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Sacramento Hunger Commission: October 2003 Minutes

1. The meeting was called to order by Sharon Eghigian, Vice chair.
2. Due to the lack of a quorum, the approval of the September minutes was postponed.
3. Reports and announcements
   • Retreats - The January 2004 retreat will again be at the Sierra Health Foundation, Jan. 27. There is also the possibility of a one-day retreat at Half Moon Bay in November, thanks to Nina Nelson's generous offer of her bungalow.
   • Commission self audits - deadline is Oct. 24.
   • Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) update - EBT for new food stamp recipients began on Oct 15. According to a report from Juan Valdez, so far there have only been a few minor glitches. All food stamp recipients will be on EBT as of Nov. 1.
4. Nominating Committee - The Committee will meet soon to finalize the member application form for 2004 and brainstorm ideas for potential new members. Commissioners were reminded that they need to either submit a new application or inform staff in writing if they wish to serve in 2004. All ideas for new members are welcome, especially from the private enterprise sector. The deadline for applications is not finalized, but will be in early December.
5. VISTA projects/accomplishments in 2003 - Jenny Holliday has been a VISTA with the Commission for about eleven months, and she has agreed to stay on as a Program Associate after her VISTA term is completed in November. Jenny gave a brief overview of some of her activities as a VISTA, including the challenging Single Room Occupancy (SRO) nutrition education project, the "Weed and Seed" Youth Garden monthly dinners and nutrition education sessions, the further development of the Nutrition Education binder and the two workshops that offered it to staff of organizations serving clients at risk, and more recently her efforts to integrate some of the MoneySense curriculum into Nutrition Education and to develop a web-based Nutrition Education curriculum.
6. Hope Awards update - Judie Wilson reported on the status of the program for the Nov. 20 Luncheon, and urged Commissioners to try to get more nominations; the deadline for nominations has been extended to Oct. 24. She also invited Commissioners to consider bringing more people from their office, and even to have a whole table. Next year it will be important to develop a packet to take around to potential sponsors; ideally the event should have permanent sponsorship. There was a brief discussion about the need for a long-range funding committee, and several members expressed interest in being part of it. Commissioners also suggested sending around a "Save the Date" card several months in advance, and seeking out new media contacts, i.e. with the Sacramento Magazine.
   
7. "Hunger Hits Home" City Council visits; Where do we go from here? - Diana Maffei and Peggy Roark reported on the recent visit with Councilmember Tretheway and his staff, which was very positive, with the Councilmember not only supporting the Food Charter idea but also suggesting a "summit" meeting of key leaders, businesses and media. A meeting with Councilmember Sheedy is scheduled for later this week.
   Cindy Nelson reminded the Commission of her memo sent out earlier and then elaborated on the "cathedral-building" idea that she and Steve Caruso are presenting to the Commission. They believe that a major part of the Commission's work should be focused on building the groundwork for a community in which someday there will be no need for a Hunger Commission. She does not know what that groundwork would be, but thinks that this awareness should be a fundamental aspect of the Commission's mission and future strategic planning. Several Commissioners expressed support for the idea, and Cindy and Steve will bring a follow-up proposal to the Commission in the near future.
   
8. California Food and Justice Coalition - Melissa Guajardo, from the Health Education Council and a member of the Coalition Steering Committee, gave some background on the development of the Coalition before presenting the group's core principles and policy initiatives. She noted that the definition of community food security included an emphasis on local, sustainable agriculture, as well as on the food needs of low-income communities. The Coalition grew out of a statewide meeting in June 2001 looking at models and options for community food security, which was followed by the development of a Steering Committee and then a series of three regional meetings in September 2003. The local input from these regional meetings has already has an impact on the initial policy platform. Melissa noted that current priorities are the promotion of Farm to School projects, the establishment of a state Food Policy Council, and ensuring that consumers have the ability to use EBT cards at Farmers' Markets and there is adequate funding for Farmers' Markets Nutrition Programs. In terms of an Action Item, the Commission has several choices: support the core principles, become an organizational member of the Coalition, and support specific proposals. Although there was some discussion, for lack of time the Action Item decision was postponed until the next meeting.
9. The meeting was adjourned at 1:10.

   
   
   

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