Local businesses, farmers, project stakeholders and community members came together on Thursday, January 27 to celebrate the release of the Multnomah Food Action Plan. Led by Commissioner Judy Shiprack and the Office of Sustainability, the 15-year action plan is the result of collaboration between the Multnomah Food Initiative, Portland/Multnomah Food Policy Council, City of Portland, Metro, Portland Public Schools, Burgerville, Portland State University and many other community groups.
The main goal of the Multnomah Food Action Plan is to create a sustainable food system that is affordable and healthy, based on a strategy of collaborative action and community participation. Broad goals of the plan include improving education, creating new economic opportunities, securing funding and grants, empowering community members, creating policy change, and raising awareness of local food system issues.
During the celebration in the Multnomah Building Boardroom, partners and executive committee members discussed the importance of the plan that aims to improve our local food system by teaching more young people how to farm, among other things. A pilot program was announced during the event that will see 15 students from Oregon State University Extension learning how to do small-scale, dense farming on county and OSU land.
Representatives from Whole Foods’ Flash Kitchen gave a cooking demonstration while representatives from the Oregon Food Bank, New Seasons, Dave’s Killer Bread, Albina City Nuts and Grandma Chonga’s Original Salsa provided food samples and educational information.
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