We all want good food and healthy development. Make your voice heard and help make sure we get it here in Oakland! We hope you'll join us and support the important policies that are in the works now.
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Call to Action! Urge School Board Members on Good Food Purchasing Policy
HOPE Collaborative is part of a coalition with Oakland Unified School District - Nutrition Services, The Oakland Food Policy Council, Teamsters Joint Council 7, Center for Good Food Purchasing, and Food Chain Workers Alliance. We are gearing up to lead a multi-sector campaign to support the district's leadership and encourage continued progress through the
Good Food Purchasing Policy.
Our Youth Action Board is asking you to encourage OUSD School Board Members to use their buying power toward five core values - local economies, environmental sustainability, valued workforce, animal welfare, and nutrition. This will impact the $9 million spent on food a year and nearly 20,000 daily lunches per day, about 68% of who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals.
Take this small but important step towards Food Justice for Oakland students!
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Taking HOPE's Work to the National Level
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Good Food For All
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Since you're receiving this newsletter, you are likely familiar with HOPE's Oakland-based work. Each year, we engage hundreds of Oakland residents, community partners, and public agency representatives in food systems, built environment, and school food initiatives. Due to the successes of our local work, HOPE is also often invited to participate in national work. We are a community with on-the-ground experience and expertise to inform national initiatives and policies. Here is a snapshot of some national and trans-local food policy work we have been involved in:
Good Food For All
(GFFA) collaborative unites grassroots and national organizations around a vision for a just, equitable and sustainable food system. Convened by Union of Concerned Scientists, GFFA participants are invested in working together to transform the food system through policy advocacy.
Good Food Purchasing Policy
(GFPP) is a school food procurement policy first passed in Los Angeles that addresses health, labor, local economy, and animal welfare. HOPE is part of a trans-local network of advocates working on GFPP adoption in multiple school districts across the country.
Good Food Advocates work across the country to make good food - food that is healthy, affordable, and sustainably produced under fair wages and working conditions - available in their communities. HOPE and other Good Food Advocates have participated in advocacy days in Washington DC to meet with Congress members about national policies that support our work in local communities. Find a report of Good Food Advocate communities here:
www.ucsusa.org/fixingfood
Plate of the Union
calls on the next President to take bold action for a food system that rewards farmers and farming practices that protect our environment, that provides dignity and fair wages to workers, and ensures that all Americans have access to healthy food that they can afford. HOPE is an endorser.
Over the next few years, HOPE plans to more deeply engage in federal food policy through participation in national networks to bring local voices and priorities to the attention of federal policymakers.
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Healthy Development Guidelines Town Hall
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Election Day
is just around the corner. With numerous initiatives and measures on the ballot, voters need resources to make informed choices.
To support voter education, HOPE Collaborative along with partners - East Oakland Building Healthy Communities (EOBHC), Communities for a Better Environment, East Bay Housing organizations, the City of Oakland Planning Department, and the Alameda County Public Health Department - held a Town Hall event on Thursday, October 13 to provide Oakland residents electoral information on public health, transportation, the housing crisis and the people's vision for the Coliseum Area Plan. The Town Hall also was a venue to update attendees and partners about progress with the Healthy Development Guidelines (HDG) project.
Held at Allen Temple Arms, the Town Hall event opened with a moving musical rendition on the saxophone by a local artist.
Afterwards, the event's MC Esther Goolsby (HOPE Steering Committee member and CBE organizer) started the event by providing a brief history of the HDG project. Then the event transitioned to providing voter information at five tables where attendees could receive information related to the upcoming election. At the HDG table, attendees were led in an interactive activity using large legos. Participants were first asked to collectively build a new development they would like to see an Oakland (the most popular choice, it turns out, was a mixed-use development). Next, attendees were shown how standards in the Healthy Development Guidelines would apply to the hypothetical construction project. Through this activity, participants reported receiving a better understanding of the HDG's purpose and impact.
In all, more than 50 Oakland residents (speaking more than three languages) attended the event and learned about election issues related to housing, transportation, and public health. The event would not have been a success without the combined efforts from the event organizers. Additional special thanks to the League of Women Voters of Alameda for providing voter education material, TransForm for leading the transportation table and helping coordinate the event, the interpreters, and Allen Temple Arms staff and residents for graciously opening up their home as the event's venue. Finally, thanks to all the attendees who spent their evening getting educated and connected. In the coming months, additional outreach activities are planned to further inform and involve community partners and Oakland residents in the HDG project. If you have questions about the HDG project, contact Ruben at 510.444.4295 or by email at
ruben@hopecollaborative.net
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Community & Youth Engagement
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The New Formation of the Youth Action Board
Every year, returning Youth Action Board (YAB) members conduct a rigorous application and interview process for potential members to join. 11 youth from all over East and West Oakland made it on the board to organize for food justice and healthy neighborhoods. 2 of the continuing members serve as Youth Leaders to provide a youth voice within the collaborative and to represent HOPE in the larger community.
YAB efforts will be focused in 5 different areas. The Healthy Corner Store Teams will have 2 focus areas. One group will work on collecting community based recipes to use for taste testing at our existing partner stores with the intention to promote the healthier food options in the store. The second group will focus its efforts on building partnerships with community organizations, schools or churches for a new store while providing training around food justice. The Elmhurst Culture Reporters will support outreach efforts for health and active living activities in the Elmhurst neighborhood while also documenting the experiences of community members leading on the ground community change efforts. The Schools Team will focus their efforts on promoting and monitoring the Good Food Purchasing Policy that provides a metric based, flexible framework that encourages Oakland Unified School District to direct their buying power toward five core values: local economies, environmental sustainability, valued workforce, animal welfare, and nutrition. The Youth Media Team will continue their creation of media of the work of the YAB team by creating 6 media pieces by the end of the year.
A big warm welcome to new YAB members, and welcome back to returning members!
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