OUR VISION
A stronger and healthier L.A. County where communities have sufficient, nutritious, culturally appropriate food supplied by a resilient and sustainable food system.
OUR VALUES
Principle 1
We believe that just and equitable access to healthy and nutritious food is a human right.
Principle 2
We believe that coordinated efforts and collective impact can resolve inequities in the food system.
Principle 3
We believe disruptive innovation is a virtue. The Roundtable is an opportunity to discuss ideas, challenge norms and drive effective outcomes.
OUR MISSION
To implement cross-sector solutions to achieve food and nutrition security in L.A. County with a focus on underserved communities.
- Enabling food justice with enhanced access, affordability, and consumption of nutritious food;
- Advancing equitable impact of food public benefits and food distribution programs;
- Generating political and financial support to build food systems that are resilient, sustainable, and equitable.
THE PLAN
The Roundtable’s ambitious campaign to fundamentally rethink how we work towards an equitable food system and tackle chronic food insecurity in Los Angeles County is nearing the end of its two-year pilot cycle. The Roundtable published its comprehensive strategic action plan in December 2022, based on input from than 200 community-based organizations and 100-plus food system experts nationwide. The strategic plan includes clearly defined initiatives, milestones, and outcome-driven goals. It features a combination of initiatives that can be implemented in the short term while identifying policy changes to drive systematic improvement to address food insecurity among all in need.
Among its accomplishments:
- Identified more than 50 key measures that need to be taken to improve food access and build a more resilient food system throughout L.A. County
- Determined 14 priority population segments that are disproportionately more vulnerable to food insecurity, from immigrant to transgender communities
- Identified opportunities to reduce food waste, enable food recovery, and support local and sustainable businesses in the food supply chain
- Analyzed mobility and transportation barriers to food security and reviewed best practices deployed in other regions to enhance transit access
- Explored technology and data solutions to modernize outdated food systems, such as a University of Southern California-led portal to map all food-related resources and “last-mile” support services in underserved L.A. County neighborhoods
IMPLEMENTATION
Momentum and civic support continue to grow for long-term solutions for chronic food insecurity in greater L.A., which harms nearly 1 in 4 County households. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted in February to use the strategic plan as its roadmap to improve food access for the County’s most vulnerable communities.
- The Board unanimously approved a motion to define the scope and structure for a new Office of Food Equity, a centralized unit to drive integrated solutions across all County departments, and directed County departments to identify their own commitments to supporting the plan. (You can see the Board’s motion here. )
- Led by the Annenberg Foundation, the California Community Foundation and the Weingart Foundation, L.A.’s philanthropic community continues to galvanize financial and political support for the sweeping policy recommendations in the plan.
- The Roundtable will continue meeting to identify opportunities for implementing go-to-market actions while the County finalizes its commitments to Roundtable priorities.
- In 2023, the Chief Sustainability Office launched the Food Equity Fund, a grant program administered by Community Partners aimed at supporting community implementation of goals in the Roundtable's Action Plan. For more information visit https://communitypartners.org/foodequity.
FOOD SECURITY IN LA COUNTY
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