Salem Food Policy Council

Food Policy Council of Salem, MA July 10, 2023, 6:00 pm Hybrid Participation Present: Joel Simonson, Robyn Burns, Sara Moore, Claudia Paraschiv, Johan Arango-Quiroga, Michaela, Allison, Julie, Kerry, Andy Absent: Irv Perrin, Flora Cordealoni Approval of June minutes Robyn motions to approve; Sara seconds. All in favor, none opposed. Public Comment Adam Nunez of Witch City Action spoke about their concern with populations not served by current social structures, primarily homeless populations. Projects include: – involved with community fridge, free laundry day, assistance with clothing, food and personal items. Would like Witch City Action to collaborate with SFFA and discuss ways to better meet the needs of this population. City of Salem update, Kerry Murphy The Salem Summer Eats kickoff hosted by SPS was hugely successful. Our state legislators and many elected officials including Mayor Pangallo attended, along with many organizations, including SFFA tabling and providing activities Also wants to let council members know about two upcoming meetings: a MA Food System Collaborative open discussion for MA food policy councils and a Johns Hopkins University webinar about how municipal food policy councils can play a role in advocacy work (which came about from our experience submitting questions to the mayoral candidates. Both are this Thurs and she sent the links to register to everyone. City Council liaison update, Councillor Varela Polystyrene ordinance update: Kerry and Waste Reduction Coordinator Janelle Rolke wrote a press release worked on a press release. Salem Hospital has also inquired about where to purchase supplies for when this goes into effect. Composting ordinance update: Public Health, Safety & Environment meeting in next two weeks with Connor of Black Earth regarding logistics, their capacity, and can we have a different pricing for restaurants since this will be mandated by city ordinance. We should be making this accessible and reasonable for everyone 98 WASHINGTON STREET, SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 01970 ♦ TEL: 978.745.9595 FAX: 978.740.0404 ♦ WWW.SALEM.COM Also concerns with PFAS in foodware packaging and in compostable single-use items. It’s used as coating would like to write an ordinance. These are forever chemicals that shouldn’t be used in compostables. How do we make sure our restaurants know that they can’t buy these materials? Also residents who purchase compost from Black Earth may be at risk of being exposed to these chemicals. Joel: Do you have a sense of the scope of this problem? How many restaurants are using these? Andy: We don’t yet, but it will become an issue if we adopt this as an ordinance. We should make it clear that they shouldn’t be using these materials. Sara: Is the goal to mandate or minimize the use of these materials? Andy: We’re starting a regional conversation that currently includes Marblehead and Swampscott and want to get Beverly and Lynn on board. This is a new conversation but we want to acknowledge that this may be an issue for the health & safety of our residents. Joel: Can anything be done to provide information on what alternative products are more affordable in addition to safer? Andy: Good point, we don’t have a list of suppliers, but the polystyrene ordinance has started more of a dialogue with restaurants that will lead to better communication Claudia: Black Earth has a list of approved compostables Andy: Would also be very challenging for Black Earth to remove these items from their pickups Robyn: Should we write a letter of support? Andy: A letter will definitely be helpful when the time comes. Robyn: Should food rescue be part of the composting ordinance? Andy: Probably not, but there have been conversations about food rescue, but there will need to be at least two city staff people to facilitate this. There is a paid position in Boston just to coordinate food rescue from restaurants. Kerry: Not sure the city would have the capacity to staff a food rescue dept, might be more appropriate for a nonprofit; this could be a working group conversation for the food access subcommittee Robyn: Has thoughts on how food rescue could work, possibly incentivizing organizations to take this on. Andy: We should have more conversations on these topics with other city depts like with Planning; he can put in an order to get discussion happening; planning dept should be applying for grants to address food security. New Business No new business Subcommittee selection discussion: Each council member was asked to give their top two preferences for subcommittees: Organization/Advocacy; Food Access; Community & Urban