California Food &

Justice Coalition

:: July 2009 Newsletter ::

IN THIS ISSUE:

:: CFJC News & Events

:: Member of the Month: Soil Born Farms
:: Events and Announcements
:: In the News
:: Fundraising & Grant Opportunities
:: Jobs & Internships
____________________________________________________________
CFJC News and Events

:: San Bernardino, Organizing for Policy Change. August 6. Join

CFJC and organizing and policy advocacy experts from The
Planning Center, Community Services Unlimited, and Public
Health, Law and Policy, on August 6 (10am-4pm) for a day-long
workshop on combining community organizing and policy
advocacy to rebuild just, local food systems. $20 to register ($10
for CFJC members)

This event is filling up fast -- register soon. Scholarships are still

available. To register, call 510-704-0245 or email
info@cafoodjustice.org
:: Savor Summer with CFJC. August 29, Bocanova Restaurant, Jack
London Square, Oakland. Support CFJC while eating some of the
tastiest, local, organic food around. Speical guest speaker: Laura
Stec, chef and author of Cool Cuisine: Taking a Bite Out of Global
Warming. Tickets are $55 (includes appetizer, entrée and dessert).
6pm reception and menu orders, 7:30pm dinner. For more info
and to reserve a seat, email info@cafoodjustice.org or call 510-
704-0245.

:: CFJC Director, Shereen D’Souza, on An Organic Conversation.

Last Saturday’s topic of the weekly show on Green 960am was
“Growing Democracy: An In-Depth Look At Inner-City Food Justice
Initiatives” and featured Shereen, Jason Harvey of Oakland Food
Connection, and Willow Rosenthal of City Slicker Farms. Hear
Shereen talk about CFJC programs and how she became
involved in the food justice movement:
www.anorganicconversation.com/

____________________________________________________________
Member of the Month

This month, we profile Soil Born Farms

Soil Born Farms Urban Agriculture and Education project is a

nonprofit organization committed to developing organic food
production, healthy food education and food access for all.
Located in Sacramento, Soil Born Farms began as an alliance
forged between a pair of aspiring young farmers and a supportive
land-owning community member. Since its birth in 2000 Soil Born
Farms has blossomed from a few acres of vegetable crop
production into a center for urban agricultural education.

Soil Born Farms philosophy blends access to farmland with

educational, skills-based training in order to revive community-
farming resources. Soil Born Farms educational projects involve
youth and adults, offering programming for youth during the
school day, after school and during the summer. These programs
are focused on exposure to farms and healthy foods, leadership
and job skills development, and farm and garden knowledge.
Events and classes for adults occur year-round and cover topics
such as seed saving, vermicomposting, chicken care and home-
scale integrated pest management. A major focus of Soil Born
Farms is to increase access to healthy foods in low-income
Sacramento communities. To this effect, the organization runs farm
stands at seven Head Start sites as well as a Certified Farmers’
Market in Del Paso Heights. Soil Born also produces food for mobile
markets run by the Sacramento Food Bank.

Currently, Soil Born is in the midst of its Youth Summer Job Program,
which will continue through August. Every Saturday, Soil Born hosts
a volunteer workday from 9-12:30 at the American River Ranch
location. On the third Saturday of the month, the volunteer
workday includes a mini-gardening seminar. The topics for the
upcoming August seminar is “summer pruning of fruit trees and
peach tasting. For more information, check out Soil Born Farms at
www.soilborn.org

If your organization is a CFJC member and would like to be

profiled in a future newsletter, send us a message at
info@cafoodjustice.org
____________________________________________________________
Events and Announcements

:: New Toolkit for Advocates Working with Corner Store Owners to

improve healthy food access. The new toolkit from Public Health,
Law and Policy provides a range of tools and strategies for
advocates to work with prospective WIC vendors, and to help
these retailers upgrade their offerings in accordance with the
new, healthier WIC food packages. The toolkit is available at
http://healthyplanning.org/toolkit_wic.html
:: Web Forum: Taking Action to Support Community Prevention and
Equity in Health Reform- tomorrow -- July 28, (12-1:30 PST) hosted
by Public Health Institute, Dialogue4Health and Strategic Alliance.
Topics include: updates on health reform bills, actions to reach all
members of Congress, community prevention and equity, and
more. To register & learn more go to
http://www.preventioninstitute.org/sa/healthreformwebconferenc
eregistration.htm

:: Mad City Chickens Public Screening “Mad City Chickens is a

sometimes serious, sometimes whimsical look at the people who
keep urban chickens in their backyards.” Northern California
Screenings take place August 6-9th. To view the trailer and get
the details go to http://www.tarazod.com/filmsmadchicks.html#

