Sustainable Cleveland 2019 will be presenting A First Taste: the Year of Local Foods during the upcoming E4S event on Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at Great Lakes Brewing Company. You'll be able to hear about progress, goals and how to get invovled in the Year of Local Foods. The Local Foods Celebration Committee is creating toolkits for different sectors: Business, Households, Schools, Government, Nonprofits for how to take action to grow our local food system. The SC2019 working groups involved in Local Foods will be presenting and collaborating organizations will also talk about how they align with SC2019. 

Get Involved! Here are some ideas:

BUSINESSES CAN  . . . 

• Buy local through food service procurement
• Sponsor a community garden in their neighborhood through financial support or community service days
• Sponsor a farmers market in their neighborhood through financial support or volunteering
• Promote benefits of local food internally within their company
• Offer Community Support Agriculture (CSA) drop-off locations at their worksite for their employees
• Identify any benefits or incentives that company’s HR/Healthcare Insurance provide to support the purchase of healthy, local food
• Provide vouchers for employees to purchase local food at farmers’ markets
• Commitment/Pledge to purchase more food locally- Share list at Summit

RESIDENTS/CONSUMERS CAN  . . . 

• Buy local by supporting farmers’ markets and restaurants that serve local food - Growhio is developing a restaurant certification program
• Join a community garden in your neighborhood
• Learn about the benefits of local
• Share local food with neighbors – recipes, potlucks, garden tips, food preservation meet-ups, canning parties
• Commit to buying 25% of your foods locally this summer
• Donate fresh produce to local food pantries and soup kitchens
• Visit a farmers’ market twice a month all season
• Start a compost pile

SCHOOLS CAN  . . . 

• Purchase local food for use in school breakfast and lunch
• Start a school garden
• Host a local food day once a month
• Incorporate gardening and/or food once a month
• Start a cooking or gardening club
• Share local food, resources, and ideas at parent’s nights/PTA meetings  at school
• Create a coloring book/comic book
• Develop farmers’ market coupons for families
• Find a farm-to-school or school gardening mentor
• Offer the Veggie U curriculum to elementary students
• Organize a fieldtrip to a local farm, community garden or farmers’ market
• Invite a local farmer or chef to present to the class
• Compost in the cafeteria

GOVERNMENT CAN  . . . 

• Create Local food procurement policy for food service providers
• Offer a CSA for employees
• Educate and promote local food to employees
• Celebrate local food champions and success stories in their community
• Adopt policies that support gardening, local procurement, composting
• Offer grants and low-interest loans for food businesses
• Develop supply-chain relationships between producers and food processors and food businesses
• Promote local food to residents through existing mailings (i.e CPP bills, ODJFS mailings)    

Non-Profits Can  . . . 

• Connect soup kitchens and food pantries with community gardens and farmers’ markets
• Promote the EBT Incentive Program, community gardens, and CSA’s in their service areas (Develop neighborhood guides)
• Start a community garden
• Start a social enterprise local food business to provide income and economic opportunities for their clients
• Support urban agriculture projects through land assembly and connection to resources
• Promote year of local food and events through newsletters and communications