The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Food Policy Coalition has been working with City of Cleveland and Cleveland City Council to develop legislation to encourage the city to leverage its purchasing power to support local farmers and local food.

Councilman Joe Cimperman introduced a resolution in October 2008 that affirmed the importance of the local food economy and asked the city to review purchasing policies and current contracts for food service. This resolution helped set the stage for developing a local food purchasing policy for the City of Cleveland.

On January 25, 2010 Ordinance No. 1660-A-09 was introduced by Mayor Frank Jackson and Councilmember Joe Cimperman that provides bid incentives on city contracts for local businesses, sustainable businesses and businesses that purchase local foods. It is a comprehensive piece of legislation and the first of its kind in the country that uses bid incentives to encourage local purchasing.

This memo from the Mayor's Office explains the policy, which will go before council committees in March. Email Morgan Taggart at OSU Extension if you have any suggestions or feedback.