Healthy Sustainable Food Systems Initiative — Portland, ME
Date: 2016-02-26

Agenda
 Shaping Portland’s Food System Meeting
 February 26, 2016


PURPOSE:
To discuss with Shaping Portland’s Food System:
 1. the draft proposal for the Portland Food Council
 2. the updated strategic plan
 3. needs for success


AGENDA:
I. Introduction
 a. Welcome! Review agenda and purpose of meeting.
 b. Introductions.

II. Overview of Proposed Portland Food Council
 a. Overview of Proposal (see my e-mail)
 b. Discussion

III. Strategy/Timeline for Launching the Portland Food Council
 a. Goal
 b. Community forums
 c. Targeted meetings
 d. Refining proposal and building support
 e. Finding leaders

IV. Needs
 a. Review and comment on draft resolution and bylaws
 b. Community forums (see next page)
 c. Targeted meetings
 d. Media and communications
 e. Identifying leaders—founding Council Members
 Community Forum Planning

Items To Be Determined for Each Meeting:
  Event/Meeting Name
  Goal: Share the purpose of the FPC, create buy-in and get feedback
  Audience (who and how many)
  Location/Time of Day
  Content
  The ask (is it to have people come to the city council meeting, or just to stay
 involved and tell others?)
  Budget


Needs/Potential Assignments:
  1-2 point people for each event
  Venue logistics
  Outreach and Publicity
 o What: Develop flyer with blurb to send to partners to share over e-
 mail/social media
  Incorporate the “selling points” for the Food Council
 o Who:
  Neighborhood Associations
  All Steering Committee organizations
  Other
 o Where?
 o How:
  Flyering
  E-mail
  Social media
  Newspaper?
   Food?
  Day of:
 o Set-up
 o Tracking and record keeping

Minutes
 Shaping Portland’s Food System Meeting
 February 26, 2016


PURPOSE:
To discuss with Shaping Portland’s Food System:
 1. the draft proposal for the Portland Food Council
 2. the updated strategic plan
 3. needs for success


I. Introduction
 a. Welcome! Review agenda and purpose of meeting.
 b. Introductions. In attendance: Chrystina Gastelum, Meghan Quinn, Selby
 Beebe-Lawson, Sandy Gilbreath, Jennifer Rowland, Susan McCloskey,
 Susan Nelson, Sara Schwartz, Jim Hanna, Tim Fuller, John Naylor, Lisa
 Fernandes, Emily Clyatt and Stephanie Gagne.


II. Overview of Proposed Portland Food Council
 a. Overview of Proposal- the group referenced the Resolution draft and had
 a roundtable read -through. One suggestion was made to designate
 Manufacturing as a priority somewhere within the Resolution. Those in
 attendance felt the resolution did a good job representing the values and
 objectives of Shaping Portland’s Food System.
 b. By-Laws review: Article V – Duties and Responsibilities
 The group reviewed the primary functions of the Portland Food Council
 as:
 i. Bringing together and engaging the Portland community, City
 government, and the food-business sector on issues affecting the
 food systems that support our community;
 ii. Recommending laws, policies, and practices to the City
 government to improve the economic, environmental, and social
 sustainability of our food system; and
 iii.  Identifying or initiating projects to improve the food system

 The group discussed how the Portland Food Council will operate through
 working groups and committees that will meet as frequently as needed
 based on projects and the need to get work done. Some standing
 committees may not be active at all times, and committee members will
 be able to work across committees on a needs-basis.

 It was discussed that the Portland Food Council will craft a three-year
 strategic plan at one of its first few meetings. The group raised questions
 about the structure of the council, and asked whether it is a part of city
 government or not, and if not, why does it need to go before city council?
 It was reiterated that the current proposal is for a quasi-governmental
 Food Council, with the Mayor appointing 7 council members, and key-
 government officials acting as ex officio (non-voting) members. One
 member of the group mentioned that 15 council members might be too
 many, and questions were raised about how that number was reached.
 Also, some concerns arose about the Mayor’s appointments of almost half
 of the council members and whether that was a good idea. They asked
 whether this was typical for other food councils.

 The group also asked about the financial commitment from the city to
 support this initiative. It was discussed that as of now, Stephanie Gagne
 will continue in the role of coordinator and have a portion of her schedule
 each week to devote to this initiative. Currently the city has made no
 additional financial commitments to supporting this initiative. The group
 asked if the council applied for a grant, who would it go to, and this was
 determined to be an ongoing issue of determining various fiscal agents.

 There was a general discussion about how the council members are
 chosen, and about having general consensus on issues in the format of the
 Mayor’s Initiative, and how that may change in the Food Council format.
 Attendees were asked to read through the By-Laws document and to
 prepare their questions for later discussion.

 It was also suggested that fisheries are missing from the appointments
 section of Article VI. Membership in the By-Laws draft.


III. Strategy/Timeline for Launching the Portland Food Council
 a. Goal – to pass the Portland Food Council resolution we need support
 from the community.
 b. Community forums – 3-4 community forums will be held across city
 neighborhoods. Chrystina, Olivia, Mary Alice and Meghan are potential
 organizers and Sarah is working with Ben on how these meetings will
 work. The importance of ensuring diversity and bringing in the right
 people was noted in this discussion. Lisa offered her support and
 guidance for structuring these meetings based on her past experience
 and successes with similar offerings. Lisa also noted the importance of
 closing the feedback loop with those we seek to get information from,
 and not just farming them for their ideas. Additionally, Lisa suggested
 that:

 i. the meeting format should flow from the goals;
 ii. the value of being participatory should be demonstrated;
 iii. participants should feel connected;
 iv. we should double check the relevance of the meetings;
 v. we should diversify the meeting format to engage people who
 may not regularly attend meetings; and
 vi. we should define goals but make it known that participation in
 many ways will be helpful.

 It was suggested that piggybacking on existing meetings might be a
 method for getting more feedback with less work. Chrystina might be
 available to act as community meeting coordinator for all events. The
 timeline for meetings is March-April, maybe into May. Information will
 be collected by June.
 c. Targeted meetings will be for specific interests. Meghan and John are
 willing to work on the food-business outreach. Some attendees felt the
 list of key officials, including the Mayor, City Manager, City Councilors,
 Directors of various offices, is too long and that less is more. It was
 discussed that getting department heads on board is important to gain
 support and keep communication flowing.
 d. Refining proposal and building support
 e. Finding leaders

IV. Needs

 a. Review and comment on draft resolution and bylaws – it was requested
 that those in attendance review the documents and send their comments
 and questions to Ben.
 b. Community forums (see previous section)
 c. Targeted meetings (see previous section)
 d. Media and communications – Ben will check with CLF to help with a
 media strategy.
 e. Identifying leaders—founding Council Members either appointed or
 confirmed. The Portland Food Council will be seeking a strong leader to
 chair the initiative.
 f. Final comment – Lisa suggested changing the wording in Exhibit A from
 “sustainability” to “resilience”.

  V. Adjourn
 Next meeting March 25, 2016, 10:00 – 11:30 room 209