EVENT ADVISORY   


JOIN THE LEHIGH VALLEY FOOD POLICY COUNCIL  
 
Inaugural Meeting to be held September 24, 2015
4:00 -6:00 p.m. at Sacred Heart Hospital, Auditorium
421 West Chew Street, Allentown
 
Why is the Lehigh Valley mobilizing a
Food Policy Council now?


To resolve the hunger crisis in the Lehigh Valley and to grow the local food economy.

 
Approximately 75,000 people are food insecure in the Lehigh Valley, more than one in ten of the total population across Lehigh and Northampton Counties. Food security refers to more than hunger: it also means regular access to nutritious food. If a family chronically skips a meal, or is under-nourished, they are food insecure. Our region is the home to eight low food access areas, all of which are low-income neighborhoods, with limited access to a grocery store.
 
Since the release of the EnvisionLV assessment report: Lehigh Valley Local Food Economy, produced by Buy Fresh Buy Local of the Greater Lehigh Valley, stakeholders in the form of a Founders Team have been gathering and organizing through public engagement events organized by RenewLV.   In 2014, The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission produced " 1LV " report which included four goals for building a sustainable local food economy. The Founders Team is ready to announce a formal Lehigh Valley Food Policy Council launch and invite others to populate nine working groups.  
 
Any person, organization or company can be a member of the Lehigh Valley Food Policy Council.   This council will continue work on food access and food economy issues in the form of nine working groups of the council to convene at this event:    

1. Food Access - limited access, government assistance, emergency resources, traditional retail markets, non-traditional urban markets 
2. Consumer Education - healthy diets, where to find nutritious food
3. Urban and Organic Agriculture - community gardens, urban farms, transitioning to organic , alternative food resources
4. Food Waste - food recovery, composting, gleaning
5. Land Use - farmland preservation
6. Promoting Local Food Economy - farm to school, community education
7. Farming - farmers, farms, new farmer training, capacity and production
8. Distribution - infrastructure, processing, aggregation, distribution, wholesale buyers, farms to institutions
9. Entrepreneurship - growing the local food economy through starting and scaling up food and beverage businesses  
 
This is a collaboration of seventeen founding partners that include:  Buy Fresh Buy Local of the Greater Lehigh Valley, RenewLV, the Nurture Nature Center, Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley, Counties of Northampton and Lehigh, the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley, CADCA - Jordan Heights Neighborhood Revitalization, Second Harvest Food Bank of the Greater Lehigh Valley, Rodale Institute, Sodexo, Lafayette College, Seven Generation Charter School, St. Luke's University Health Network, the Lehigh Valley Health Network, New Bethany Ministries and Penn State Cooperative Extension Office.

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CONTACT

Ross Marcus
(T) 484.619.6513  

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The mission of the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley is to improve the quality of life in the Lehigh Valley by building a community in which all people have access to economic opportunity, the ability to pursue that opportunity and a voice in the decisions that affect their lives.