Ayon 1 Amber Ayon Sochacki NUTR 2364 WEEK 5 GUIDE Application The food policy council I will be looking at is the city of Riverside, California. The program name is called Riverside Food Systems Alliance. They are operating on practices regarding farmers certification to aid them in selling their products locally. They are trying to sell locally as in the schools' districts, childcare centers, and restaurants. Doing more research on Riverside Food Systems Alliance program, it focuses on the issues of growing sustainably, distribution infrastructure, educating about sustain demand, and providing access for all healthy foods 1. Their biggest success that I recall from their website is the local aspect of the programs and its resources. Such as community gardens, farmers market, and educational sites are all over the Riverside area. One challenge that the RFSA is facing is helping to build a farm that will have new educated farmers and make connections to the farm local economy and food producers2. I really enjoyed reading about how they will emphasize farmers to obtain certification. It is beneficial to gain that type of assistance to promote their work. It is also a smart idea to spread local businesses and products everywhere especially into schools. Schools are literally everywhere in each state so why not get business weekly with foods. I looked up within my own town, Mesa, Arizona, to see if there was an food policy councils. I found a few. One that stuck out to me is called Mesa CARES. It was very effective during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. It was focused on providing food assess to those in need or affected by the pandemic3. They would do weekly distribution within the different programs they offered like drivethrough food distribution program, meal preparation program, and restaurant buyout program. Personally, I did not know that they had this going on. It is very helpful and useful for my community. We need to acknowledge these councils because they do so much hard and committed work that goes unnoticed. Word Count: 324 1 Riverside Food Systems Alliance, www.riversidefoods.org Food System Resources, Grow Riverside, www.growriverside.com 3 Mesa CARES – Feeding Mesa, data.mesaaz.gov/stories/s/Mesa-CARES-Feeding-Mesa/i42a-xdid/ 2
