address issues of hunger and food security in Hartford

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Hartford Food Policy Commission

City of Hartford Advisory Commission on Food Policy

In 1991, the City Council of Hartford established the Hartford Food Policy Commission to address issues of hunger and food security in Hartford, particularly among its low-income residents.

One of the key functions of the Food Policy Commission has been to foster collaborative approaches to monitoring and improving the food environment in the City of Hartford. The Commission does so by addressing a number of topics including transportation, land use, advocacy to local, state and federal government, education, business development, health, monitoring, emergency food supplies, and the role of the private sector. The Food Policy Commission advises Hartford policymakers about these issues.

The Goals of the Food Policy Commission are the following:

To eliminate hunger as an obstacle to a happy, healthy and productive life in the city;
To ensure that a wide variety of safe and nutritious food is available for city residents;
To ensure that access to food is not limited by economic status, location or other factors beyond a resident's control;
To ensure that the price of food in the city remains at a level comparable to the level for the state.

Hartford Food Advisory Commission Projects include:

Supermarket Surveys -quarterly surveys that compare prices of common food items at local grocery stores. Click here to see a summary of the most recent survey, or go to our list of publications to order a copy.

Summer Food Service Program -a federally funded effort that gives cities money to provide free meals to children under 18. The Commission monitors the effectivness of SFSP and participant satisfaction in order to make annual recommendations on increasing enrollment and improving the quality of summer meals.

Community Food Security Awards -annual awards given to recognize efforts in the individual, non-profit/government, and for profit/private business sectors to improve local food security.

Winners for 2007 are the following:

Individual - Susan Campbell, Hartford Courant columnist
Non-profit/Government Agency - City of Hartford WIC Program
Private Business - Scott's Jamaican Bakery

Transportation Survey and Monitoring -a Commission research project on city residents' use of public transportation to shop for food. The results have led to improvements in local bus routes.

Commission Membership, 2007

Elsa Smith-Pleasant
City of Hartford WIC Program Director
Lisa Candels
Family Life Education
Barbara Crockett
Office of the Mayor
Susan Davis
Nutrition Consultation Services, Hartford Public Schools
Lola Elliott-Hugh
Universal Health Care Foundation
Jack Hale
Knox Parks Foundation
Jerry Jones
Hartford Food System
Sally Mancini
End Hunger Connecticut
Andrew May
InfoLine-211
Gloria McAdam
Foodshare
Reverend Gary Miller
Asylum Hill Congregational Church
Sophia Segura-Perez
Hispanic Health Council
Suzette Strickland
End Hunger Connecticut

How to Get Involved

The Commission regularly depends on volunteers to help survey supermarkets and grocery stores in the Hartford area for its semi-annual Food Store Price Survey. This requires only about an hour of time, thoroughly checking the prices of about 40 different items in a designated supermarket on a particular Sunday.

Please contact the Commission at (860) 296-9325 if you'd like to help or learn more. You can also e-mail HFS.

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