• By Mary Jac Brennan
• Posted Friday, April 11, 2014

Forsyth Hosts Webinar on Community Food Councils

Forsyth County invites you to a webinar on April 17, 2014 on the exciting concept of community food councils. It is slated from noon-2:30 pm in the Agriculture Building Auditorium B at 1450 Fairchild Rd. Winston-Salem. Participants are welcome to bring a brownbag lunch.

Community food councils are a new and emerging form of partnership organization in counties and regions across the United States. They are aimed at bringing together the key stakeholders in local food economies to improve community and regional food systems.

In the last five years, food council activity in North Carolina has grown to include more than 24 counties. The Forsyth Community Food Consortium formed in 2013 and with support from the Winston-Salem Foundation has recently hired a lead coordinator.

The webinar, Community Food Councils: Challenges and Opportunities, brings together experts on food councils to discuss successes as well as pitfalls to avoid in creating and maintaining a community food council. Opportunities for continued networking and learning will also be discussed, including how you can get involved with the Forsyth Community Food Consortium.

Efforts to cultivate locally-based, self-reliant, and sustainable food economies, what some call the local food movement, is an important issue for local governments. Local food systems connect with many core concerns of local government including economic development, public health, environmental stewardship, and social or civic health. Yet local government isn’t “in charge” of the local food economy any more than producers or consumers of food are. Local food economies are complex systems, which means improving or changing the system require collaboration and partnerships among many key stakeholders, including local governments.

While the webinar targets an array of public officials and community groups, anyone interested in our local food system is encouraged to attend.

Thanks to funding from the Community Transformation Grant program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation, there is no cost to attend the webinar. However, please register in advance by sending an email to gordonkl@forsyth.cc and put Food Council Webinar in the subject line. Or call 336-703-2850 to register.

If you have any questions about this event, email maryjac_brennan@ncsu.edu

The webinar is co-hosted by the School of Government at UNC-Chapel Hill and the Center for Environmental Farming Systems, a partnership of North Carolina State University, North Carolina A&T State University, and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture.