CAFE Meeting 09/20/23

Coalition Meeting Notes

COALITION OVERVIEW

The Capital Area Food Equity (CAFÉ) Coalition is focused on ending hunger in the Greater Baton Rouge area through access to nutritious food, teaching how to grow food, and greater utilization of community resources, government assistance and supportive programming. OneRouge is dedicated to collaboration between organizations, benefitting the populations we all serve for the greater good. 

SHARED ASPIRATIONAL STATEMENT, CAFE MISSION STATEMENT + GOALS

• OneRouge Coalitions Aspirational Statement 

• Foster an inclusive community culture in our city that leads to equitable opportunities for all.

• Mission statement for CAFE

• Decrease the number of individuals in the Capital Region experiencing food insecurity

• Goals

• Promote greater utilization and access to existing feeding programs; SNAP; insure people who are eligible are registered to purchase necessary healthy food.  

• Promote collaboration across organizations and working groups within CAFE and OneRouge to move the needle on lasting and meaningful systems change.

• Teach to grow by providing opportunities for local, sustainable food production; promote economic development of food production and sales at all levels. 

• End hunger with sustainable and equitable access to 3 healthy meals a day, every day. 

ACTIVITIES

2:00 PM - 2:05 PM Welcome

Update on Action Items: 

1. Action Item: Monica Brown (DCFS) will provide some data points for us to start from of how many people in EBR access SNAP and any other benefit food programs they funnel to, and how governmental departments communicate with each other

2. Action Item: Dean Andrews (SU) and Monica Brown (DCFS) will connect with each other to build a SU student activity to research and track 

3. Action Item: Baton Roots & BREADA to collaborate on a start-up farmer document (BREADA) to research on providing connection mentorship between older farmers and new farmers 

2:05 PM - 2:15 PM 

Goal: Promoting greater access to programs

Comment	Speaker
DCFS is piloting a partnership with Code America to provide an app for SNAP applications Their hope is pop up locations at multi-sites: libraries, community center Looking at baseline data of who accesses support now vs. our goal  Studying communication systems between governmental programs (Ex: DCFS > Medicaid)	Monica Brown (DCFS)
Suggestion: DCFS have pop ups at grocery stores	Christen Engle (YMCA)
Food Bank is focused on areas that are more rural to increase impact	Mike Manning (EBR Food Bank)

• In 45 days

• Create outcome of student study: 1) Flowchart of processes between application to other benefits 2) Understanding the reasons of that siloed breakdown  

• Identify students, set goals for their participation

Follow-up email from Dean Andrews on 9/21 says SU has reached out again to Monica Brown

2:15 PM - 2:25 PM 

Goal:

Collaboration between organizations

Comment	Speaker
Creating a culture beyond the stigma (especially for elderly) Consider educating the youth so they can advocate to their elders

45 days:

• 1) Creating framework document for the education of this opportunity 

• 2) Looking at BRAYN becoming engaged in education of the stigma around food access (trainings for partners to help their cohorts understand/promote food access)

2:25 PM - 2:35 PM 

Goal: Teach to grow

Comment	Speaker
Creating a start-up farmer’s document Funding/Loans, Opportunities, Legal Acknowledging land ownership barriers	Allie (BREADA) & SK (Baton Roots)

45 Days:

• Meet together (BREADA/Baton Roots/GGH) to discuss what that document looks like and breakdown the steps/timeline 

• Farmer’s Bureau engagement? Farmer backyard/frontyard farming? LSU (Carl Motsenbocker/ask PTuck on recommendations/ Dr. Eubanks later on)  and SU (Renetta Marshall/Stephanie Elwood) Ag centers, USDA (Beatra after IRA fundings, Robert Seeman, Quintala) 

2:35 PM - 2:45 PM Review of previous parking lots

• 9/21 Budget Project Conference > to share moral outrage for food insecurity

• Discussed vertical farming, barriers are more than just facility, it is infrastructure. Example farm from another state (CT?) is having to close because it became a loss leader. 

• Culture > Emergency Distributions 

Next steps : 

• Food share in Scotlandville in the Fall with the mural unveiling 

• ORC, CAUW, and BRAF are beyond just food. But looking to where folks are just now, we believe there is a lane for ORC that coordinates volunteers outside of the food baknk looking to hydration, fresh more then canned food. One stop shop (at the city) that the nucleus has been working on behind the scenes. 

• Will plug into Mike with VOAD and bring it into this convo to create micro conversations. 

• Create a collaborative space that is defined within CAFÉ - augmentation of something have been talking about since before the flood. 

• Disaster preparedness response and a sticks and bricks facility outside of the food bank will be the tangible outcome for CAFÉ. 

• Who are the owners? Only the ed to food coalitions don’t have an owner. Suggested GGH and BatonRoots will table at the Farm to School conference 10/11. That would be a good time to share info. 

• ACTION ITEM: ORC will send a QR code with info. Are you interested in creating or expanding a kid after school project from TOP