1. Baltimore’s Food Justice Initiatives:
Urban Agriculture, Virtual
Supermarkets and More
Laura Fox
Baltimore Health Department
Abby Cocke
Baltimore Office of Sustainability

2. Who are the partners and
what roles do they play?

3. The Office of Sustainability
develops and advocates for
programs, policies and actions by
government, citizens, businesses,
and institutions that improve the
long-term environmental, social,
and economic viability of
Baltimore City.

4. • Working groups and community meetings in 2008
• Formally adopted by the City Council in 2009
• Commission on Sustainability (oversight) and Baltimore
Office of Sustainability (implementation) formed in 2009
• Office currently has 8 staff people

5. Plan Organization
1. Cleanliness
2. Pollution Prevention
3. Resource Conservation
29 Goals 131 Strategies
4. Greening
5. Transportation
6. Education & Awareness
7. Green Economy

6. Baltimore Sustainability Plan
Greening Goal #2: Establish Baltimore as a
leader in sustainable, local food systems
• Strategy A: Increase the percentage of land
under cultivation for agricultural purposes
• Strategy B: Improve the quantity and quality
of food available at food outlets
• Strategy C: Increase demand for locally-
produced, healthy foods by schools,
institutions, super-markets and citizens
• Strategy D: Develop an urban agriculture
plan
• Strategy E: Implement Baltimore Food Policy
Task Force recommendations related to
sustainability and food
• Strategy F: Compile local and regional data
on various components of the food system

7. Vision
A healthy Baltimore.
Mission
To advocate, lead, and provide
services of the highest quality in
order to promote and protect the
health of the residents of
Baltimore City.
- The oldest continuously operating
health department in the US
- Employs nearly 1,000 people
- Programs for
infants, children, men, women, seniors,
and animals.

8. Healthy Baltimore 2015
The Baltimore City Health Department’s
comprehensive health policy agenda for the
city, articulating its priority areas and
indicators for action.

9. HEALTHY BALTIMORE 2015 PRIORITY AREA #3:
REDESIGN COMMUNITIES TO PREVENT
OBESITY
SUPERMARKET ACCESS DISPARITY BETWEEN HIGHEST-ACCESS AND
LOWEST-ACCESS COMMUNITIES, BALTIMORE CITY, 2011
Estimated Travel Time to Nearest Supermarket (Min.)
• Highest-Access Communities 1.8
• Lowest-Access Communities 29.1
• Disparity Ratio 16.0
“Building healthy communities means increasing access
to healthy and fresh food by improving public
transportation and other creative strategies that
reduce the impact of food deserts.”

10. Baltimore Food Policy Initiative (BFPI)
• Inter-governmental collaboration:
– Baltimore Office of Sustainability, Department
of Planning, and Health Department
• Strategy to use city, state and
federal policy, zoning and
permitting to address food access
issues
• Umbrella for all food access
related projects, policies and
partnerships

11. Baltimore Food Policy
• 2009 – Food Policy Task Force Convenes
• 2010 – Food Policy Task Force
Recommendations Released
• 2010 – First Food Policy Director Hired
(Holly Freishtat)
• 2010 – Food PAC Created
– Advisory Capacity to Implement
FP Task Force Recommendations
– Embraces Food System Perspective to
Health
• 2011 – Food Access Coordinator Hired
(Jamie Nash)

12. Food Policy Recommendations
1. Promote and expand farmers markets
2. Support urban agriculture
3. Expand supermarket home delivery program
1. Promote and expand farmers markets
4. Develop a targeted marketing campaign to
2. Support urban agriculture
encourage healthy eating among all Baltimoreans
3. Expand supermarket home delivery program
5. Support research on food deserts and
4. Develop a targeted marketing campaign to encourage
collaboration with policy makers
healthy eating among all Baltimoreans
6. Create healthy food zoning requirement or
5. Support research on food deserts and collaboration
incentives
with policy makers
7. Improve the food environment around schools &
6. Create healthy food zoning requirement or incentives
recreation centers
7. Improve the food environment around schools &
8. Support street vending of healthy foods
recreation centers
9.
8. Promotestreetexpand communityfoods
Support and vending of healthy supported
agriculture
9. Promote and expand community supported
10. Support a central kitchen model for schools
agriculture
10. Support a central kitchen model for schools

13. http://www.baltimorecity.gov/Government/
AgenciesDepartments/Planning/
BaltimoreFoodPolicyInitiative.aspx

14. The Center funds research that increases
knowledge about the complex interactions
among diet, health, food production and the
natural environment in the search for practices
that are equitable, environmentally sustainable
and healthful for the rapidly growing world
population.

15. Goals:
- To increase the body of knowledge about
the interconnections among diet, food
production, human health and the natural
environment in order to influence public
policy toward more equitable and sustainable
systems.
- To engage public health professionals in the
discovery of new knowledge, the
communication of findings and the formation
of public policy, and to influence attitudes and
behaviors.
- To raise individual and institutional
awareness within the JHU and Greater
Baltimore communities of our responsibility
for environmental stewardship and, through
curriculum, educational events, attention to
university practices and technical assistance,
effect individual behavior and stimulate
societal changes.

17. Living for the Future
– Greenhouse Gas Inventory for JHU
– Sustainability at Hopkins
– Water Related Projects

18. Farming for the Future
– Industrial Food Animal Production Project
– Public Health and Sustainable Aquaculture Project
– The Sustainable Agriculture Education (SAgE) Project
– Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal
Production
– Healthy Farm Bill Initiative
– Agriculture and Public Health Gateway
– Community Supported Agriculture

19. Eating for the Future
– The Johns Hopkins Healthy Monday Project (JHHMP)
– Eat Healthy Monday
– Meatless Monday
– Food System Mapping
– Baltimore Food and Faith
– Food for Life in Elementary Schools
– Community Food Assessment
– Eat Local