Food Plan Implementation Leave Behind - July 2026 — original pdf

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Who we are: The Austin/Travis County Food Plan is a five-year, comprehensive, community-driven vision and action plan requested by City Council to improve our local food system. The City- and County-adopted plan, which features nine goals and sixty-one practical strategies, won the 2025 Governance Award at the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact Global Forum. The Food Plan Implementation Collaborative is a large and diverse group of passionate professionals, volunteers and neighbors dedicated to bringing the Food Plan to life. Recent Wins: The Farm Incubator Collaborative has placed ten new farmers on land to implement regenerative farming practices (Goal 2). The Central Texas Farm to School Collaborative is advancing values-based food purchasing to improve student health and open markets for local and historically underserved farmers (Goal 5). The Central Texas Food System Dashboard, which tracks key Food Plan data and other indicators was developed by the Central Texas Food Bank with the support of City staff (Goal 9). The official Food Plan Progress Dashboard is publicly tracking all sixty-one Food Plan strategies, and a recent in-person convening gathered over eighty collaborators to share and coordinate (Goal 9). Our Next Steps: Food Plan collaborators have identified critical opportunities for action over the next 90 days, including: Growing local food (Goals 1,2) — Develop a map overlaying available, viable land for gardening with food access points, mobility routes and other relevant data. Supporting food workers (Goal 3) — Create a power-map of key food / beverage sector leaders and worker community leaders, then design an engagement process to surface the priorities of food service and farm workers. Buying & serving better food (Goal 5) — Create an outreach plan to connect more stakeholders to the Central Texas Farm to School Collaborative and develop a “Lunchbox Pepper Project” to test commitments between schools and local produce farmers. Getting food to people (Goals 4, 6) — Expand summer food access for families by disseminating information and referrals to Summer Meals Program sites; develop a shared directory of food access resources to inform a public resource map and hotline. Rescuing & reusing food (Goal 7) — Plan a mini-summit of food rescue actors to create shared network maps, develop messaging materials and a social media education campaign about the availability and value of food rescue. How Your Office Can Help: Review the adopted Food Plan and communicate your office’s priority strategies to your Food Policy Board appointee. Share information about local Summer Meals sites listed at SummerFood.org through your constituent communications channels. Refer valued constituents to participate in the strategies listed above through your Food Policy Board appointee. Schedule a staff volunteer day with one of the Food Plan’s many organizational supporters; your Food Policy Board appointee can facilitate this. Any questions? Ask your Food Policy Board appointee, or email Amanda Rohlich at Austin Climate Action and Resilience, Amanda.Rohlich@austintexas.gov.