New Partners for Smart Growth 2016 Portland, Oregon

New Partners for Smart Growth 2016 | Portland, Oregon

Preconference Activities on Healthy, Equitable Food Systems

3rd Annual Preconference Workshop:

INTENTION & INNOVATION

Towards Healthy, Equitable Food Systems

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10

1:30 pm – 2:45 pm – OPENING PLENARY

Leading with equity & moving “food justice” into the mainstream

Our opening plenary will explore the intersections between advocacy against racial, cultural and social injustices and growing resilient food systems, economies and communities. What does it look like to account for these intersections, and what’s at risk if we do not? Drawing from their unique experiences working in different contexts across the country, our panel of food justice champions will challenge participants to consider opportunities to more intentionally address issues of equity though food systems, from grassroots to grasstops.

-Moderator: Andy Fisher, Interim Director, Portland Fruit Tree Project

-Paula Daniels, Founder, Los Angeles Food Policy Council

-Felipe Matesanz, National High Road Coordinator, Restaurant Opportunities Center

-Natilee McGruder, Director, River Region Food Policy Council

-Shirley Sherrod, Executive Director, Southwest Georgia Project for Community Education; Vice President of Development, New Communities, Inc.

3:00 pm – 4:30 pm – CONCURRENT SESSIONS

1)Healthy people, healthy economies: finding a common language

Local food system advocates often tout the potential impacts on public health and the community’s economy. Sounds great in theory, but what’s the substance behind these arguments and how can we best convey it to key stakeholders? This session will showcase a set of data-driven tools that bring health and economic indicators together. Using examples from around the country, our panel will discuss the roles of local government, community-based organizations, and other potential partners in moving this work forward.

-Moderator: Heather Wooten, Vice President of Programs, ChangeLab solutions

-Wendy Peters Moschetti, Director of Food Systems, LiveWell Colorado

-Erica Campbell, Director, Vermont Farm to Plate Network

-Samantha Schaffstall, Program & Marketing Analyst, USDA Agriculture Marketing Service

-Katrina Van Dis, Program Administrator, Community & Economic Development, Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council

2)Beyond food hubs: value chain innovation clusters

This session will illuminate the ways in which the development of community-scale food infrastructure helps get regional food from farm to table in frameworks that can be replicated and modified for smart growth across metro areas.Our panelists, representing both well-established and emerging food innovation districts, will discuss how they’re addressing supply chain infrastructure gaps, creating market opportunities for small and mid-sized food producers, and fostering synergies across businesses. They’ll also reflect on howthese models integrate smart growth issues such as sustainable development, place-making, and social justice.

-Moderator: Amanda Oborne, Vice President, Food & Farms, Ecotrust

-Dan Carmody, President, Eastern Market Corporation

-Caroline Heine, Co-Founder & Project Director, Seed Capital KY

-Sydney DeLuna, Program Manager, The Redd on Salmon Street

3)From the ground up: growing rural economies and livability through food

This session will look at the roles agriculture and food can play in asset-based, community-driven economic development and planning in rural America. Our panel will share their perspectives on the needs for protection, cultivation or expansion of rural assets to increase wealth and livability.While emphasizing opportunities and challenges unique to rural communities, this discussion will also acknowledge where approaches to partner engagement,business models, and other learnings may be relevant across the rural-urban continuum.

-Moderator: Mallory Rahe, Extension Community Economist, Oregon State University Extension

-Julia Freedgood, Assistant Vice President of Programs, American Farmland Trust

-Roger Gonzales, Vice President of Business Development for Siete del Norte CDC - CPLC Affiliate, President,Los De Mora Local Growers' Cooperative, Inc.

-Shirley Sherrod, Executive Director, Southwest Georgia Project for Community Education; Vice President of Development, New Communities, Inc.

4:45 pm – 6:00 pm – CLOSING PLENARY

Better food and agriculture policy through the lens of smart growth

In our closing panel, speakers will share their experiences working at different scales to advance smart growth policies. You’ll hear how innovative policies oriented around livability and resiliency issues have implications—sometimes unexpected—for agriculture and food systems. This discussion will emphasize the importance of community engagement in policy development and encourage local and regional food system advocates to be aware of and active in these spaces.

-Moderator: Richard Conlin, consultant, and former President, Seattle City Council

-Kristin Baja, Climate and Resilience Planner, City of Baltimore Office of Sustainability

-Sibella Kraus, President & Founder, Sustainable Agriculture Education (SAGE)

-Tara Sulzen, Field Representative, Office of Congressman Earl Blumenauer

6:00 pm – 8:00 pm — NETWORKING RECEPTION

All workshop participants are invited to join a hosted reception following the closing session. Appetizersand a cash bar will be available.

Thursday, February 11

8:30 am – 9:45 am – BONUS SESSION

How the Work of Growing Resilient, Sustainable Food Systems Can Nourish Smart Growth Initiatives

Thursday morning, grab your coffee and join this bonus sessionopen to all New Partners attendees and featuring representatives of collaborative networks working to grow accessible, economically viable and healthy food systems for communities across Oregon. You’ll hear from networks operating at different scales and in different stages of development, each with their own unique intentions, strengths and challenges. Consider how their lessons learned around organizing frameworks, community engagement and measurement strategies may be applicable to smart growth initiatives in other contexts.

-Moderator: Lauren Gwin, Associate Director, Oregon State University Small Farms and Community Food Systems

-Katrina Van Dis, Program Administrator, Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council, and board member, High Desert Food and Farm Alliance

-Sarah Sullivan, Executive Director, Gorge Grown Food Network

-Greg Holmes, Food Systems Program Director, 1000 Friends of Oregon, and Chair, Rogue Valley Food System Network

1:30 pm – 5:30 pm – TOUR OF LOCAL PROJECTS

Growing Farm and Food Businesses – Strategies to Promote Food Access and Economic Development

•Optional for workshop/conference attendees; pre-registration & separate fee required

•This tour will explore how food-system development efforts at different scales are increasing food access and supporting entrepreneurship in historically disadvantaged urban neighborhoods. Participants will visit three sites in Southeast Portland, where organizations are addressing food-system challenges through urban farming, community-kitchen business incubators, specialty retail and the development of a food-processing and distribution hub. Zenger Farm offers programs for low-income residents in outer southeast Portland, including a SNAP-accessible CSA farm, the Lents International Farmers’ Market, “Healthy Eating on a Budget” classes, a farm/food education partnership with the local school district, and a new community-kitchen micro-business incubator. The Portland Mercado (a project of the Hacienda Community Development Corporation) is a community hub and business incubator that provides affordable retail space for 19 businesses representing a range of Latin American foods and products. The Redd is an Ecotrust project to transform two city blocks in the central industrial district into a processing and distribution hub for the regional food economy – a place where food entrepreneurs can connect with their peers, access services, and grow small businesses. Transportation will be by bus with some walking throughout the tour. Snacks will be provided. Comfortable shoes and warm, casual attire are encouraged.