May 2021 FPAC Newsletter

May 2021 - FPAC Newsletter

Next FPAC General Meeting (Open to FPAC Members Only)

Rescheduled for Tuesday, June 22, 2021 from 3:00-5:00pm

In This Issue
> What's Fresh
> Subcommittee Spotlight
> Announcements

What's Fresh

Urban Agriculture Happenings

Philadelphia Urban Agriculture Plan Public Meeting #2 Feedback Period Extended Through June 1st: Visit the Interactive Website to Provide Your Feedback

Philadelphia's urban agriculture planning team is working with growers, policy experts and community gardeners, and they want to hear from you! The team recently resumed their work, with racial justice centering each step in their process, and we're excited to share an interactive website where you can provide feedback. The site contains 10 stations, each exploring a different topic. The stations ask for feedback on concepts and questions that will inform the plan for long-term and permanent agriculture that contributes to the equitable development of Philadelphia and provide recommendations to the City and partners on how best to coordinate and strengthen their work on agriculture. The feedback period has been extended through June 1st, so there is still time to participate. Please explore the site and provide your feedback, and encourage your neighbors, colleagues, family, and friends to do the same.

Visit the website to provide feedback and share your personal experiences.

Subcommittee Spotlight

Good Food Procurement Update
The City of Philadelphia is exploring the possibility of launching a pilot that will procure meals from Philadelphia-based food vendors to supply food for City meal distribution programs. The FPAC Good Food Procurement Subcommittee has committed to assisting this effort, and to including businesses in its new edition of the Good Food Business Guide. If you are interested in learning more about this food pilot and how you might participate, please fill out this form.

Zero Waste Update: NRDC Food Matters Regional Initiative
Philadelphia strengthened the leadership of its NRDC Food Matters working group by elevating the work to sit directly within the Zero Waste Subcommittee of FPAC. In doing this, the committee nominated two additional co-chairs, Nidhi Krishen and Meghan Bickel. Alongside them, Helena Rudoff will continue to lead the Food Matters work on behalf of the City’s Office of Sustainability. This transition will allow the committee members to more effectively collaborate with the rest of FPAC. Additionally, it gives group members the ability to build long-term planning into their Food Matters strategies, giving the projects longevity beyond Philadelphia’s participation in the Regional Initiative. The Zero Waste Subcommittee meets on the 2^nd Wednesday of each month at 12:00pm. Email Helena.Rudoff@phila.gov for the Zoom link.

Attend an Upcoming Subcommittee Meeting
Follow the links below for more info on each subcommittee.

Anti-Hunger
Tuesday, May 18th from 3:00-4:30pm
Join the Anti-Hunger Subcommittee in May for an information and feedback session about Resource Connects, a free community resources website. Hear about resources available on the site, how you can add your organization’s information, and share your thoughts about how the website can best be utilized. Email co-chairs to attend.

Workforce and Economic Development
Tuesday, May 25th from 5:00-6:00pm
Email co-chairs to attend.

Urban Agriculture
Wednesday, May 26th from 4:00-5:30pm
Email urbanagsub@gmail.com to attend.

Announcements

File Your Taxes to Get Monthly Cash Payments to Support Your Children

File your taxes for free with the Campaign for Working Families. The deadline to file is May 17th.
Families can file this year even if they have no earnings to report and don’t usually file. This is the only way to receive the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Expanded Child Tax Credit.
Most Philadelphians are eligible for the new Expanded Child Tax Credit. The Federal government will be sending a monthly payment of $250-$300 per child starting in July! See this flyer and this website for more details.

Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) Is Now Available for Pre-K Students
New meal benefits for children age 0-5 will start going out to families in June. To be eligible families must be receiving SNAP benefits, or got them sometime after October 1 and live in an area that has school virtually or a blend of virtual and in-person.

Learn more about P-EBT for both children age 0-5 and school-age children.
Share the Coalition Against Hunger's P-EBT social media toolkit with your networks.
Get support applying for SNAP:
- Call the BenePhilly hotline at 1-844-848-4376. You can share BenePhilly flyers in English and Spanish
- Call the Coalition Against Hunger’s SNAP Hotline Monday – Thursday from 9:00am-5:00pm and on Friday from 9:00am-4:00pm at 215-430-0556. You can also fill out a form to request application help: http://www.hungercoalition.org/snaphelp
- Apply through PA’s Compass Website: www.compass.state.pa.us

Grants Available from the Kensington Community Resilience Fund
Does your organization want to advance community empowerment, neighborhood investment, and economic opportunity? General operating support grants of $10,000 are available. Apply by May 26.

Philadelphia Office of Sustainability Releases 2021 Greenworks Initiatives Update and New Resources for Individuals, Communities, and Institutions
The City's Office of Sustainability recently released its 2021 Greenworks Initiatives Update to highlight recent successes and how the City is advancing toward its sustainability goals, including those related to food. OOS also published new Greenworks on the Ground resource checklists, which show individuals, communities, and institutions (including businesses, schools, and houses of worship) how they can help make the City’s Greenworks visions a reality. Check out the updated checklists for:

Colleges Break From Corporate Dining Services
Organizers for Real Food Generation, a national group that leads campus-based campaigns to push colleges to break contracts with the “big three” private companies that provide most campus food services — Aramark, Sodexo and Compass Group — are experiencing new energy behind their movement and getting results on some campuses. Their successes are occurring as colleges’ partnerships with third-party campus dining services providers are attracting renewed scrutiny and criticism and have become intertwined with the national movement for racial justice being led in part by college students. Read more with an article from Inside Higher Ed.

Get Involved

Wanted: Food Service Operators at City-funded Sites

Are you a food service vendor interested in preparing healthy and delicious meals for children and families at an emergency housing facility? The Office of Homeless Services is accepting requests for proposals for two new opportunities. Details regarding optional virtual tours of the facilities are included within their respective documents.
Apply by May 26 for Woodstock Family Center
Apply by May 27 for Families Forward Philadelphia.

Increase Food Access with Seven-day Meal Kits
Can your organization distribute weekly meal kits for youth in summer camps, sites, and programs across the city? Call the Nutritional Development Services Of The Archdiocese Of Philadelphia at 215-895-3470 to learn how you can be participate in the initiative.

Sign-on Request for PA to Invest in the PA Food Bucks Program
The Food Trust is seeking partners to sign on to support a state budget request for more investment in Pennsylvania Food Bucks. On April 27, State Reps. Pashinski (@RepPashinski) and Cruz introduced legislation (H.B. 1275) that would stretch Pennsylvanians’ SNAP dollars through nutrition incentives. Food Bucks allow shoppers using SNAP at participating groceries and farmers markets to get more food for their money. The Food Trust is currently working with a network of community partners across the state to boost awareness of this budget need and collect signatures of support from other organizations and stakeholders. Please fill out this form to sign on your organization's support for Food Bucks in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's FY22 Budget. The sign on letter is an important outreach activity towards developing a state funding stream for Food Bucks. The deadline to sign on is EOD Thursday, May 20, 2021. The success of our Food Bucks program — a triple win for shoppers, farmers and local economies — shows that nutrition incentives can transform Pennsylvanians’ purchasing power and keep our communities thriving.

Job Opportunities

The Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance is Hiring a Co-op Developer

PACA invites folks with both group/meeting facilitation as well as business finance/development skills to apply! The person in this role would serve as PACA's project officer for the Seed Commons, and be part of a growing community of solidarity economy practitioners building new financial infrastructure that centers economic justice. This position is full-time (32 hours per week), exempt, and pays a salary of $48,000/year. PACA offers all full-time employees a $250/month health benefit, paid holidays, and generous PTO. PACA strongly encourages working class BIPOC, queer and trans folks, disabled people, womxn, and people raised in the Philadelphia region to apply. The full job posting is available here. Individuals interested should send their resume and cover letter to jobs@philadelphia.coop.

Job Opportunities at Deaver Wellness Farm
Deaver Wellness Farm at Lankenau Medical Center is hiring a full-time Farm Manager and a part-time Farmer/Educator. Deaver Wellness Farm is a joint project between Greener Partners, which is focused on strengthening community health through equitable fresh food access, abundant farms and gardens, and discovery-based learning, and Lankenau Medical Center. The farm offers education programs for youth, a production farm providing 4,000+ pounds of fresh vegetables for outpatients experiencing food insecurity, and a farm elective for medical residents. View the job descriptions here. Resumes for either position can be sent to Amy.Johnson@greenerpartners.org, and applications are being accepted until May 17.

Philadelphia Office of Sustainability Hiring for Three Positions
The City's Office of Sustainability is now hiring for three positions: a Senior Manager for Climate Mitigation, an Energy Office Project Manager, and an Energy Office Program Coordinator. Learn more about these positions and how to apply:

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