Allison Czapp, BFBLGLV director chairs the Lehigh Valley Food Policy Council and BFBLGLV convenes the Thriving Local Food System branch of the Lehigh Valley Food Policy Council.
The LV Food Policy Council was formed in 2015 as a result of recommendations in BFBLGLV’s Assessment Report: Lehigh Valley Local Food Economy and Fresh Food Action Plan. These were presented to the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission and incorporated into its final report One Lehigh Valley for the Envision Lehigh Valley initiative, which was funded by a HUD Sustainable Communities Grant.
The Lehigh Valley Food Policy Council seeks to promote an environmentally healthy food system by strengthening the local food economy, increasing access to fresh foods for everyone, reducing food insecurity, and supporting local farming in the Lehigh Valley.
The Lehigh Valley Food Policy Council has nine working groups. We welcome your participation. Please contact Sue Dalandan, Lehigh Valley Food Policy Council Coordinator, at sdalandan@lvfpc.org to join or learn more.
Food Security Working Groups
1. Food Access
Action Item:
Making healthy food accessible to families in the summer.
2. Consumer Education
Action Item:
Assessing existing nutrition education programs. Identifying resources, gaps and best practices.
3. Food Recovery and Respect
Action Item:
Engaging all points of where food can be rescued and educating ourselves to create a Lehigh Valley model, including work on legislation that supports goals of food respect: field; processing/distribution; retail/grocery/restaurant; plate/leftover; and compost. Exploring all available models including technology.
4. Community Farms and Gardens
Action Item:
Creating a network for organic agriculture and community gardens. Establishing and connecting with coordinators; growing community support and involvement.
Thriving Local Food System Groups
5. Farmland Preservation
Action Item:
Preserving farmland
6. Farm to School
Action Item:
Advocate and facilitate local and regional purchasing by Lehigh Valley school districts
7. Farming
Action Item:
Identifying “missing middle” training, markets, land access, zoning, regulations landowners operations and scale.
8. Aggregators
Action Item:
Improving infrastructure (processing, aggregation & distribution facilities) for locally grown foods in the Lehigh Valley by identifying needs and working towards possible solutions.
9. Entrepreneurship
Action Item:
Exploring feasible opportunities and potential partners for business incubation and shared-use food business spaces to improve opportunities for small businesses.