Strategy
Yolo Food Security Coalition (YFSC)
The Yolo Food Security Coalition (YFSC) is composed of individuals, government representatives, and organizations involved in food production, nutrition, distribution, service to those who are food insecure, agriculture and food research, workforce wellbeing and development, and climate and sustainability public policy and programs.
Mission:
The YFSC mission is to guarantee that all people of Yolo County at all times have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, culturally appropriate, and nutritious foods to meet their dietary needs and food preferences and sustain their health, wellbeing, and capacity to thrive.
Vision:
YFSC envisions a collaborative partnership among Yolo County, its cities, urban and rural communities, non-profit organizations, commercial food distributors, and individuals with lived food insecurity experience to develop and implement a Yolo County Food Security Plan.
The Plan will:
● Take a holistic, system-wide approach to food security.
● Advance food sovereignty.*
● Emphasize equitable, sustainable local food production and distribution.
● Integrate food policies and programs relating to access, health, wellbeing, child development, education, and job training, including school meal and federal food assistance programs.
● Incorporate food recovery and waste reduction strategies and aligned elements of the County SB 1383 Implementation Plan and Climate Action Plan now in development.
● Include a transparent accountability system with defined metrics and methodologies for tracking and reporting outcomes and evaluating the need for course corrections and program modifications and/or expansion.
● Establish a framework of roles, tasks, responsibilities, and coordination and a timeline for implementation.
The process will be:
● Secure sustained engagement, ownership, staffing, and financial support from Yolo County and Yolo County cities with continuous coordination among relevant offices and departments and collaboration with a wide spectrum of stakeholders and organizations involved in food production, distribution, nutrition, education, and workforce development including schools, colleges, and UCDavis.
● Create a baseline of quantitative and qualitative food security data and information against which progress in Yolo County food security can be measured.
● Prioritize engagement by and empowerment of indigenous, marginalized, and frontline communities.
● Explore the cultural traditions, preferred foods, needs, challenges, barriers, and recommended solutions of indigenous, marginalized, and frontline communities through outreach and communication conducted using channels and methods most conducive to their participation.
● Keep equity at the forefront of all recommendations and decisions for increasing food access and quality and reducing food-related disparities for all residents.
● Implement a robust outreach and public participation program to receive input and feedback from Yolo County residents and communities.
● Make a draft plan publicly available and provide sufficient time for review and comment prior to finalization and adoption of the plan by the Board of Supervisors.
*"Food Sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture syst