The State of Local Food Policy

Michael Chamberlin

While Pennsylvania's Governor Josh Shapiro recently committed to guarantee free school breakfasts to all school-aged children in the state, 14 Republican-run states opted out of a federal program providing funding for food assistance for lower-income families during the summer break.

Imagine you are taking a stroll around Erie on a beautiful spring day when you pass a park filled with youth playing. If you are in the surrounding county municipalities of the city, you can assume that one out of every seven of those children are hungry. And in the City of Erie, it jumps to one in five. This grim reality of food insecurity for our community only begins to scratch the surface on the state of local food policy.

So, what exactly is food policy? It is the collection of all the government's actions, at the local, state, and federal levels, that shape our food system. This includes everything from farming regulations, trade agreements, nutrition guidelines, food assistance programs, and much more. Since the 1970s, countries across the globe have narrowed the umbrella term of food policy, encompassing health, agriculture, labor, commerce, and welfare, to focus mainly on food security and hunger. Now more than ever, it is critical for us to broaden the scope of food policy to tackle these persistent and pervasive problems.

For me, food policy is also deeply personal. It wasn't until college that I began to embody my role as a food policy advocate. Growing up in Erie in the '90s with severe food allergies and other medically-necessary dietary restrictions was illuminating — demonstrating to me, early on, the disparities that existed within food access and nutrition while sitting in the Harding Elementary School cafeteria. That sense of helplessness stuck with me into adulthood. After organizing to reform my college's dining services and disability policies, I went to work for one of the largest natural food corporations and developed a training program for educational institutions across the country to better accommodate students with similar needs. In many ways, it has always felt that this work chose me.

During graduate school, a Washington Post opinion piece on the need for a national food policy in the U.S. summoned a greater call to action and an opportunity for further research. My thesis asked the question: what makes a successful national food policy around the globe in countries like Scotland, Canada, and Australia, and how can the U.S. learn from these examples to develop a new food governance framework? I presented my research at the 2018 Yale University Food Systems Symposium, on a panel with policy and law professors who were driving the narrative for food policy change.

Through those long stretches of research and writing, it became evident how political food truly is. Often, we see this play out with tit-for-tat fights between Republican and Democratic elected officials over SNAP/food stamp funding. More recently, the battle has turned to free school meals. Governor Shapiro's commitment to providing free school breakfast to all students in Pennsylvania was a huge food policy win last year. The governor remarked that "our children deserve a safe, healthy learning environment no matter what zip code they live in or how much their parents make" and I believe that every teacher would agree.

The Republican backlash to such expansive food policies is growing every day. Last month, 14 states opted out of a federal program providing food assistance to lower-income families with school-age kids during the summer break. During my brief time on Erie City Council, I learned that we, as elected officials, essentially never turn down "free" money from the state or federal government. Unfortunately — cruelly — it seems 14 state governors are willing to make exceptions.

The roots of this division are long, but many signs point back to the successful organizing during the Civil Rights Era. When the Child Nutrition Act passed in 1966, five national women's groups banded together to promote free meal programs in schools, including the Young Women's Christian Association, National Council for Catholic Women, National Council of Negro Women, Church Women United, and the National Council of Jewish Women (read more about this feat in School Lunch Politics by Susan Levine). This framed the national conversation and sparked local, grassroots initiatives to meet the immediate need. The most successful being the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California — they started their free breakfast program in 1969. In two years, they had implemented programs in 36 cities across the country for thousands of children in need. If it wasn't for the efforts of the Black Panther Party, we likely wouldn't see food policy triumphs like Governor Shapiro's universal free breakfast program.

Here in Erie, we are at a critical moment that requires us to collectively shape our future through food policy. With the Erie Food Co-op leaving the downtown area, we are yet again reminded of how challenging healthy food access can be, especially for our neighbors who lack a car, live on a limited income, or have a disability — or who might be facing a combination of these issues. We must create incentives for local grocery stores to open in underserved neighborhoods, addressing food deserts, and increasing access to affordable and healthy food options.

The pandemic taught many of us hard lessons on food purchasing, nutrition, and access. Those hardships haven't ended, and in many ways have increased for local individuals and families in poverty. As Priya Fielding-Singh asserts in her book How the Other Half Eats, "no family should have to eat as if they are living through a pandemic that lasts their entire lifetimes." Erie's growing community gardens, soup kitchens, urban agriculture, ethnic markets, and food banks are doing everything they can to serve the hungry. How can we meet the immediate need but also plan for a reimagined future? We are fortunate to have the Erie Food Policy Advisory Council convening spaces to have these conversations and positively change the system.

As you peruse this food issue, ask yourself: how is Erie doing on food policy and what changes can I make to improve it?

The Erie Food Policy Advisory Council can be found at eriefarmersmarkets.org/fpac or by email at ErieFPAC@gmail.com

Susannah Faulkner can be reached at susannah.faulkner@gmail.com