:: Direct Action to Protect the Gill Tract, the largest piece of

agricultural land in the immediate Bay Area. Albany residents
have struggled for many years to convert the 14-acre Gill Tract,
owned bu UC Berkeley, to an urban farm to meet area food
security needs. Now, UCB wants to develop the tract, allowing
Whole Foods to build a new store on the property. Albany
residents are organizing to stop the development deal — meeting
tomorrow, July 28. For more info,
www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/07/25/18612418.php

:: Grind for the Green, a Bay Area project committed to moving

youth of color from the margins to the epi-center of the
environmental movement, announces a number of upcoming
events: Friday 8/14: Hip-Hop Comepetition Semifinals; Saturday
8/15, Beat Battle; and Sunday 8/30: Solar Powered Concert /
Competition Finals. For more info: www.grindforthegreen.com
____________________________________________________________
In the News

:: In the Name of “Safe” food- “ Birds, frogs, mice and deer - and
anything that shelters them - are caught in a raging battle in the
Salinas Valley against E. coli O157:H7, a lethal, food-borne
bacteria.” New regulations created by large growers could end
up destroying and killing wildlife in the name of food safety and
health. Read more here: www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/07/13/MN0218DVJ8.DTL

:: The Obama administration announced recently that it would

seek to ban many routine uses of antibiotics in farm animals in
hopes of reducing the spread of dangerous bacteria in humans.
Read the full article here:
www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/health/policy/14fda.html?_r=1

:: Selling Out Local: Buying Local is all the Rage, and global
corporations want in on it. A recent article in the Sacramento
News and Review details the corporate co-opting of “buy local”.
“Even Wal-Mart is getting in on the act, hanging bright-green
banners over its produce aisles that simply say “Local.” To read
more: www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=1036032
____________________________________________________________
Grants and Fundraising Opportunities

:: Community Beautification Grant, up to $10,000 The 2009-2010

application for the annual matching grant is available now. The
Grants are awarded to community groups doing neighborhood
beautification projects in Los Angeles. For more information and to
apply visit http://www.laocb.org/cbgrant/

___________________________________________________________
Jobs and Internships

:: Lucha Unida Del Jornalero Seeks New Director- Lucha Unida is

an Oakland organization committed to economic development
for day laborers and expanding the rights of all workers. The ideal
candidate for the position is someone who is committed to the
well-being of low-income and immigrant communities. To apply
send cover letter resume & three telephonic references to
jobs.luchaunida@yahoo.com. See the job posting here:
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/npo/1253381102.html

:: Youth Education Coordinator, Los Angeles Arboretum & Botanic

Garden. This position helps to achieve The Arboretum’s mission by
conducting educational on and off-site programs and by
developing innovative, experiential curriculum to supplement the
curricular requirements of local schools. For more info:
http://www.arboretum.org/index.php/about/employment/

:: LA Conservation Corps, in collaboration with the Good Food

Network, is offerring the position of Food Policy Coordinator, to
help support the development of a new LA Food Policy Council.
The position will conclude in March 2010. For more info:
www.lacorps.org

:: Fresh Approach (aka the Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market

Association) is hiring an Americorps member to do outreach
about food stamps & farmers’ markets in Alameda & Contra
Costa counties over the next year. Deadline for applying is July
31. For more info: http://www.freshapproach.org/

:: Postdoctoral Scholar in Climate Footprinting of Food Systems,

Agricultural Sustainability Institute, UC Davis. This position will focus
on developing two projects that apply life cycle assessment
methods to analyze the sustainability of the U.S. food system with
respect to global warming potential: (1) life cycle assessment of
greenhouse gas emissions in U.S. honey production, and (2)
comparative life cycle assessments of regionally-sourced versus
conventional diets, focusing on climate and energy issues. For
more info: http://www.asi.ucdavis.edu/

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The California Food and Justice Coalition is a statewide

membership coalition committed to
the basic human right to healthy food while advancing
social, agricultural and environmental justice.
We collaborate with community-based efforts in
California working to create a socially just, ecologically
and economically sustainable food supply. We
envision a California food system in which all activities,
from farm to table, are equitable, healthful,
regenerative, and community-driven.

California Food and Justice Coalition

2530 San Pablo Avenue, Suite F, Berkeley, CA 94702
Phone: 510-704-0245
FAX: 510-548-8896
http://www.CAFoodJustice.org
<http://www.cafoodjustice.org/>
<http://www.cafoodjustice.org/>
email: info@CAFoodJustice.org

CFJC is a fiscally-sponsored project of the Ecology Center