Community Food Security Coalition
29
9
"Up" is the number of experts who agree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in the
field. "Down" is the number of experts who disagree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in field.
Headquarters Location: Portland, OR
Founded: 1994
Mission: The Community Food Security Coalition catalyzes food systems that are healthy, sustainable, just, and democratic by building community voice and capacity for change.
Tags:
national, childhood nutrition & health, advocacy, food security, training, health equity, sustainability
Summary
Stories
Expert Reviews
Leadership
From the Nonprofit
Leadership
Andy Fisher.
After many years of work with both food security as well as urban planning, Andy Fisher became the proud co-founder and Executive Director of Community Food Security Coalition, using his prior involvement to launch and support the community food security movement through federal food policy advocacy. Through the Community Food Security Coalition, Andy has developed an innovative perception of community…
See full bio.
Financial Data
Overhead Ratio:
n/a
Total Revenue:
$1,002,577
From the Nonprofit
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Contact Info
Website:
E-Mail:
aleta AT foodsecurity.org
Phone:
503-954-2970
Facebook:
Address:
3830 Se Division St
Portland, OR 97202, USA
Twitter:
Story:
Is there a need for Farms to School Project?
In schools, physical education programs have been cut, while the presence of high caloric junk foods has increased. Children nation-wide are experiencing an epidemic of obesity. Since 1981, obesity has increased by 106% in the United States. 31% of children are overweight. Obesity rates among children have doubled in the last 10 years and tripled for adolescents. Children born in the year 2000 have a 33% chance of becoming a diabetic if they're boys and 39% if they're girls. For the first time in 200 years, today's children are likely to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.
The situation is just as sobering on the farm side of the equation. At the same time that obesity has reached epidemic proportions, family farming is facing its own crisis. It is facing the greatest decline of all occupations in the U.S. Less than 2% of the U.S. population is involved in farming, and the federal Census Bureau has declared the number of farms "statistically insignificant." The farmer share of the food dollar has declined from 41 cents in 1950 to 20 cents in 1999. The bleak outlook for earning a good living by farming is discouraging to the younger generation, with nearly half of farmers over age 55, and only 8% of farmers under age 35. With increasing costs for land and water, fewer marketing outlets, and the growth of suburban sprawl and agribusiness, family farmers find themselves selling the farm to feed their family. Many farms remain in business only because of family members who have other jobs and provide off-farm income.
Where does farm to school fit in? It is not a cure-all, but it can be considered one strategy in a basket of strategies. Farm to school is flourishing in the U.S. There are over 1,000 school districts in 32 states that have farm to school programs. In this context, farm to school refers to the purchasing component, but farm to school programs are the most effective when they are combined with agriculture and nutrition education. Visits to farms or farmers' markets, the creation of school gardens, inviting farmers into classrooms to talk to students, and compost and recycling programs, are all important ways to reinforce farm to school efforts. It's like connecting the dots . . . making the connection between what's eaten in the cafeteria, and what's taught in the classroom.
(Learn more about Community Food Security Coalition's Farm to School Projects at: http://www.foodsecurity.org/farm_to_school.html)
Expert Reviews of Community Food Security Coalition
Evidence of Impact Summary:
The Community Food Security Coalition is credited most often for their From Farm to School program, providing access for kids to healthy food. Their federal advocacy efforts are credited with positively influencing health policy.See expert comments.
Organization Strengths Summary:
Experts repeatedly cite programming as a major strength. Their leadership, operations, and partnerships are also mentioned off hand.See expert comments.
Areas for Improvement Summary:
Multiple respondents consider funding support to be this group’s primary area for improvement.See expert comments.
Expert Comments: Evidence of Impact
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Impact |
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This is a leader in Farm to School, which brings schools and farmers together to improve the quality of school meals. Their federal advocacy led to a proposed increase in the national farm to school program funding. They also provide technical assistance to cities interested in forming food policy councils, which can have played a key role in local child nutrition policies. Lastly, they are currently making headway into increasing the number of farmer's markets that accept food stamps, thus allowing more opportunities for low-income parents to purchase healthy food for their children. | ||
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They have played a leading role in key aspects of the policy debates around federal legislation that impact child nutrition, notably Child Nutrition Reauthorization and the Farm Bill. They have deep roots nationally among child nutrition advocacy groups and leading players in this area. | ||
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Movement in the Farm to School Arena to provide access to all children for healthy, nutritious food. | ||
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This has been a leader in promoting farm to school programs, which are a critical way to improve children's food choices and nutrition. | ||
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This group is addressing many aspects of our food system, many of which impact child health efforts. They are working with school meals as part of the National Farm to School Network. They are looking at access to healthy foods, with the healthy corner store network. They are providing the tools to communities to organize around healthy food with their resources and guidance for food policy councils. | ||
Expert Comments: Organization Strengths
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Leadership & Operations |
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They have a small budget and a small DC office but they get things done. Their DC office is across the street from the Capitol Visitors Center and near Senate and House offices so they can be most effective advocates of child hunger and nutrition. Their leadership and staff are professional but also can have a good time. They do well marketing their annual conference in effort to gain new partners and educate attendees. | ||
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They have outstanding leadership and a wonderful team of professionals that have their fingers on the pulse of important issues that we face, such as hunger, obesity, social equity, and a host of related concerns. | ||
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I believe the leadership is strong, the membership is active, and the people coming to the table do more than nutrition, which is important. | ||
Research |
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They play an important role in research. They also have helped sponsor key national gatherings that have been crucial in creating new programmatic approaches and strengthening networks. | ||
Programming |
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The hunger-obesity connection must be a high priority. If this is the most mentioned group in this area, it merits substantial support. There should be robust efforts related to this in all geographic areas. | ||
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They connect issues of nutrition, hunger, and food access. | ||
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It makes a strong effort to ensure that community voices are heard. It produces excellent and informative conferences. | ||
Partnerships |
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The group is excellent at partnering with a diverse group of individuals and organizations. They run a variety of programs on little staff by partnering and looking for ways to work smarter instead of always harder. | ||
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They bring together advocates from health, social justice, and local food systems work. They are great conveners and advocates for targeted federal policies. | ||
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They do grassroots mobilization, work effectively across the country, have a democratic process of membership inclusion, bring together diverse constituencies from the local to international stage around a wide set of issues, and in policy advocacy, they keep a narrow focus to win on an issue. | ||
Expert Comments: Areas for Improvement
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Researchers and Faculty (R)
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Website & Awareness |
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The executive director is fairly low-tech and as a result, similar to FRAC, they could use a website overhaul and introduction into social networking strategies. They also could do more to publicize the effectiveness of food policy councils, particularly in light of new national interest in child nutrition and childhood obesity. | ||
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They need to develop better general funding support for its growing role. They need to explore a membership function for individuals as well as groups. | ||
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They seem to be diversifying their income strategies with looking at corporate partnerships. I would warn them to be very careful that they do not get to comfortable with corporate sponsorships that may inhibit their ability for impartiality. | ||
Policy |
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With respect to policy advocacy, there is a downside to keeping a narrow focus, namely that they alienate supporters for whom the current focus is not the highest priority. So a recommendation would be to broaden the active policy platform of the organization so that more of what is promoted as important is in fact advocated for. | ||
Leadership
Andy Fisher
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Co-Founder and Executive Director
From the Nonprofit
The nonprofit has not added any comments yet. If you are a representative of this nonprofit and would like to leave a comment, please email us at
feedback@myphilanthropedia.org
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