Food Policy Council (FPC) Meeting on Mon, August 15, 2016 - 6:30 PM

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Meeting Information

Optional pre-meeting tour @ 6:00pm—RSVPs NEEDED! Learn about the Shelter’s programs, food rescue partnerships, garden, and food service operation.

 

  1. Administrative items
    1. Determine quorum of members, agenda approval
    2. Approval of July meeting minutes
    3. Budget review
    4. October meeting—proposal for half day retreat 
  2. Welcome—Trey Meyer, Executive Director, and Emily William, Health Services
  3. Farmers’ Market Project Update
    1. Second visit, Wednesday, August 31 to Saturday, September 3
  4. Food Plan Update
    1. Community survey draft & dissemination
    2. November policy forums
  5. Subcommittee Reports
    • City (Aundrea Shafer)
      1. Urban ag update
    • County (Jen Humphrey)
      1. Farm policy tour connected with Kaw Valley Farm Tour
    • Community (Carol Gilmore)
      1. Local food wholesale directory + CSA Toolkit update
  6. FPC member updates
  7. Public comments
  8. Adjourn full council meeting



For questions and more information about the Douglas County Food Policy Council, contact Helen Schnoes.

Optional pre-meeting tour @ 6:00pm—RSVPs NEEDED! Learn about the Shelter’s programs, food rescue partnerships, garden, and food service operation.

 

List of needed items always updated on the Donation Tab online. If you would like to follow up about further engagements and service/volunteer/donation opportunities, you can contact our hosts at:

  • Emily William (Health Programs): emilyw@lawrenceshelter.org
  • Logan (in food service): logane@lawrenceshelter.org
  • Trey Meyer (Executive Director): treym@lawrenceshelter.org

 

In attendance: Jennifer Kongs, John Pendleton, Rita York Hennecke, Josh Falleaf, Jen Humphrey, Marlin Bates, Scott Thellman, Carol Gilmore, Kim Criner, Jan Hornberger, William Vesecky, Chris Tilden

 

Absent: Elizabeth Burger, Carolyn Wulfkuhle, TK Peterson, Aundrea Shafer, Ashley Jones-Wisner, Larry McElwain, Brent Smith, Jill Elmers, Michael Steinle, Pattie Johnston, Russell Mullin

 

Staff: Helen Schnoes, Eileen Horn

 

Public: Logan E., Emily William, Christine Ebert, Init Hurt, Erick Ogwangi, Emily Hampton, Betty Pickerel

 

  1. Administrative items
    1. Determine quorum of members, agenda approval – York Henneke, Vesecky—all approved (6:45pm)
    2. Approval of July meeting minutes – Gilmore, Kongs—all approved
    3. Budget review
      1. $817 remains in non-earmarked funds; closer to $300 in undirected funds
    4. October meeting—proposal for half day retreat
      1.  Best option so far seems Monday, October 10
      2. Please take the Doodle poll by FRIDAY, AUGUST 19.
      3. It was observed that many members did not indicate availability the evening of the regularly scheduled meeting—these dates are known many months in advance.

 

  1. Welcome—Trey Meyer, Executive Director, and Emily William, Health Services

The shelter’s annual budget is about $933,000. They recently became a state-approved vocational rehab center, which now provides an income stream they hope to build upon. The Shelter takes a keen focus on getting guests on income streams once stabilized—a key step towards getting back on their feet. The shelter as an organization is working on telling the success stories and social media. In 2015, the average meal served cost $0.27 per plate.

 

  1. Farmers’ Market Project Update
    1. Second visit, Wednesday, August 31 to Saturday, September 3
      1. As part of the USDA funding the DCFPC received to gather data and strategic recommendations for both each local market and the Food Policy Council, the hired consultants will be returning to conduct a second on-site visit.
      2. A key event this time is speaking with folks who don’t shop at the farmers’ market. EACH DCFPC MEMBER IS ASKED TO HELP GENERATE A LIST OF FRIENDS/FAMILY WHO WOULD BE WILLING TO ATTEND A FOCUS GROUP OR SPEAK TO THE CONSULTANTS.
    2. SCALE meeting with FPC: The consultants would like to meet with the FPC. Indicate your availability with this Doodle poll link:
      1. Thursday, September 1 @ 7:30am or noon
      2. Friday, September 2 @ 7:30am
    3. The group discussed the distinction between the downtown Lawrence market and the other markets. The consultants reported that they are getting the sense that it will be hard to make holistic Douglas County recommendations because the markets, and vendor motivations, are so varied. The group discussed the relationship of the downtown market and the other markets. SCALE is beginning to see that a city the size of Lawrence should have more customers, which is in line with the motivation for the project—to understand why customer and vendor counts are lower than peer communities.

