HOUSTON FOOD POLICY WORKGROUP
April 14, 2010 11:30 am-1:00 pm
Houston Tomorrow office, downstairs conference room
Participants:
Bridget Jensen
Jay Crossley, Houston Tomorrow
Helen Smiley, Mid-South Natural Organic Farms, Inc.
Scott Howard, Urban Harvest
Stephanie Ellis, Houston-Galveston Area Council
Chuck Wemple, Houston-Galveston Area Council
Libby Kennedy
Sharon Siehl, Recipe for Success
Jacquie Miller
Jan Kindel, Transition Houston Food Group
Geri Wells, Houston Local Business Alliance
Robert Belen, Houston Local Business Alliance
Penny Cureton, University of Houston Downtown
Gina Goudgame, Recipe for Success, University of Houston dietetic intern
Katy Atkiss
MaDiana Diaz
Jennifer Olcan, University of Texas School of Public Health
Kathryn Jost, Georgia’s Farm to Market
Glen Miracle, Laughing Frog Farm
Brent Batchelor, Texas Agrilife Extension
Richard Bost, Georgia’s Farm to Market
John Jacob, Texas A&M University
Announcements
Geri Wells announced an iniative of Transition Houston and the Houston Peace and Justice Coalition, to establish a Buy Local First business alliance for the Houston area. They are holding a conference on May 1 to bring together as many of the interested parties as possible, and request that this workgroup send a representative to lead an afternoon session on food and agriculture issues. For more information, go to www.houstonlocalbusiness.org.
Powerpoint Project
Jacquie Miller distributed a first draft outline of a powerpoint presentation. The idea is to do outreach to interested members of the general community by having a generic presentation that any workgroup member could use to talk to a general audience about food issues in the Houston area. This outline will be revised and discussed further at our June meeting.
Report from Meeting with City of Houston Health Department
Jay and Sharon reported on their meeting with Stephen Williams, the head of the City of Houston Health Department. In preparation for the meeting, they created a 2-page summary of the Houston Food Policy Workgroup to date, explaining who we are and what we are trying to do, which they distributed to the group.
Generally, it was a very good meeting. The City of Houston Health Department is supportive of the idea of developing a Houston Food Policy Council, and may be willing to assist with the local food assessment that is considered an indispensable first step. Jay and Sharon will work with Monica Chierici of the Health Department to estimate the funding needed and possible sources.
Houston-Galveston Area Council
Chuck Wemple spoke about the activities of the Houston-Galveston Area Council in the area of economic development and local agriculture and food issues in H-GAC’s 13-county catchment area.
H-GAC is a large regional planning organization, with 220 staff members. They coordinate SBA loans (Small Business Association) in the area as well as administer disaster recovery programs. As part of this effort, they support conferences and workshops, raise awareness of economic links in the area, and produce a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). They also maintain a clearinghouse for economic development activities (www.gcedd.org).
Jay asked about the possibility of H-GAC eventually housing a Houston Food Policy Council; Chuck replied that in their terms, a “council” of any kind would be in response to a huge perceived need and would involve a commensurately
huge funding. Something less formal and less formidable might be called an “advisory committee” or something similar.
Submitted by:
Jacquie Miller
May 5, 2010