About us

What is a Food Policy Council?

A Food Policy Council (FPC) consists of a group of representatives and community residents who represent all sectors of the food system and collaborate on mutually beneficial solutions to food system problems. These problems have typically been addressed in a piecemeal fashion, with each of the food sectors working independently.

FPCs are part of a broader community-based food systems approach. They comprehensively evaluate existing conditions of their community’s food system, address gaps, and support promising programs and practices in order to help the various sectors reinforce one another. Ultimately, they bridge the fragments in the food community by acting as a cohesive glue, disseminating information and advice about policies and programs that will effectively create impact from the inside out. This creates partnerships that over time build and further ensure the leadership and collaboration necessary to advocate for a lively, healthy, and people- focused food system.

 The Importance of Food Policy Councils In Our Community

Changes within the food system over the past several years, as it has become more fragmented and disconnected, have had dramatic impacts on public health and community sustainability outcomes. The food system is defined as the interdependent process and people that provide food to a community/region including growing, harvesting, processing, marketing, distributing and consuming food, this includes soil, water, and safety. 

The challenge of the food movement is to bring all aspects of food production and distribution together into a coherent whole which assures nutritional accessible, safe, and available food for all. 

Functions of Food Policy Councils:

1. To serve as forums for discussing and advancing food issues.
2. To advance scientific investigation and research which can support behavioral and nutritional change leading to new knowledge and improved health for people.
3. To foster coordination between sectors in the food system.
4. To evaluate, advance, prepare and/or influence policy.
5. To launch or support programs and services that address needs, advance knowledge and promote integration of the food system leading to positive results.
6. To promote the healthy food, health, and well-being movement which honors and influences every part of the food system.

Who we are

Our mission

The food system is complex, multidimensional, and integrated. It includes growing food and raising animals, and ends with human food consumption and the use of vegetable and animal waste to replenish the system cycle.  The NLC-FPC will raise the community awareness of all aspects of the food system. 

The mission of the NLC-FCP seeks to bring farms, organizations, organized labor, consumers, businesses, and New London County communities together to enhance the environment, improve economic conditions, and enhance the physical and social health of the region.  

Our Vision

Food is at the center of human existence and well-being; and therefore, reflects our deep cultural roots, family practices, personal experiences and preferences, and the impact of sociology, psychology, health, politics, ethics and economic conditions in our individual and collective lives. The New London County Food Policy Council will work to ensure that affordable and nutritious food will be available to all people. 

In working to improve the health and wellness, food security, and quality of life for those who live in New London County, the NLC-FPC will:

• Connect with and work to influence and transform the food system; increase and enhance food security and safety in New London County
• Develop a local capacity to develop, study, and promote mission-critical policy in all of its dimensions:  local, regional, state, national, and international; and
• Become an active participant, as appropriate, in larger councils and efforts which have aligned missions.

Mapping and Framing the Work

All people have a basic need for nutrition, but the way we meet that need varies according to several key influences.  Our food supply and access to it determines our basis for choice, and research has shown that lower income areas have poorer access to healthful food choices (Rudd Center Research, 2008).  

A second primary driver of food choice is education. Supermarkets are stacked with high sugar, high fat and high salt foods while at the same time the knowledge required for preparing healthy, filling meals at home, is being lost.   Education can be aimed at teaching the nutritional value of certain foods as well as practical lessons on how to shop and cook for better nutrition.  Most efforts to improve nutrition focus on these two major drivers, but improved access and improved education do not guarantee a healthier diet and lifestyle. Other very strong influencing factors lie at the heart of choice, and the success of any program will be dependent on recognition and accounting for these factors (Figure 1). 

 

A sociological view allows for a consideration of the cultural practices within a given community.  Creating programs that leverage the cultural norms of a community can bring a community closer together and optimize the chance of success for programs to improve dietary choices.  Secondly, a psychological perspective takes into account the personal drivers behind eating behaviors and includes the need to preserve dignity through choice, and the provision of comfort and security particularly for individuals who are responsible for feeding others. A third influencer is the physiological driver that provides much of the subconscious stimulus for overeating.  Recent studies have shown that consumption of high fat and high sugar products conditions the body to desire more of these foods. The cycle of overeating that results in obesity can be very difficult to break and is compounded by the higher accessibility of these foods in supermarkets, restaurants and school cafeterias for example.   Chronic exposure to these high-energy, low-nutrition foods is the cause of most obesity and obesity-related diseases.  Consideration of the sociological, physiological and psychological influences on food choices can increase the chance of success of any program aimed at improving nutrition and reducing obesity.

In order to engage the appropriate stakeholders required to support and implement programs, two lenses must be applied to the food system:  political and economic. These must be founded on a solid ethical foundation.  The political lens allow for policies to support changes in the system, the economic lens allows for what is possible financially and takes into account the overall effect of economics in the area. Finally, the ethical foundation underpins each and every conversation, proposal, study and program to be sure that an emerging Food Policy Council is are placing the welfare of those in the community at the center of the work.

Focus groups participating in the United Way Needs Assessment process and filling out deliberative needs cards were asked to determine the health areas which needed to be a priority for United Way. 69% of the respondents listed food/hunger as a priority. 36.2% listed nutrition and 34.5% listed fitness and obesity as critical. Respondents indicated an understanding of the connections and complexities of food-related health issues. 

In summary the goal of the Food Policy Council is to improve access and education for individuals to have practical, healthful and sustainable solutions to their nutrition needs regardless of their income or social status.  To optimize the chance of success, the Council will consider the social, psychological and physiological drivers of choice, and engage partners at the political, economic and moral level to ensure full inclusion and collaboration in all activities.

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