Food Access and Community Wellness Notes from January 18 2022

The FSC-GNV met on January 18 2022. The topic for this meeting was Food Access & Community Wellness. Contact information for the attendees below may be provided upon request. Please email foodsystemscoalitionGNV@gmail.com for assistance connecting to FSC-GNV participants. To download and share these meeting notes, access the PDF version HERE.

What is the FSC-GNV?

• Check out the “About” page of our website to learn more.
• Download the 1-page outreach flyer to share with others.

Partner News and Updates for January 18 2022

UF Food Systems Institute

• “Future of Food Forum: Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Food Systems” event to be hosted on March 3, 2022 on campus at the University of Florida. Check out the website HERE for more information.
• Invitation is open to all. Desire for local food systems folks to attend!

UF Business Services – ITN Update

• The open period of the ITN that is seeking a vendor for the UF Dining Services contract is almost closed.
• There were many different criteria used in the ITN, but no specific program/framework was followed. Criteria and values were taken from different models, but vendors have leeway to describe the scope of services and practices they would implement.
• A question was asked about “How is UF Businesses Services defining local?”
  • The response was that farms in Florida are considered local, but the vendor will have leeway to define local during contract negotiations.
  • The ITN definition of local does not seem to distinguish between small and large Florida farms.
• A question was asked about what information and documentation, if any, related to the ITN will be made publicly available.
  • The response was that anyone with questions can reach out to Matt Mueller, Director of Food and Beverage Services at UF, to be connected to the Procurement Office.

City of Gainesville

• Community Grocery Store
  • The grocery store project discussed throughout 2021 is no longer moving forward. As a reminder this project started with an unsolicited proposal from a private developer to the city for a forgivable loan to develop a grocery store in East Gainesville.
  • Through the due diligence process that was conducted by City staff, it was determined that the project would not be the right fit for the city to invest in. Staff presented this recommendation to the City Commission on 1/6. That recommendation was accepted by the City Commission.
    • Question: Was the decision about the grocery store based on a determination of the need for the store? All elected officials agree that the grocery store is a need. Currently, staff has no direction yet as to what the next steps would be in terms of getting another grocery project going– a new RFP, providing some time to explore other models, etc.
• Food System Work Update
  • On 2/24, Karissa will be presenting to the City Commission to update them on the food system work happening in the community. This includes things like edible groves, community gardens, and food waste recovery, as well as presenting some opportunities that may be possible for our community to implement.
  • This meeting is open to the public for attendance and comment. All are welcome to join and share their thoughts.
  • Question: What is Prairiewood Elementary being used for currently, as it could be an option for the food waste recovery initiative? Prairiewood is being used as a swing space for ACPS.
    • There has been no facility identified for food waste reduction and recover. We are collecting data to figure out what the need would be. Based on our data, there is a lot less food being wasted than we predicted. There is a need for more data to better understand the scope of the food that would be diverted. Facilitating a pilot would be a good way to determine how it would work. Karissa is in conversation with community partners that have a kitchen space – potentially over the summer. The local food bank would be a key player in this, however, they are in a period of transition and need some time to understand their role before making those decisions.
• Food Waste Reduction and Recovery
  • The City Commission will be discussing the potential policy for food waste at the City Commission meeting on 2/3. The scope of the draft will be a policy that rolls out over next few years requiring local business partners that produce food (hospitals, cafeterias, restaurants, etc.) to follow the EPA hierarchy of food recovery. The primary focus of this is to reduce the sourcing of food. When there is waste, top priority is to divert to non- profits to get to folks in need, then animals to feed, biofuels, compost, then the landfill as a last resort. The core team is reaching out to nonprofits to better their understand needs and challenges when it comes to an increase of donations. We are also reaching out to food-generating businesses to understand their waste practices and challenges in this type of work. Karissa hopes to give this information to the Commission at the February meeting with the desire to inform a program from city to support it. Overall, we want to focus on helping business to reduce sourcing.

Food Systems Coalition General Announcements

• Please send website updates HERE to be included.
• Please submit volunteer opportunities to the website and we will work to get students plugged in.
• Gift cards still available for folks who want to conduct review of FSC site review. Fill out contact information HERE, or email Miranda Martin if interested.

University of Florida

• Pilot Food Waste Diversion Initiative
  • Gator Dining is recovering food on Tuesdays and Fridays from the Arredondo Café in partnership with the Food Recovery Network on campus.
  • Last semester, they recovered 120 pounds of food in 4 recovery days.
  • There was no food to recovery today, which means that source reduction was successful in terms of meal preparation. The pilot is going to be ramping back up, with the first recovery of the semester being this Friday 1/21.
  • The president of FRN is currently doing outreach to increase their recovery capacity with other groups of volunteers. There is a desire to start recovering on Mondays and Wednesdays as well with additional volunteer availability.
  • The team is tracking the resources used and insights they are gathering with the pilot, hoping to use their experience to inform additional pilot opportunities.
  • The availability of volunteers is limiting factor with the process. Volunteer teams every day of the week could establish scheduled process for recovery. This could open opportunities to recover food from other catering events, dining services on campus.
• ITN for Dining Contract
  • The Food and Beverage team is getting to final decision-making stage with the dining contracts.
  • There were more points around local partnerships and supporting food insecurity needs included in these plans. They are making an effort to be more involved in the local community with this contract.
  • The hope is to have a partner identified in the next 2-3 weeks. Any questions about the ITN process can be directed to Matt Mueller.

Gainesville Giving Garden

• Garden is located behind Cypress and Grove Brewery. The group is planning to expand the garden in June.
• They are looking for a Garden Management Lead, ideally someone who has experience in the area. This is not a paid position currently. The group meets each Sunday. Please share with anyone who would be interested. Would love to have a grad student looking for a capstone project in agriculture or a related field serve in this role.
• GGG is open to collaborating with other groups and is looking at grants to be able to pay folks for their work. Please let Meg know of any grants for Urban Donation Farms you are aware of.
• GGG is working to expand the reach of the program. They are currently feeding 10 families that were sheltered and transitioned to permanent housing.
• There is a possibility of working with Free Grocery Store to supply fresh produce for their clients.
• Question: What is the process/model you follow? The produce is harvested and then is taken to the food bank where they select supplemental food to compliment the produce, which is accompanied by recipe cards to make vegetable integration exciting and come to life. The recipes come from ideas that the families share, focused on foods they are comfortable eating.
• Family Promise picks up everything and delivers it to homes all around Gainesville.
  • Suggestion: Partnering with Keep Alachua County Beautiful, Project Youthbuild
    • Could work with PY as an internship/volunteer program. Recommendation to give Jonathan Leslie a call and explore.
• The distribution is weekly, providing about the full CSA amount to families.

Alachua County Public Schools

• ACPS has purchased a recycling accelerator. This equipment will be piloted with a couple of schools to turn materials into compost to be used at school gardens.
• Question about food shed map – not yet complete. Structure of site created. County staff still working on updates. Asked about how community partners will update, will be an iterative process. UF Geo Plan component done.

Alachua County DOH Farmer’s Market

• WIC Program has reached out to the state with some questions about the annual WIC coupons, as it was shared that the coupons were going to come to individual county offices instead of being distributed by the state.
• There was a request to move the day of the farmers market at the Health Department, as Friday mornings are not a great time for many folks. With the H’s extended hours, there may be an opportunity to host is Wednesday evenings.
  • There may be a need for volunteers to manage the farmers’ booths, if that happens.