D. Reports to Committee
Council Discussion
- Youth Governance Program project
The YGP project will focus on youth food insecurity and universal school meals, including
the Healthy School Meals for All WI (HSM4A WI) Coalition. The project outcome will be a
recorded presentation that will be shared with school districts, school boards, and county
stakeholders. The goals include spreading awareness, and making recommendations.
Regular Business Reports
- Regional Food Plan (Regional Food System Partnership grant) – WARNER, Guffey
Calkins
Planning Community Engagement portion.
- Wisconsin Food Systems, Inc
No report
- Regional Agriculture & Food Sovereignty; Community Gardens – Guffey Calkins
Regional Ag & Food Sovereignty (RAFS) meetings are open to all: 2nd Fridays, 1-2:30,
zoom.
Farmland Preservation Task Force update:
The Land Banking Policy revisions that Alder Evers negotiated with Matt Mikolajewski of
the Economic Development Division were adopted by the Common Council on 3/19. The
”Ag Leases” resolution was also passed by the Common Council on 3/19. Parcels will
also need to be evaluated using the factors (location, future use and timing) detailed in
the Memo to Staff of January 2022, and a more equitable leasing process developed for
next year.
The Parks Division is updating its Parks & Open Space Plan for the next 5 years. Public
input sessions are scheduled for April 29, May 2 and 9; these sessions are the best
opportunities to advocate for “proactive planning for growing space” in “community park”
level lands as recommended by the Task Force in its 2023 report. Time and place details
- Food Access; Double Dollars Program – Guffey Calkins, NENNIG
2024 market season anticipated to begin in June. There was a discussion around looking
into the possibility of the Fitchburg Farmers Market accepting Double Dollars. DCFC will
return to this discussion at the next meeting.
- City of Madison Business Development Specialist
No report
- Public Health Madison & Dane County – Nick Heckman via Guffey Calkins
No report
- Extension/Dane County – Guffey Calkins
Join for one or all of the Food Entrepreneurship Ecosystems Development Initiative
(FEED) Webinars! These are organized by the UW-Madison Extension Community Food
Systems Program. The FEED webinars are no-cost virtual workshops for small-scale
food and farming business start-ups during Mondays in April: from April 1st to April 29th,
2-3pm. More information is on the FEED Webinars webpage:
Council Discussion
- PIE Grants
2024 Dane County Partners in Equity (PIE) Food Project Grants – A total of $41K was