The California Food Policy Council is a collaborative of local food policy groups working to ensure that California’s food system reflects the needs of all of its communities. The California Food Policy Council’s (CAFPC) purpose is to build the capacity of local food policy bodies to find common ground on statewide policy priorities, generate public support for those policies, educate policymakers on issues in our food system, and advocate for systems change in California. The CAFPC is an emerging voice in California’s policy making process that strives to bring transparency to food systems legislation, and to re-envision a political process that includes a more diverse range of food and farming interests to the table. The CAFPC’s governing documents have been approved by its members and exist as living documents. The council continues to work on refining the language to ensure that they truly reflect the desires of this council of councils. If your local food policy body is interested in ratifying the principles below and joining this values-driven collective impact effort, please contact Roots of Change to learn more about the ratification process. In February 2013, the Oakland Food Policy Council, Richmond Food Policy Council, San Francisco Food Security Task Force, and San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance were the first four local policy bodies to ratify CAFPC’s guiding principles. The CAFPC now has 26 ratified members that represent local communities from up and down the state of California. The guiding principles represent the innovative thinking and practices this group abides by. The principles also showcase the council’s commitment to work collectively with local, state and federal government institutions and private sector entities to enact just, transparent and sustainable food policies that improve California’s food and farms: Roots of Change serves as the backbone organization for this collective impact effort, which is beginning to engage local health departments and other external stakeholders in its food and farming policy efforts. Click to see our list of ratified members. If you have any questions about the California Food Policy Council, please contact Michael Dimock at michael@rootsofchange.org. Here is one strategy for counteracting the carcinogenic effect of grilling red meat. It turns out beer marinades may reduce the compounds that are thought to stimulate cancer risk in chard meat. Who woulda thought? www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21600085-reduce-health-risk-barbecuing-meat-just-ad... ... See MoreSee Less