Jon Greenberg
Harp and Johannes signing the pact.
Mayor Toni Harp Wednesday signed the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, an international agreement that coordinates efforts in cities across the world to increase access to healthy, affordable and sustainable food.
Harp said she looks forward to working with and learning from the leaders of other cities that have signed onto the pact.
“We’re confident that other cities have made strides, and we’re eager in New Haven to see if any of those strategies are suitable for this city,” Harp said.
The pact does not include numerical benchmarks to measure cities’ progress on food-related problems, according to Food System Policy Director Joy Johannes, who brought the pact to the mayor’s attention and joined her at City Hall for the signing ceremony. Instead, signatory cities commit to seven statements aimed at coordinating the way these cities approach food policy.
The pact’s central pledge is “to develop sustainable food systems that are inclusive, resilient, safe and diverse, that provide healthy and affordable food to all people in a human rights-based framework, that minimise waste and conserve biodiversity while adapting to and mitigating impacts of climate change.”
Signatories cities also commit to “encouraging interdepartmental and cross-sector coordination” and to “review and amend existing urban policies” in order to improve food policy. Since October 2015, when the pact was created, 144 cities have signed on, including Athens, Austin, Bogota, Luanda, San Francisco and Tel Aviv.
The signing of the pact represents the latest development in the effort to improve food policy and increase food security in New Haven. According to a 2016 study by United Way, 63 percent of households in the Greater New Haven Area live below the ALICE threshold, meaning the residents of those households do not earn enough to buy basic necessities and are thus not food secure.
Groups within city government are working to address this issue. The New Haven Food Task Force runs several programs aimed at providing nutritious and affordable food to New Haveners and at obtaining information about food security in the city. The task force is made up of volunteers from in and around New Haven.
One of their initiatives, the summer meals program, provides free meals to kids in the city from July to mid-August. Approximately 5,000 kids are currently being served meals a day through the program, according to the city.
<blockquote>The pact does not include numerical benchmarks to measure cities' progress on food-related problems, according to Food System Policy Director Joy Johannes, who brought the pact to the mayor's attention and joined her at City Hall for the signing ceremony. Instead, signatory cities commit to seven statements aimed at coordinating the way these cities approach food policy.</blockquote>
Great news! It may seem counterproductive to some people, but I'd prefer a community that adheres to common 'principles' of life rather than arbitrary 'measurements' for improvement.