New Haven Food Summit 2012

Friday October 12,  2012 was the first ever New Haven Food Summit! City and community leaders gathered at City Hall to dig into the New Haven Food Action Plan developed by the New Haven Food Policy Council and their many partners. The Plan has 3 main goals:

1. Increase access to healthy food for all people in New Haven
2. Strengthen New Haven's local food economy
3. Encourage healthy food choices through education and marketing efforts

Within the plan are 16 strategies and a long list of actions for how to achieve these three goals. The Food Summit was an opportunity to engage a wide range of the local community to build partnerships and set priorities for actions and change in food. Youth were well represented at the Summit from a number of schools and groups including: Common Ground High School, The Color of Words, Youth Unleashed (students from Hill House and Betsy Ross schools), New Horizon High School, New Haven Academy, and the Mayor's Youth Council. City leaders from Youth Services, the New Haven Health Department, Elderly Services, Economic Development, and Livable City Initiative were in attendance and Dr. Mayo, Superintendent of schools, and Mayor DeStefano made appearances as well. 

Local Organizations and community members turned out in droves including: CitySeed, CARE, Your Place Youth Center, Why Weight from Varick AME Zion Church, Yale Sustainable Food Project, Common Ground, New Haven Land Trust, Cornel Scott Hill Health Center, New Haven Farms, Little Red Hen Farm, and so many many more! It was an incredible turn out, we had to turn people away, so next time...we'll have to find a much bigger space. But packing City Hall with energized people ready to help make change was a powerful experience....and this is just the beginning!

Some incredible chefs donated time and food to our exciting launch of the Food Summit. We gathered in City Hall and we all cooked lunch together! It was fabulous!
Sustainable Sushi from Miya's,
CT Cole Slaw from Claire's Corner Copia,
Fresh pulled Mozzarella with Grilled vegetables from Caseus Fromagerie & Bistro,
Blackeyed Pea Salad from Cast Iron Soul,
Locally Grown Fall Salads from CitySeed,
Curry Chicken Salad and Chopped Turkey BBQ from Sandra's Next Generation,
Mini Apple Pies from Sono Baking Co,
and Mini Sweet Potato Pies from Katalina's Bakery.


Here is a small clip from the news:

Battling obesity in Elm City

If you want to check out the Food Action Plan, here is the draft. We will be making a few changes to this as a result of the summit!
New Haven Food Action Plan

And, a great short video from the Color of Words and Common Ground High School!

Building the Movement (video #6) from The Color of Words on Vimeo.

Check back soon for more information on the New Haven Food Summit!

And enormous thanks to every individual and organization that helped to make it a great event!