Catching up with the SC Food Policy Council

This month's update comes from the SC Food Policy Council. They recently convened in Columbia and are sharing an overview of their current efforts and ways for you to get involved in 2018.

SC Rural Health Action Plan:

We were pleased to work with the SC Office of Rural Health to provide guidance on integrating food and agriculture components into the state's Rural Health Action Plan. Check out the full report here. You can find the action steps we helped influence on pages 69, 73, and 74, and a write up from our board's chair, Carrie Draper, entitled "A Rural Social Justice Issue: Food Insecurity" on pages 113 and 114. We look forward to continuing the work with the SC Office of Rural Health and other stakeholders throughout the coming year to elevate and help move these action steps forward!

Local Food Policy Council Development:

We partnered with the South Carolina Community Loan Fund to focus on local food policy council development at the 2017 Food Access Summit. We will continue to encourage local council development this year by providing resources on our website to help with council formation and capacity building. Stay tuned for an updated website to launch in the next few weeks!

SC Local Food System Roadmap Project:

This project aims to develop mapping and resource directory tools to support the growth and development of South Carolina's food system across the value chain from farm to table. The roadmap is modeled after a similar project completed in North Carolina. We are currently gearing up for data collection!

SC Food System Plan Scan:

In 2017, we collected state and municipal government plans that included food systems components. An analysis of the plans revealed the following common areas of interest: preserving the local food culture, economic development, farmland preservation, local food industries, and the promotion of local foods. We are using this information to develop policy recommendations within each of these areas. The recommendations and all the plans we compiled will be included on our updated website soon.

New Board Member Nominations:

We currently have several openings for new Board members! In early March, we will be releasing a short application for anyone interested in serving. We hope you will apply and help us spread the word!

Thank you, Carrie Draper and the rest of the SC Food Policy Council for catching us up on all of the exciting work taking place across the state. If you have news or events you would like featured in the SC Food Access Newsletter, please use this form to let us know!

Learn About SC Food Hubs

A Conversation About SC Food Hubs

March 5, 2018 | 9:30AM-5:30PM

Join the Midlands Food Alliance at the Phillips Market Center in West Columbia for a full day of discussing food hubs in our state.

Since 2004, we have provided 327 loans for $45.4 million in financing that facilitated more than $309.8 million in community development projects; we financed 1,880 housing units, 11 healthy food outlets, 11 community facilities, and 20 community businesses, creating or retaining 3,116 jobs and providing a safe, affordable place to call home for 4,700 individuals and families.