From Partnerships to Policy: Promising Practices for New Food Policy Councils (2022)

By Michael Burgan in partnership with Karen Bassarab, Anne Palmer, Raychel Santo, and Mark Winne

The first edition of this guide, Doing Food Policy Councils Right: A Guide to Development and Action, was published in 2012. It is the most downloaded item in the Food Policy Networks project database and has been used to launch numerous food policy councils (FPCs). Since 2013, the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future has supported the expansion and evolution of an FPC network throughout the United States. Throughout this period, the FPN project team has learned about and documented the important and evolving roles of FPCs through surveys, webinars, curbside consulting, and a national forum. We have used these insights to update the guide and incorporate issues that councils increasingly address, including combatting racial inequities in the food system, increasing the diversity of FPC members, and fostering food systems resilience and environmental sustainability. This FPC manual includes information and curated resources to help people interested in starting an FPC, as well as those working to revisit their existing practices.