 

  1. Food Plan Update
    1. Community survey draft & dissemination
      1. The group reviewed a draft version of the survey that will be publically distributed to inform the Douglas County Food System Plan.
      2. Overall thoughts included:
        1. Too long—need to prioritize keeping at 10 minutes max.
          1. An alternative point was made that these are good, important questions. Perhaps worth keeping even if some people decide to not finish.
        2. How much background is necessary? Is there a way to gather information without overly sharing preamble about the project and some individual questions?
        3. Balance of question types—two distinct “sections” of questions exist. Is this needed? Should there be two separate surveys?
        4. Question 17 (asking about community values to guide the food system plan)—Is this language accessible? Would much of it need to be defined? A reminder that once the content and key data to collect has been finalized, close attention needs to be paid to ensuring the language is widely accessible.  (As an example, many won’t even know what a “community garden” even is.)  
          1. The group considered if “values” could be drawn out from the first section of personal questions. For example, if someone already buys local, can we assume they value local food support? (Flip side: if someone doesn’t, does it mean it doesn’t matter to them?)
          2. The extent of questions about preservation of agricultural land was discussed, as it has always been a priority for the DCFPC. Helen shared that it was included in the original round of public information gathering led by the Planning Department in 2014.
        5. Eileen provided background on how the draft was developed, with the end product in mind. We need to understand barriers (why we want to hear about personal experiences) and why we also want to capture future aspirations to align policy recommendations with.
          1. She also shared background on the public input process she’s participating in to lead the Parks & Rec Master Plan. They asked for three community values to guide the work, and reported that that line of inquiry has been helpful in guiding the development of that other master plan.
          2. Our goal is to get actionable data.
        6. The group largely agreed that Question #18 is difficult given its broad, abstract request for an open-ended question. In addition, it gets at similar information as what is asked in the previous question.
        7. The intent and clarity of question #9 was discussed: In asking about not always accessing the food you want, don’t most people have to make food budgets to some degree, that require some sacrifice of optimal choice?
        8. The group discussed the importance of Question #2, which asked about providing food to children. Considered if/why it’s important, and if it made more sense in the demographic section of the survey.  
        9. Are there ways to personalize the survey? The idea was brought up that we sometimes talk about the food system as some other thing, beyond our lives. Can we ask what the personal goals of survey takers are around food and eating—“I would like to cook more, I’d like to grow my own food or be part of a community garden”—and what’s holding you back. For the vision, ask about their own family rather than the food system. Perhaps the community-based questions could be in a list.
        10. Medium of dissemination—the group discussed how the survey will vary by format. Can it be easily completed on a smart phone? Helen is talking with the survey technology company on Tuesday the 16th.
        11. Continued review and support: Josh Falleaf, Pattie Johnston (Helen will ask), Kim Criner, Marlin Bates.
        12. Need more options for rental or owner or housing insecure
        13. Chris Tilden shared that the Health Department has found success around questions that ask:
          1. Is it important?
          2. Are you satisfied?
        14. For demographics, the group considered how to best capture students currently in school; if we should ask about family/household size.

 

  1. November policy forums
    1. The group briefly discussed setting a series of November policy forums to present the food plan goal/policy directions to the public for input. Helen will follow up in sketching out a plan and securing dates/locations.

