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Healthy Food Systems Policy
Policy
Nourish Colorado advances a comprehensive policy agenda that supports the transformation of our food system into one that is sustainable, equitable, and health-promoting where access to nutritious food is the norm. Our policy agenda is informed by partners across Colorado, including community coalitions, program partners, local, state and national organizations, and other policy experts. Nourish Colorado is a proud member of NSAC, COFSAC, and Good Food for All Collaborative, participant in Blueprint State and Federal Policy Committees, and partner of National Farm to School Network.
|| State Policy Initiatives ||
Healthy Food Incentive Fund
Food systems and food access enjoyed a remarkably successful legislative session. First, as you all know from reading our previous blogs, the $300,000 increase in the Healthy Food Incentive Fund was added to the budget bringing the fund total to $500,000. We are already hard at work dispersing those funds through our Double Up Food Bucks and WIC and Seniors Produce Box programs. We also supported Hunger Free Colorado’s successful effort, which ran to almost the last minute, to get $5 million of the federal pandemic relief funding into the Food Pantry Assistance Grant program to ensure more people who need it will have access to food as we begin the recovery from the pandemic.
Check out our newsletter and policy blog for our monthly state policy updates and actions.
|| Federal Policy Initiatives ||
Food Bill Action Team (FBAT)
The Food Bill Action Team (FBAT – “FUH-BAT”) is an advocacy and engagement group convened by Nourish to provide introductory policy trainings, mobilize community action, share food policy content or updates from Nourish and statewide partners, and build relationships with Colorado’s federal legislative delegation. FBAT was originally launched as the Farm Bill Action Team, to support Nourish Colorado’s federal policy work and integrate more community voices into Nourish Colorado’s 2017 Farm Bill platform by inviting statewide partners to discuss and guide the organization’s Farm Bill priorities. FBAT is once again focusing on Nourish’s platform for the upcoming 2023 Farm Bill, while still engaging with all other federal and state policy priorities.
The FBAT currently meets by Zoom twice a month on Thursdays (2-2:30pm MT) to discuss any new updates or ideas, provide policy trainings, encourage civil action, and host guest speakers. The registration form is here or you can email Becca@NourishColorado.org to get involved. Spanish-English interpretation is provided at every meeting. Click here to find FBAT’s 2022-2023 meeting calendar and schedule of topics! Check out past calls here.
2023 Farm Bill
Building on the success of our work on the 2018 Farm Bill advocating for SNAP integrity, the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive Program (FINI), and the Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP) – all programs that strengthen healthy food access and the development of local and regional food systems and all priorities that were included in the final farm bill – we are now working on our 2023 Farm Bill Platform priorities. The Farm Bill is a key piece of legislation for both agricultural systems in our country but also the food system. It includes many elements from conservation to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The Farm Bill also supports and funds many of Nourish’s own projects such as Double Up Food Bucks. It also supports and funds our partners projects such as land access programs for Beginning and Young Farmers. The Farm Bill also comes with deep gaps in funding for specialty crops (most fruits and vegetables) and structural racism and inequities. There is so much room for improvement, and we want Colorado’s communities to have a voice in influencing this key piece of legislation and reimagining our food system.
Resources
Please refer to our Federal Bill Tracker continuously updated with our current initiatives, and view federal policy resources offered by our food system partners to stay up to date: NSAC, FRAC, Alliance to End Hunger, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, Union of Concerned Scientists, National Farm to School Network.
Check out our newsletter and policy blog for our monthly federal policy updates and actions.
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