Healthy Farms Healthy People Coalition

07/15/2015

Congrats Roots of Change! AB 359 (Gonzalez) was passed by the Senate. This legislation provides a temporary 90-day retention period for grocery workers in large stores when ownership changes. This is a win for food chain workers and communities!

Great news!! The California Senate passed AB 359, authored by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (San Diego) and presented in the Senate chambers by principal coauthor Senator Connie Leyva (Chino). 22 Senators voted in favor, just one more than the minimum needed of 21. Despite major opposition from the Chamber of Commerce and grocery retail industry, Roots of Change has co-sponsored this bill with United Food & Commercial Workers - Western States Council because it provides a temporary 90-day retention period for grocery workers in large stores when ownership changes. We think that with private equity firms' increasing market consolidation of the grocery retail industry, this pro-community, food chain worker legislation is definitely good policy and that Governor Brown should not hesitate in signing this into law!

07/14/2015

Great article about Market Match in Los Angeles. Hunger Action Los Angeles-HALA and SEE-LA are helping people to eat healthy food while supporting local farmers and local communities.

The Nutrition Incentives Act, which would expand these programs, needs your support TODAY! You can make a difference in less then five minutes. Check out Roots of Change's "Support and Issue" page to find out how. It's just a click away: http://www.rootsofchange.org/get-involved/support-issue/

At 2 p.m. Wednesday, farmers at the Adams-Vermont growers’ market were busily popping up tents, setting up tables and unloading fruits and vegetables, getting ready to open. 

06/15/2015

“Back in the day, Whole Foods was buying half of all the organic produce in the country — they helped a lot of organic farms get going,” said Jeff Larkey of Route 1 Farms, who grows a variety of fruits and vegetables on 65 acres north of Santa Cruz, Calif. “Now they’re competing with the large supermarkets, and that may be one reason they’re trying to make conventional look better.”

Under a new program, conventional farmers can earn higher marks than organic farmers, who have long had a close relationship with the grocery chain.

05/11/2015

Your calls are needed TODAY! Let's fund healthy communities and healthy food systems, and put an end to unnecessary, diet-related disease. The Assembly Health Committee will be voting on this important bill tomorrow.

AB 1357 (Bloom) – The Children and Family Health Promotion Program – will create a dedicated revenue source to fund community clinics, school based health centers, and preventive programs to address the health impacts of sugar sweetened beverages. An estimated $3 billion dollars will be raised annually through a small 2 cent per ounce fee on sugar-sweetened beverages. These funds would help improve the health of our communities by preventing diabetes and other devastating health impacts in California’s most vulnerable communities.

The consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is creating a health crisis in California. Tomorrow, the Assembly Health Committee will be voting on an important bill that will begin to address this crisis.AB 1357 (Bloom) – The Children and Family Health Promotion Program – will create a dedicated reve…

05/10/2015

California legislation would create funding to support healthy communities and is being heard in the Assembly Health Committee on TUESDAY. Have you called your Assembly Member yet? What are you doing on Monday?

"Given the elevated economic costs of diabetes, it is incredible that, according to the California State Auditor, California’s per capita funding for diabetes prevention is one of the lowest in the nation. The California State Auditor’s office recommends that, “If state lawmakers desire Public Health to increase its efforts to address diabetes, they should consider providing state funding to aid in those efforts.

AB 1357 will do just that."

Check out Roots of Change and Choose Health L.A. to learn more.

http://cpehn.org/blog/201505/california-can’t-wait-fight-diabetes

This article appeared on the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California's blog. On May 12th, the California Assembly Health Committee will hear a new bill seeking to address one of the major health crises of our time. AB 1357 (Bloom) – The Children and Family Health Promotion Program – will create a…

05/08/2015

Another Call to Action from our friends at Roots of Change for the Californians: call in Your Support for AB 1357 TODAY or MONDAY!