 

  1. Subcommittee Reports
    • City (Aundrea Shafer)
      1. Urban ag update
        1. The Planning Department is working with key agencies to determine an appropriate animal control procedure and division of responsibility for containment of seized/stray urban ag animals.
        2. The group discussed a problem for potential “foster farmers”—Bringing unknown and possibly diseased animals to a commercial operation creates a biosecurity risk for the farm. The group discussed that an economic incentive could help a farmer determine a way to participate and find separate space.
        3. Next month the group will receive a presentation from Eileen to launch a conversation about the future of the Common Ground community garden program run by the City of Lawrence.
    • County (Jen Humphrey)
      1. Farm policy tour connected with Kaw Valley Farm Tour
        1. Budget expenditure: Mini bus rental (<30 people) $405 from Prompt Charters; from Food Plan allocation already approved
          1. Vesecky Family Farm
          2. White Tail Run Winery
          3. South Baldwin Farms—started planting this year, full production 2018. Large scale fruit farming—will be the largest fruit farm (peaches) in Kansas, or the region. 1200 trees planted this spring. Jumping in large. 2 test orchards in low volume this year.  Gabe Spurgeon – 417-621-5822
            1. A mega phone will be helpful—little speaker and microphone
    • Community (Carol Gilmore)
      1. Local food wholesale directory + CSA Toolkit update
        1. Directory is continuing to grow—we’re adding chefs, continuing grocers, adding institutional buyers, in the off season will go back to farmers who were in directory and we’ll add to that. It was well received—TK and Rick Martin hosted a chef happy hour.
        2. Working to update the CSA Toolkit that Health Department developed in past years. Aundrea Shafer helped development it before with FPC members. Directed to employers. Got requests from out of state for it—decided to make a nicer looking version, worked with a local designer.

 

  1. FPC member updates

Rita interested INTI HURT—she will be Rita’s future proxy.

 

Kim will be stepping back for the fall semester due to a teaching role at Ottwa University. Christine Ebert with KU Dining (dietitican) to see if she’d like to stand in for the full council meetings.

 

Josh Falleaf—In 1924, the entire community under the lead of Frank McDonald, started a fundraising campaign to dedicate the Haskell Sadium and Haskell Arch—emblemeatic of Haskell nationally in Indian Country. Local teens played there—first lighted stadium in Midwest (?); exhibition games with KC COwbowys and Haskelly football team, they raised today’s equivalaent of $8 million. And have in October 1926 an Indian Villeage on campust, families came and stayed all week long, Mass Street parade was by all accountsy the biggest if not the biggest things to occur in the city of Lawrence—the dedication and the community coming together to support. Plays, parades, feasts. The federal government allowed for three buffalo to come in to feed people. With 10+ thousand people coming to eat, native faux pas to not have enough food to feed everybody. In 1926 the buffalo was still endangered, for this, they had upwards of 20-30 buffalo that htye processed/hooked on Haskell property. The Haskell Cultural Center has an exhibit about it now on campus—they will be coordinating a similar commermeration, with food, will be cooking some native foods and are open to suggestions about where to find local corn, local produce, to feed the people. Reaching out to the Chamber which was extraordinatry supporting. Got the grandson with Coach McDonald, grandson of Farnk McDonald played for Lawrence High—current coach. Still owns Tee-Pee Junction. IT will be the 90th Anniversary. Last weekend in October. 26-27-28.

 

John: 40th anniversary of Lawrence Farmers Market. Brunch at the market. Lots of advertising. Get Chefs involved throughout the market. Partner with vendors—prepruchace tickets, enjoy tasking.s September 24.

 

Eileen: Rachel Myslivy, Jefferson Co/Lawrence longtime resident. She’s the new Double Up Food Bucks coordintator. Been working past two weeks. 10 markets on board. Great to have full time staff.

 

Received 5 proposals for the Delaware Tribe of Indians project—interviews this Wednesday. Can give a longer overview sometime soon.

 

Greenwish Lawrence funded $5000 for Common Ground.

 

City is pursing sustainability rating. Turned in the score in July. There’s a section called Food Access and Healht. Eileen would like to bring recommendations so that our goals align with best bractices. Watned 300 points to beat Wichita, then 400 for Iowa City. Great buy in from the current city manager. Will use the STAR matrix for the City strategic planning—awesome alignment.

 

County Commission approved funding to continue the Food Systems Coordinator position after grant funding ends.

 

 

  1. Public comments

 

Sunrise Project annual pie auction—still need pies—want enough for people to eat. Also taking bee, bat, or bird houses for the silent auction. Email Emily—it’s a potluck, but just show up. 5pm to 8pm at Hobbs park.

 

  1. Adjourn full council meeting  -- Tilden, Jan—all approved.

Time and Date

Location

Lawrence Community Shelter
3655 E. 25th St. Lawrence, KS 66046