Agriculture; Engagement & Assessment. One council member should chair the subcommittee with up to 3 council members serving on each. There will be full council meeting every other month and subcommittee meetings on the off months. Sara: Assessment & Engagement; Organization Advocacy Claudia : Assessment & Engagement ; Community & Urban Agriculture Robyn : Food Access Allison: Food Access Michaela: Food Access Johan: Undecided Recruitment Joel: We can’t operate in a vacuum, we need to cast a wide net and this should be a continuous process. Robyn: There’s a lot of opportunity to fill some of the spaces we’re missing: Witch City Action, Salem State folks working on campus hunger, Human Rights Coalition. Claudia: Should have a subcommittee term limit like 6 months/year Sara: We should have a clear idea of expectations of members and a vetting process before recruiting for working groups Robyn: are working group meetings subject to the same public meeting rules? Kerry: I was told by Beth Rennard that the meetings can be off-site as long as they are accessible spaces, and the meetings should also be posted Andy: If the meetings are posted, then members of the public are allowed to come and also would be allowed to speak Kerry: I will get more clarification from Beth Rennard. Operations Manual Discussion Joel: The manual J. and Lydia provided is a draft where we still need to vote on the highlighted areas. Robyn: Should we look at updating the mission statement? Sara: Yes, it was very assessment focused, should be broader; maybe we don’t need a values statement if we expand on the mission statement? Member Updates Joel, Project Bread: PB attended the Summer Eats kickoff event; Universal School Meals legislation still pending - hearing next week. Still pushing for permanent adoption. Robyn, TSP: Great partnership with Root distributing hundreds of prepared meals and soups per week; since The Market opened in April, they’ve been serving 1500-1600 unique Salem households per month (dramatic increase); Greater Boston Food Band has cut back on their volume so they’ve had to partner with wholesalers in Chelsea like Balfour; also have a partnership with Salem YMCA Greenspace: they will be distributing their produce in the market and SHS youth will be working at the The Market in addition to working in Greenspace; also applying for Local Food Purchasing Program grant that will allow them to purchase more produce from local farmers. Michaela, Salem Public Schools: Summer Eats kickoff was really successful, we had a lot of support; the meals program started today in 19 locations, breakfast and lunch; Tues-Thurs dinners at Mary Jane Lee; hired interns from SHS to do activities to help increase participation and reduce stigma through Project Bread grant. Joel: Project Bread also has a site listing all of the summer meal sites in the state: Projectbread.org Allison, Root: About ½ way through their current training cohort. They will have their community meal this Thurs for the program partners to practice their skills. Waiting on the Food Security Infrastructure grant to be announced – they applied for kitchen renovations. New Program Director starting on Monday. Sara: Heard that families will be getting summer EBT cards? Didn’t think this was still happening. A search of Mass.gov showed that families will be getting a final payment at the beginning of July, but this wasn’t communicated to SPS as far as Michaela knew. Should we put this info out? Looks like most people should have received it as they were sent 6/25. Joel: I will try and find out more information on this and let everyone know. Kerry, Mack Park Farm: The first market will be this Saturday. This hasn’t been the best growing season due to weather and bunnies, but we have been able to provide deliveries to The Salem Pantry on Saturdays. The Mack Park Farm is also part of the Salem YMCA GreenSpace grant and we’ll be hosting a group of SHS employees every Sat this summer. They started last Sat. and did a great job. Future Agenda Items Andy: proposed future agenda item – he will be proposing a food truck ordinance; he thinks the food policy should be discussing this as he thinks there is a void. Haunted Happenings – not enough food service establishments to accommodate the tourists and residents. The city needs more fast-casual – he doesn’t believe these will affect local businesses, especially during weekday lunch hours. Before he proposes this, he wants to talk to as many boards and committees as he can, and he thinks we should be the primary one. He will be working with the City Solicitor and Planning over the next few months. Meeting Adjourned Next Meeting Date: August 7, 2023 @ 6pm