letter of support for Logan Square Kitchen, which is seeking its Food Retail Establishment License.

 

Weekly Digest: Foraging Local Food, Rooftop Gardens at Chicago Hotels, and Food Deserts

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

• Chicago hotels are beginning to incorporate local ingredients, and have even started rooftop gardens.

• The 61st St. Farmers Market, run by Experimental Station, was one of two farmers markets in Illinois to receive a grant to expand the Double Value Coupon Program for SNAP/LINK (also known as food stamps), thereby increasing access to fresh, healthy and local food.

• Wal-Mart has plans to source more local food at its stores nationwide.

• A few entrepreneurial Chicagoans are foraging ingredients, such as mushrooms, to supply local restaurants.

• At the recent TedxWindyCity, Mari Gallagher presented a Chicago Food Desert update. Download the updates and progress reports here.

Good Food for All is a blog of Fresh Taste, a collaboration of funders dedicated to encouraging diverse local agriculture and access to food that is healthy, green, fair and affordable in the Chicago region.  To subscribe and to learn more, click here.

 

Good Food for All Weekly Digest: Academy for Global Citizenship, Shared Kitchens, and Improving Farmers Market Access

The Good Food for All Weekly Digest is cross-posted this week on ChicagoREgen.com.

• Academy for Global Citizenship was awarded the HealthierUS School Challenge Gold of Distinction Award.  AGC is the first school in Chicago and the entire Midwest to win this award.

• USDA announced the Farmers Market Promotion Program grant recipients.  For Chicago, Experimental Station received a grant to support and expand low-income consumer access to fresh, local and healthy foods.

• Chicago Reader reports on the City of Chicago’s business licensing laws for shared kitchens, including an interview with Zina Murray, founder of Logan Square Kitchen.

• The most recent issue of NYTimes Magazine focuses on food and community.

 

Daily Digest: GoTo2040 Plan for Local Food Systems, Living on Food Stamps and Food Trucks in Chicago

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 1 in 7 Americans live in poverty, the highest rate since the 1960s.  Feeding Illinois has organized the SNAP Hunger Challenge to educate the public on the difficulties of living on food stamps. 

Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) will release its GoTo2040 plan on Oct. 13.  The most up-to-date version of the local food systems chapter is now available online. 

Three new food trucks can now be found on the streets of Chicago.  Happy Bodega and Simple Sandwich both focus on serving fresh and local fare. 

The Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children was awarded $5.8 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services towards obesity prevention initiatives. 

Nominate a "Community Gardener of the Year" for GreenNet's 2010 Annual Award Ceremony and Potluck Dinner on Nov. 10. Nominations are due by Oct. 22. 

A farm camp in New York, Flying Pigs Farm, is geared towards educating food professionals about local cuisine.

Daily Digest: City Provisions Deli opens, African American farmers in the Chicago Region, and Community Food Project Grants

City Provisions recently opened a local and sustainable food deli on Chicago's North Side.  

Chicago Reader features an in-depth article profiling African American farmers in Hopkins Park and how they are trying to connect to markets on the South Side. 

USDA announced its Request for Applications (RFA) for the Community Food Projects (CFP) Competitive Grants Program.  Deadline is Nov. 17.  Free grant assistance resources are available on the CFSC website. 

Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food, an initiative of USDA to support local and regional food systems, posted updated slaughter maps in the U.S., to assist small ranchers and farmers. 

Heartland Local Food Network released its farmers market guide to accepting Illinois Link cards, based on its program at the Downtown Bloomington farmers market.  Download the guide here.  

Loyola University will offer a Sustainable Food Operations course in Jan. 2011, taught by Greg Christian of Greg Christian Catering and the Organic School Project. 

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.