Chatham County Hosts Webinar on Community Food Councils: Challenges and Opportunities

Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 15:03:45 +0000
From: Debbie Roos
Subject: Chatham County Hosts Webinar on Community Food Councils: Challenges  and Opportunities

Chatham Hosts Webinar on Community Food Councils: Challenges and Opportunities

Chatham County invites you to a webinar on April 17, 2014 on the exciting concept of community food councils. It is slated from noon-2:30 pm in the Agriculture Building Auditorium at 65 East Chatham St. in Pittsboro. Participants are welcome to bring a brownbag lunch.

Community food councils are a new and emerging form of partnership organization in counties and regions across the United States. They are aimed at bringing together the key stakeholders in local food economies to improve community and regional food systems.

In the last five years, food council activity in North Carolina has grown to include more than 24 counties. Chatham County has an active task force working to develop a Community Food Council.

The webinar, Community Food Councils: Challenges and Opportunities, brings together experts on food councils to discuss successes as well as pitfalls to avoid in creating and maintaining a community food council. Opportunities for continued networking and learning will also be discussed, including how you can get involved as a Chatham Food Council volunteer.

Efforts to cultivate locally-based, self-reliant, and sustainable food economies, what some call the local food movement, is an important issue for local governments. Local food systems connect with many core concerns of local government including economic development, public health, environmental stewardship, and social or civic health.

Yet local government isn’t “in charge” of the local food economy any more than producers or consumers of food are. Local food economies are complex systems, which means improving or changing the system require collaboration and partnerships among many key stakeholders, including local governments.

While the webinar targets an array of public officials and community groups, anyone interested in our local food system is encouraged to attend.

Thanks to funding from the Community Transformation Grant program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation, there is no cost to attend the webinar. However, please register in advance by sending an email to and put Food Council Webinar in the subject line. Or call 919-542-8202 to register.