Good Food Dialogues Platform, developed by Task Force member organization Food Systems for the Future, aims to excite, encourage, and facilitate community participation in the upcoming White House Conference through the outreach, marketing, and facilitation of Local Dialogues
Washington, D.C. – As millions of Americans continue to struggle with hunger and diet-related diseases, the White House seeks to address these pressing issues through holding the first White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in over 50 years. Since the announcement of the Conference, a diverse, non-partisan group of stakeholders has developed a Task Force that has been working to inform the goals of the upcoming White House Conference. The operational leads of the Task Force include Food Systems for the Future, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, World Central Kitchen, and The Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
This group believes 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 with lived experiences in the food and nutrition challenges facing our nation. Listening Sessions and Dialogues are currently being led by multiple Task Force leaders, and in an effort to continue this momentum and uplift the voice of community stakeholders, Food Systems for the Future (FSF) has launched the Good Food Dialogue Platform.
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:
- Direct submission to the White House in advance of the Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health (for events and feedback received prior to the July 15th deadline).
- Published as public facing and searchable documents on the Good Food Dialogues website.
- Inclusion 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.
The Task Force Co-chairs encourage everyone, from community members to local business owners, to explore the resources available on the new Good Food Dialogues platform and register to host their own Local Dialogue within their community.
Statement from Task Force Co-chair 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 Task Force Co-chair 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.”
Statement from Task Force Co-chair Senator Bill Frist, Former Majority Leader of the United States Senate; Global Board Vice-Chair, The Nature Conservancy; Senior Fellow, Bipartisan Policy Center; Adjunct Professor of Surgery, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Department of Cardiac Surgery
“In launching this tool to promote informative community conversations, Food Systems for the Future is enabling our Task Force to advise meaningful policies that will have measurable impacts on improving our country’s food and diet-related health challenges.”
Statement from Task Force Co-chair Dean Dariush Mozaffarian, Dean and Jean Mayer Professor of Nutrition, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University; Professor of Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine and Division of Cardiology, Tufts Medical Center
“Today, more Americans are sick than are healthy, suffering from nutrition insecurity and diet-related chronic diseases caused by a food system and policies that make it hard to achieve good nutrition. These challenges are harming communities in profound and inequitable ways — Americans who live in rural areas, have lower incomes, or are racial or ethnic minorities often face higher rates of diabetes, obesity, stroke, and heart disease. People who have lived experiences with the issues this Conference aims to solve absolutely must be centered in this process so that they can be centered in the solutions that come out of it. We hope this toolkit will help people across the country join this once-in-a-lifetime conversation.”
To learn more about Good Food Dialogues, visit: goodfooddialogues.com
For more information on the Task Force, visit: informingwhc.org
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.
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About Food Systems for the Future
Food Systems for the Future (FSF) was founded to catalyze, enable, and scale market-driven agtech, foodtech, and innovative businesses across the value chain to improve nutrition outcomes in underserved and low-income communities. Through wraparound support to enterprises and broader ecosystem building, FSF addresses barriers to affordability, availability, and awareness of healthy, nutrient dense foods through our core services: financing, business acceleration, public policy & education, partnerships & community engagement, and nutrition expertise. FSF currently operates in the United States and Sub-Saharan Africa. Learn more at fsfinstitute.net.
About Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University
The Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University is a leading U.S. institution focused on education, research, and public impact around the food system, from soil to society. The School’s five divisions and additional centers and institutes are renowned for the application of scientific evidence to national and international policy. Tufts University, located on campuses in Boston, Medford/Somerville, and Grafton, Massachusetts, and in Talloires, France, is recognized among the premier teaching and research universities in the U.S. Learn more at nutrition.tufts.edu/
About World Central Kitchen
Founded in 2010 by Chef José Andrés, World Central Kitchen (WCK) is first to the frontlines, providing meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises while working to build resilient food systems with locally led solutions. WCK has served more than 70 million fresh meals to people impacted by natural disasters and other crises around the world. WCK’s Resilience Programs strengthen food and nutrition security by training chefs and school cooks; advancing clean cooking practices; and awarding grants to farms, fisheries, and small food businesses while also providing educational and networking opportunities. Learn more at wck.org.