April 23, 2012

Visualizing The Farm Bill

10 am Pacific / 11 am Mountain / 12 pm Central / 1 pm Eastern
RSVP to vclarke@safsf.org

Part five of a SAFSF Farm Bill webinar series launched in 2011 and co-sponsored with Grantmakers in Health as part of our joint Creating Common Ground project

As the debate continues on the 2012 Farm Bill, the Center for a Livable Future at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has developed a clever web app called the Farm Bill Budget Visualizer. Users can sort and filter Farm Bill expenditures since 2008 by categories such as obesity, food security, or sustainable agriculture – issues clearly of great importance to those involved with both Grantmakers In Health and SAFSF.

In this webinar we will explore critical public health connections in the Farm Bill with the help of the Farm Bill Budget Visualizer tool, and discuss the growing role of food and tech efforts to communicate information and effect change.

Note:The webinar will last 90 minutes - the first 60 will include demonstration and technical assistance using the Farm Bill Visualizer and other tools, and the last 30 will be an open discussion period.

Moderator:
Virginia Clarke, executive director, SAFSF

Speakers:
Roni Neff, research director, Center for a Livable Future, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
Destin Layne, program director, GRACE Communications Foundation
Margie Roswell, web developer and SAFSF Member

Transatlantic dialogue on food and farming

9:00 am Pacific Time

12:00 pm Eastern Time 

17:00 Greenwich Mean Time

18:00 Central European Time

The webinar will last one hour 

RSVP to vclarke@safsf.org by April 17th

Food and agriculture are hot topics globally. With world population passing 7 billion, of whom nearly a billion are malnourished and a billion obese, the need to improve our food systems is greater than ever. 2012 is a crucial year for agricultural policy in both the US, where a new Farm Bill is due, and the European Union, where reform of the Common Agricultural Policy is underway. 

Through trade policies, agricultural subsidies, investment decisions, environmental standards and cultural power, the US and EU are critical to the future of food and agriculture for their own citizens and worldwide. The impacts of the food system on public health, climate change, biodiversity and eco-systems are well documented. 

This is a unique opportunity for funders in the US and EU concerned with food and agriculture issues to make contact, hear about the differing contexts on each side of the Atlantic, and open up discussion on issues of common concern.

Moderator: 

Jon Cracknell, Director, JMG Foundation, London, UK

NGO Speakers: 

Jim Harkness, President, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Minneapolis, MN, USA

Helen Browning, CEO, Soil Association, Bristol, UK

Network leads: 

Virginia Clarke, Executive Director, Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders, US

Nick Perks, Coordinator, Environmental Funders Network, UK

Marilena Vrana, Interest Group Coordinator, European Foundation Centre, EU 

Addressing Obesity: Foundation Opportunities to Leverage The Weight of the Nation

Cosponsored by Grantmakers In Health and the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders

RSVP to heal@gih.org 

The United States is in the midst of a public health crisis fueled by an epidemic of obesity. With consequences far greater than any disease in recent memory, obesity affects 97 million Americans. Chronic conditions related to obesity, including type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, consume 80 percent of our nation’s health care costs.  

In response, Kaiser Permanente, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, the Institute of Medicine (IOM), the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have joined HBO to launch The Weight of the Nation, one of the country’s largest public health campaigns on obesity to date.

By building public awareness and engagement, The Weight of the Nation project is designed to accelerate efforts to prevent and eliminate obesity across the United States. The campaign will create opportunities for community engagement, collaboration, advocacy, and partnerships aimed at combating obesity and producing demand for healthier environments.

The campaign centerpiece is a four-part film series that will premiere on HBO in May 2012. Each film examines the obesity epidemic from a unique point of view, from Consequences and Choices to Children in Crisis and Challenges. In addition, a variety of free materials will be made available to the public, including a related series for children; targeted shorts; screening kits; and web, print, and social media resources. The screening kits, available in English and Spanish, will contain the films and IOM-developed discussion guides for hosting independent screening events and inspiring sustained community obesity prevention.

Speakers:

Aliya Hussaini,  Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (invited)

Loel Solomon, Kaiser Permanente 

How can funders best support communications?

Friday, January 20, 2012
10 am Pacific / 1 Eastern
This will be a 60 minute call 

How can funders best support communications? 

RSVP to erisa@safsf.org by Jan 18th

The 2010 Good Food Movement landscape assessment surveyed over 200 leaders working to create resilient and robust regional food systems. One of the overarching recommendations that came out of that study identified expanding the communications capacity for the movement as a priority area for funding. How can funders facilitate strategic communications for transformative policy? What are some compelling opportunities available for funders looking to support the effort to tell the story of the Good Food Movement?

Based on the responses from an inquiry sent to the SAFSF listserv in fall 2011 we know there is increasing funder interest in this area. We also know there are a variety of efforts that have been undertaken in recent history. Please join us in a conversation as we discuss lessons learned and explore future opportunities for collaboration and impact.

Moderator: Greg Horner, Cedar Tree Foundation 

Speakers:
Sarah Bell, The 11th Hour Project
Kristin Hyde, consultant, project lead for the Good Food Movement Landscape Assessment
Additional speakers TBA