Food@100% Innovation 10 – Developing the City Dept of Food
Food@100%: Innovation 10
Developing the City Dept of Food
The projects presented in the ten innovations areas are all designed to address barriers to vital services. Action teams should review all projects and prioritize those that have the best chance of addressing the barriers identified in the 100% New Mexico countywide survey. Your collaborative and result-focused local work is nothing less than heroic.
Here’s a quick overview of what you will find below.
Project Quick Links
Project: Food.10.1
Project 1: The “County/City partnership that funds the Department of Food” project
When Eric’s mom scans the website for city hall, she should be able to see the “Department of Food” right next to the Departments of Police, Fire and Parks. Why not? It’s a vital resource we can’t live without and, clearly, one that a large segment of the county’s population is struggling with. We can live without parks, but living without food is not an option.
More than maintaining a website, this department assesses yearly the need for food-related support programs, evaluates the effectiveness of current programs, supports ongoing research on best practices in food equity policy and programs, and promotes creative ways to fund all initiatives.
Potential investors include mayors, city councilors, county commissioners and advocates for children’s health and socially-engaged food industry leaders.
NEXT STEPS
Project: Food.10.2
Project 2: The “convene your fellow food advocates and enhance your skills in public speaking, committee briefing and how to get to a lawmaker” project
This project is a crash course that you develop with local experts about how to contact local and state leaders, give an elevator pitch on your projects, and the protocol for committee hearings that can lead to funding.
NEXT STEPS
Project: Food.10.3
Project 3: The “know your stuff before you meet the mayor” project
Innovation #10, in some ways, is putting it all together. By the time your action team becomes familiar with all nine innovation areas and their projects, you will be prepared to meet with elected officials and stakeholders to discuss a plan for strengthening city supports to end hunger and food insecurity.
NEXT STEPS
Project: Food.10.4
Project 4: The “create a bold vision and strategic plan” project
This project is focused on creating a new or improved Department of Food. As previous projects, you will have learned about your county’s strengths and weaknesses, potential funding sources and who the players are. You’ll be in a great position to document what’s great, and needs to be kept as it is or expanded, and what needs to change.
NEXT STEPS
Project: Food.10.5
Project 5: The “create a ‘no child goes hungry here’ tax” project
There are many ways for state, county and city governments to raise money to address a social need. Explore how California created a fund to end climate change with a surcharge on eating out. Some cities have a 10% tax on gross receipts for marijuana use. Other localities tax certain food products. This project is designed to focus on how to think creatively to identify mechanisms for funding food security. In some localities, ending hunger may be just as important as addressing climate change.
1% surcharge to help fight climate change (a model to adapt to support food security): https://aae.how/111
Explore marijuana surcharge model: https://aae.how/112
Explore surcharge model: https://aae.how/113
Explore surcharge on unhealthy foods: https://aae.how/114
NEXT STEPS
Project: Food.10.6
Project 6: The “Cause Marketing and allow customers to donate part of their sales to ending food insecurity locally” project
Cause marketing has been around since at least the early eighties, when a credit card company offered to donate a portion of their revenues to the renovation of the Statue of Liberty. Many companies link up with what are called charities. From raising money to address AIDS, to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, many health-related organizations have been very successful using cause marketing to raise funds. New York State has some important things to say about cause marketing. So might your state.
New York Office of the Attorney General on Cause Marketing: https://aae.how/115