Report Provides Direction For Colorado Food Policy Efforts
March 9, 2010 A report provides recommendations for Colorado food policy efforts, including the establishment a healthy food markets financing initiative with a funding to support the economic development of farmers’ markets and stands.
LiveWell Colorado, a non-profit organization is committed to reducing obesity in Colorado, released a “Food Policy Blueprint,” identifing the policy needs and opportunities to strengthen access to healthy foods in the state. The report was developed with input from hundreds of stakeholders from across Colorado, and offers tools and strategies for improvement in Colorado’s food systems.
Some tools included in the report are:
• A searchable healthy foods database. This searchable inventory lists ongoing efforts across the state to increase access to healthy food.
• Thirteen criteria and a scoring system that can be applied to policy recommendations in order to prioritize recommendations relating to food access.
• Eight high-priority policy recommendations that have emerged through surveys and interviews of stakeholders across the state and will direct future policy efforts.
Some of the eight recommendations include:
• Local land use policies that allow and incentivize food production, including home-based and community food production and urban agriculture.
• Policy to establish statewide technical assistance to enable more partnerships between food assistance programs and local food production, such as direct market farming, community gardens, and Community Supported Agriculture.
• State policy to establish a healthy food markets financing initiative with a funding and resource pool to support the economic development of healthy food retailers, including full-service grocers, mobile vendors, corner stores, and farmers’ markets and stands.
The Blueprint also includes several overarching implementation strategies to advance healthy food access policies. One critical strategy is the formal establishment of a Colorado Food Systems Advisory Council, a diverse body that could advise the advancement and achievement of the eight policy priorities included in the Blueprint. LiveWell Colorado has initiated legislation, SB 10-106, which, as introduced, establishes this council.
To learn more about LiveWell Colorado’s public policy agenda and to volunteer as an advocate for healthy eating and active living, please visit www.livewellcolorado.org/advocacy.
For a brief overview or the full report, visit www.livewellcolorado.org/resources/policy-blueprints; the Healthy Foods Database is available at http://livewellcolorado.org/community-initiatives/healthy-food-initiatives.