Connecticut Food Policy Council

In 2003 HFS received a USDA Community Foods Project grant to build and expand the food policy-making capacity of the Connecticut Food Policy Council. Grant activities include the promotion of regional and local food system planning, child nutrition education, farmland preservation, and the economic vitality of state agriculture. The grant also funded a state-wide community food security (CFS) assessment of all 169 towns to provide quantitative and statistically sound scores that permit:

• ranking towns by various aspects of CFS
• identifying towns where low levels of CFS are critical
• supporting policy recommendations to increase CFS in Connecticut.

• advise the legislature and the governor on the formulation of state food policy;
• integrate the efforts of state agencies toward a common and coordinated approach to food, nutrition, and agriculture issues;
• educate the public and state policy makers about the state's food system.

Through its work with the Connecticut Food Policy Council, HFS led the process to develop a guidebook on food security efforts throughout Connecticut. The book, "Making Room at the Table", released late in 1999, highlights significant efforts on the part of agencies, groups and individuals to develop solutions to food, nutrition, and agriculture problems in Connecticut.

• Bringing together the Departments of Agriculture and Transportation to produce the "Connecticut Farm Map" which features 300 of the state's best agricultural destinations.
• Publication of the "Annual Food Security in Connecticut" report that monitors hunger and food system indicators (e.g. farmland loss).
• Sponsoring a statewide conference on food safety in 2001 that brought together 100 practioners who produced a series of recommendations for improvements in state procedures.
• Exploring opportunities for the purchase of Connecticut-grown agricultural products by state institutions; this has already led to the "Connecticut Comes First" purchasing program started in 2002 by the Connecticut Correctional System which is now buying Connecticut-grown.
• Hosting a state-wide forum in 2004 titled "The Next Agricultural Economy in Connecticut," attracting over 100 stakeholders and policy-makers in an effort to focus on emerging issues and opportunities to keep Agriculture viable in Connecticut.
• Publishing a report in 2004 on innovative strategies to improve school food environments around Connecticut, highlighting school gardens, farm-to-cafeteria programs, and programs that teach healthy eating behaviors.

Connecticut Food Policy Council Members:

• Linda Drake, M.S., University of Connecticut
• Jim Gotta, CT Dept of Administrative Services
• Jessica DeLuca, CT Department of Transportation
• Gloria McAdam, FOODSHARE
• Mary Parizo, CT Department of Social Services
• Bruce Sherman, CT Department of Agriculture
• Maureen B. Staggenborg, CT DEpartment of Education
• Barbara Walsh, CT Department of Public Health
• David Yandow, Fowler and Hunting Company

• Bonnie Burr, CT Farm Bureau
• Erica Fearn, CT Farm Bureau
• Elizabeth Fleming, CT-NOFA
• John Guszkowski, Capitol Region Council of Governments
• Tracy Helin, CT Association for Human Services
• Jean C King, The Parisky Group
• Jennifer Martin, Hartford Food System
• Lucy Nolan, End Hunger! Connecticut
• Ellen Sloane, Department of Consumer Protection
• Laura Stone, The Parisky Group

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Last updated on 05/22/07