Call to Action

As we strive to connect with the food needs of our community while being aligned with Slow Food USA’s values, we found it opportune to launch the Slow Food Phoenix Policy and Advocacy Committee. Slow Food USA advocates that good, clean and fair food does start with personal decisions about food but also needs continuous advocacy at the federal, state and local policy level to ensure its values translate along the farm-to-fork chain. We believe it is important to advocate for positive public policy that forges the appropriate political, social, environmental and economic environment to tackle the food and farm challenges and present solutions to our policymakers. Our journey started in 2019 with learning about legislative advocacy by partnering with Creosote Partners, who helped us develop our first legislative agenda. Our first agenda focused on Farm to School policies and knowledge and we developed the E.A.T agenda. We are now part of a larger network called “Healthful Schools of Arizona Coalition”, where we work on legislation that can support school gardens as well as healthful feeding programs in schools. Our next advocacy chapter is to embark one another new agenda focusing on more equitable food systems for Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities working in the food sector in Arizona.

E.A.T.

The below agenda is an aspirational agenda of what we would like more healthful schools to look like, and we continue to work with different members and partners to slowly achieve those goals. 

EDUCATE

• We support policies that increase education about good, clean, fair food for all.

• We encourage the use of a curriculum that embraces the history, sustainability, and respect for quality food systems.

• We support the culinary arts, and the training and empowerment of school nutrition employees to engage with local food systems.

• We support the creation of quality school gardens connected to the relevant curriculum.

ACCESS

• We support policies that increase equitable access to good, clean, fair, food.

• We will remove barriers to the enjoyment of sustainable, locally grown foods.

TIE-IN

• We will encourage the flourishing of small and medium local producers to enrich the community around food.

• We will create a culture of food through diversity in food supplies, developing connections for students and youth, and by embracing local food communities.

• We will avoid any attempts to disrupt the connection between culture and food within local food systems.

This work cannot be done without our Slow Food Phoenix members and Arizona community.  For this reason, we hope you can participate in our different initiatives and events.