Good Food for All

Weekly Digest: Better Nutrition Standards for School Lunches, Zoning for Urban Agriculture and Iowa Local Food Plan

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

• USDA is raising its nutrition standards for school lunches, calling for dramatic reductions in sodium and calories. Read about the proposed changes here.

• Advocates for Urban Agriculture will host the AUA Winter Members Meeting on Feb. 2, 2011 at the Garfield Park Conservatory.  View meeting info here.

• Read an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune, written by Harry Rhodes of Growing Home, regarding the City of Chicago's proposed zoning ordinance for urban agriculture.  Read Nevin Cohen's op-ed here.

• Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture introduced the "Iowa Local Food and Farm Plan" to the Iowa Legislature last week.

 

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: 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.

 

Good Food for All Weekly Digest

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

• Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) will release its GO TO 2040 Plan for final approval on Oct. 13.  Download the full report, and read the chapter on promoting sustainable local food.

• USDA announced the 2010 Specialty Crop Block Grant Awards, which include a number of Illinois grantees including The Experimental Station, Illinois Stewardship Alliance and FamilyFarmed.org.

• Growing Home will host a community meeting on Oct. 7 to discuss the development of an urban agricultural district in Englewood and their proposal for an EPA Brownfields grant.

• A new report “Building Communities with Farms” features Prairie Crossing in Grayslake, IL.  The report provides insights on communities that have integrated farms with housing developments.

• Growing Power is developing a new 7-acre urban farm on Chicago's South Side.  The new project, Iron St. Farm, will include hoop houses and an aquaponics system.  Watch the feature clip on WTTW Chicago Tonight.

 

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.

Daily Digest: Breaking Through Concrete, New Food and Agriculture PRI Fund and Upcoming Events

RSF Social Finance officially launched their Food & Agriculture Program-Related Investing (PRI) Fund.   

Breaking Through Concrete (BTC) is a nationwide tour of urban farms in America.   BTC recently visited Growing Home's Wood Street Farm in Chicago to learn more about Growing Home's job training program.  

A new USDA Economic Research Service study examines the potential obesity-reducing effects of soda taxes. 

Jewel Osco is looking to shift its product selection as Wal-Mart prepares to build multiple stores in Chicago.  

Good Food for All has an updated Event Calendar, with many more events thanks to ChicagoRegen.com. 

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: Takin' it to the Streets, Local Food Jobs and June Events

Black Oaks Center for Sustainable Renewable Living is hiring through the Put Illinois to Work program. All applicants must be financially challenged, between 18-21 living with parents or 18 or older with children 17 or younger. Click here to see possible positions and here to download an application.  

There are now USDA People's Gardens in every state across the country. 

Chefs Move to Schools is a new initiative as part of the Let's Move campaign to combat childhood obesity.  Click here to view a map of participating chefs and schools in the Chicago region.  

Upcoming Events on Saturday, June 19: 

The Health and Wellness Fair at Takin' it to the Streets festival on Saturday, June 19 will have a Faith + Justice workshop session on healthy corner stores. Click here to learn more. 

Angelic Organics Learning Center will be hosting its Summer Solstice Celebration this Saturday, June 19 in Woodlawn.

Take a tour with Chicago Public Radio of Growing Home's Wood St. Farm.