Good Food Dialogues aim to excite, encourage, and facilitate community participation in the upcoming White House Conference
WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Food Systems for the Future (FSF), an organization dedicated to providing access to affordable, healthy food for all people through environmentally sustainable food systems, has launched the Good Food Dialogues, goodfooddialogues.com, in an effort to uplift the voice of diverse, community stakeholders across the food system.
As millions of Americans continue to struggle with hunger and diet-related diseases, the White House seeks to address these pressing issues by holding the first White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in over 50 years. Since the announcement of the Conference, FSF has been working to inform the goals that will drive a new national strategy to be announced at the upcoming September Conference.
FSF along with Good Food Dialogues partners, World Central Kitchen, Hunger Free America, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, The Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Global Citizen, PepsiCo Foundation, Growing Hope Globally, and the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger & Poverty believe that in order to create meaningful impact, the Conference will need to have the attention, involvement, and input of diverse and influential external stakeholders, including individuals who have experienced firsthand many of the food and nutrition challenges facing our nation. The Good Food Dialogues are intended to lift up these voices to be active participants in the process.
The Good Food Dialogues platform provides community stakeholders with resources for scheduling, advertising, and hosting Local Dialogues about hunger, food, nutrition, and health within their communities. Advocates who organize dialogues on this platform will also be able to submit feedback from their conversations that will be utilized in the following ways:
- Published as public facing and searchable documents on the Good Food Dialogues website.
- Included in a final document that synthesizes the feedback, ideas, and challenges shared throughout all the Good Food Dialogues. This report will not only be submitted to the White House but will also be used to inform a movement for change well beyond the White House Conference.
Everyone, from community members to local business owners, is encouraged to register to host their own Local Dialogue within their community. Resources detailing how to host a Dialogue can be found on the Good Food Dialogues website, but the method for convening a Dialogue remains flexible, allowing for all groups, under any circumstances or time constraints, to participate.
A Good Food Dialogue can be anything from a large organization-led convening to a small community gathering in a neighbor’s backyard! Local Dialogues can be customized to suit your community and facilitation style, and to allow your community to share their voice in a way that makes sense for them.
Statement from Ambassador Ertharin Cousin, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Food Systems for the Future; Former Executive Director, World Food Programme
“We applaud the White House for hosting a Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. The real work happens in the community. These local dialogues will engage those living with hunger and diet related disease as well as those community leaders working to bring change. We will share the dialogue outcomes with the White House. Most importantly, after the White House Conference we will use the platform to host conversations and information exchange to help communities learn from one another. Providing an online place of hope and action.”
Statement from Chef José Andrés, Founder and Chief Feeding Officer, World Central Kitchen; CEO, ThinkFoodGroup
“I’m honored to be a part of the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health—we’re recognizing that food is a universal human right and we must do everything we can to ensure everyone, especially children, have access to fresh and healthy food. For this to become a reality, we have to address where our food system is broken or threatened from all angles – and seize this once-in-a-generation opportunity to make food part of the solution to many of the problems we face. Building longer tables, creating resilience in the face of future crises. Food at the end of the day is the heart of every single thing we are.”
To learn more about Good Food Dialogues, visit: goodfooddialogues.com
About the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, & Health: In September 2022, the White House will hold a conference that will aim to catalyze the public and private sectors around a coordinated strategy to accelerate progress and drive transformative change in the U.S. to end hunger, improve nutrition and physical activity, and close the disparities surrounding them. The Conference will be held for the first time in over 50 years and is taking place at a pivotal point as the COVID-19 pandemic has shined a light on the major presence of hunger, diet-related diseases, and related disparities within the U.S.
It is important that the government, private and public sectors, and communities across the country come together to contribute to developing solutions to some of the nation’s most pressing problems. Holding inclusive, Local Dialogues is such an important step toward building a healthier future for all Americans.
