Giving Compass' Take:

• Arabella Advisors reports offers suggestions for what donors can do to help build an equitable and sustainable food system in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. 

• What are other resources that funders can investigate if they want more education on food system sustainability?

• Read about other ways to help the Chesapeake Bay such as making sure the seagrass is always healthy by reducing pollution. 

Funders, advocates, and other stakeholders invested in creating a better food system have an opportunity to capitalize on a growing and converging movement to build and scale an equitable, sustainable, and thriving regional food economy in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Seizing this opportunity will require forging a common vision and set of action priorities among a wide range of actors across the region, including funders, producers, food entrepreneurs and advocates, environmentalists, public health advocates, social justice organizations, and many others.

There are five fundamental, cross-cutting issues that those interested in building and scaling an equitable and sustainable food system in the Chesapeake Bay watershed must address to make greater progress:

  1. Overcoming structural barriers to create a food system that is equitable for producers, consumers, and workers alike.
  2. Elevating the voice of disadvantaged communities in food system efforts.
  3. Gathering more data on the current infrastructure and gaps in the supply chain, and enhancing coordination of regional food initiatives.
  4. Opening and influencing mainstream, institutional markets.
  5. Strengthening the advocacy capacity of organizations engaged in food system work.

Town Creek Foundation, Washington Regional Food Funders, Kaiser Permanente, and the Chesapeake Foodshed Network can build on the analysis and recommendations in this report by convening stakeholders across the region to develop a common vision for the food system and a set of shared action priorities to guide funders, policymakers, advocates, and food system entrepreneurs and practitioners. Fostering a powerful and cohesive movement to change the region’s food system for the better can have tremendous, cross-cutting impacts in improving public health, strengthening the economy, safeguarding the environment, and building more equitable communities. In this way, good food can be a driving force in the effort to create better and stronger communities throughout our region.

Read the full article about the chesapeake bay food system at Arabella Advisors