Are you going to shop at the farmers market or pick up a CSA box this weekend? Do you support nutrition incentives so that farmers can make a living and low-income families can eat well? Have you witnessed the impact of farm to school programs and believe that children should have access to safe drinking water at school?

Then voice your values to your legislator and call in support of AB 1357! This bill would create the Children and Family Health Promotion Program, which will require a 2 cents per ounce fee on sugar-sweetened beverages, with a portion of these funds going to the Department of Education for Farm-to-School and drinking water, and also to CDFA for supporting specialty crop sales and nutrition incentive programs (among other things).

The bill will be heard in the Assembly Health Committee next Tuesday, the 12th and needs your support to pass out of committee! This bill would create a game-changing funding stream to support community health programming and sustainable food systems across the state. Check out Roots of Change's link below to learn more and find out who to contact. This is a close one -- and each individual can make the difference!!

http://www.rootsofchange.org/get-involved/support-issue/

Support An Issue http://www.rootsofchange.org/wp-content/uploads/284716531.jpg Donate Support An Issue Follow Roots of Change is a firm believer in the power of networks to feed into larger social movements. History shows us that this is true, whether it be civil rights or the labor movement. We inv…

04/15/2015

It's not too late to join the 2nd in our 5-part webinar series on Farm to School Evaluation with Colorado Farm to School Task Force and Spark Policy Institute. It starts in just over an hour! Learn more in our newsletter, including a link to the archive of the first webinar, and information about the Farm to School Act of 2015 from the National Farm to School Network.

The Farm to School Evaluation Toolkit, created by the Colorado Farm to School Task Force and Spark Policy Institute, is a resource to help farm to school programs of all sizes, in all states, undertake evaluation. Evaluation can serve many purposes for your farm to school program, including enabling…

04/08/2015

It's not too late! Our webinar series on Farm to School evaluation starts in 1 hour: http://bit.ly/1zpIjMl with Colorado Farm to School Task Force

Evaluation Farm to School Evaluation Toolkit Winter 2015 Webinar Training Series Series #4 (Hosted by Healthy Farms, Healthy People Coalition): Wednesdays, 4/8 – 5/6/2015 @ 3:00pm (MT) Registration is now open for the fourth (and last) five-week training series. Click on the Register Now link to…

03/26/2015

Denisa Livingston, a community health advocate with the DCAA, has been leading grocery store tours in Window Rock, Arizona to educate government officials and community members about how the layout and inventory of local markets affects buying patterns. "I've been telling the councils, food can either empower us and make us strong, or it can kill us," she says. "Healthy food is not just our tradition, it's our identity. This is the start of a return to food sovereignty."

Read more at: http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/03/navajo-nation-junk-food-tax

Some hope the move will help reduce the tribe's skyrocketing rates of diabetes and heart disease.

03/24/2015

Labor leaders say growers haven’t been given raises in years, refuse to pay overtime and government-required benefits and allow crew bosses to sexually harass female workers. They’re asking agribusinesses to triple wages, currently at about $10 per day, and comply with all labor laws.

http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-baja-farmworkers-20150324-story.html

One month after Mexico’s agricultural sector committed to improving the lives of farmworkers, the industry is facing its first major test as laborers in Baja California strike for higher wages, government benefits and the halt to alleged workplace abuses.

03/24/2015

Day 2 Update: 1,621 shirts collected so far!!!! Thanks to everyone that has donated a long-sleeve shirt!

You still have time to donate! Over 100 drop-off locations nationwide, look for the nearest one to you: http://bit.ly/1CdPUBB

02/12/2015

Long sleeve shirts help to protect farmworkers from pesticide and sun exposure. AFOP Health & Safety is collecting long sleeve shirt donations in the lead up to National Farmworker Awareness Week.

We can't wait! Just 5 weeks until National Farmworker Awareness Week and we are collecting long sleeve shirts again this year! The shirts will be given out for free at trainings during the year to the workers.

PLEASE SAVE YOUR SHIRTS TO DONATE. A list of drop off locations around the country is coming soon.