Good Food for All

Weekly Digest: President Obama Signs Child Nutrition Re-Authorization Act

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

• This week, President Obama signed the Child Nutrition Re-Authorization Act into law.  The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 will authorize funding for child nutrition programs and aims to increase access to healthy food for low-income children nationwide.   

• Increasing numbers of private investors are looking for ways to support local food systems. 

• Chicago Garden highlights a number of local food products for the holiday season that support social enterprise ventures.  

• Door to Door Organics is partnering with Goodness Greeness to provide an organic and local food products delivery service in Chicago.  

• Chicago Food Policy Advisory Council and Advocates for Urban Agriculture are actively focusing on Chicago's zoning ordinance proposals for urban agriculture.  Click here to view the ordinance. 

 

Weekly Digest: Healthy Changes in Humboldt Park, Child Nutrition Reauthorization, and Zoning for Urban Ag

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

• Sinai Urban Health Institute received national press on its comprehensive public health assessment of eight Chicago communities and the changes that have occurred since the study was published in 2006.  Block by Block is a campaign to support Humboldt Park residents in making healthy lifestyle changes.

• There could be movement in Congress on the 2010 Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR). View resources here.

• The Reinvestment Fund (TRF) has a new data mapping tool of low-access areas to supermarkets in Chicago.

• The Local Beet examines the Department of Zoning and Land Use Planning's latest efforts to update zoning classifications for urban agriculture.

• Large retail chains, including Walmart, CVS and Walgreens, are stocking their stores with more groceries in urban areas.

• Illinois State University is diverting thousands of pounds of food waste from landfills this year.

• Jim Javenkoski and Sunday Dinner will present two sold-out Locavore Dinners on November 15 and 16. The first event features special guests Beth and Brent Eccles of Green Acres Farm (North Judson, IN). Harry and Gwen Carr of Mint Creek Farm (Stelle, IL) are the featured guests for the second event.

 

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: 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: Local Food Legislation, Prairie Crossing and Increasing Local Food Purchasing in Illinois

Gov. Pat Quinn signed two important pieces of legislation on Saturday, both promoting local food.  The  Farmers' Market Technology Improvement Act (HB 4756) will allow for more Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) machines at farmers markets to accept LINK cards.  

The second (SB 615) will create a Farm-to-School database on the Illinois Department of Agriculture website in order to facilitate fresh food purchasing for schools, effective Jan. 1, 2011. 

FamilyFarmed.org released an action plan and feasibility study on increasing fruit and vegetable production in Illinois.  Download the full report here. 

FamilyFarmed.org and Chartwells-Thompson Hospitality are also partnering to increase local food purchasing for Chicago Public Schools to over $2 million.  Download the Request for Information (RFI) and the press release here.  

Breaking Through Concrete features Prairie Crossing and Sandhill Organics this week, along with a video of Mike Sands, Executive Director of Liberty Prairie Foundation. 

Mike from david Hanson on Vimeo.

Daily Digest: City Council Approves Wal-Mart, Whole Foods to Start Growing Own Produce, GoTo2040 Plan on Local Food Systems

The Chicago City Council approved the construction of the city's second Wal-Mart on Wednesday.  Listen to the full story here.  

Whole Foods will start to grow its own produce at one of its Virginia stores.  

USDA released a "How To" guide for farmers market managers to use Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) machines to accept SNAP benefits.  Read the press release and download the guide here.  

Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) has released its draft report on local food systems for the GoTo2040 plan.  The full draft report is open for public comment until Aug. 6th.  Comments can be left on the website or submitted via email.  Click here to download the Local Food Draft Report for GoTo2040. 

Gourmet Gorilla was featured on NBC News about serving local and organic school lunches. 

A new report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Trust for America's Health shows obesity levels in Illinois increased almost a full percentage point in the past year.   Illinois is ranked 4th in the nation for the highest rates of childhood obesity. 

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: CPS Nutrition Policies, Garden Therapy, and Asian Carp

No pop tarts, fewer French fries, and more veggie burgers, will reflect some of the changes in the revised nutritional standards for CPS. 

A Chicago alderman proposes possible solutions to the influx of Asian carp: catch them and feed them to those in need.  Big River Fish, based in Pearl, IL, will export 30 million lbs of carp to China, to be served in high-end restaurants.  

A Milwaukee federal judge has denied Dean Foods' request to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit. 

A Chicago Tribune editorial asks CPS schools to clarify school lunchroom policies on food waste.  

An increased number of health-care facilities are incorporating "garden therapy" treatment programs for patients and clients. 

Seeding Chicago, a new blog on urban agriculture in Chicago, shares recent news that Pete's grocery store may be coming to Chicago's Near West Side.  

Christine Vilsack, wife of Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, will serve as the national honorary co-chair of Healthy School Campaign's Cooking Up Change competition.

Logan Square Kitchen, a LEED gold-certified contract kitchen,  is hosting a Spring Pastry Market this Saturday, April 10.