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Voices from the field
On-Farm Energy Innovations in Action
November 20, 2007
2007 ROC Planning Fellow Jenny Lester Moffit's walnut farm  is in the news for its innovations in sustainable on-farm energy production.  Read the recent front page article from The Vacaville Reporter about Dixion Ridge Farms efforts to make the farm completely energy self sufficient with new  on-farm energy solutions.

 
Guest Blog - Planning Fellow Charlene Orszag
November  6, 2007
Charlene is a co-founder of Tierra Miguel Foundation - an organic farm, conservation, education and research center in San Diego County. Charlene is dedicated to energizing collaborative efforts to build ecologically sustainable food production and distribution systems throughout Southern and Central California.


Being part of the ROC Fellows has been a privilege for me.  I would have to be considered a  “hybrid.”- part organic/biodynamic farmer, part non-profit foundation advisor, and part community builder. ..lots of hats.  It’s exciting to see how ROC honors yet merges our statewide interests. 

We at Tierra Miguel Foundation and Farm are working to connect the farm to the city, bringing urgent understanding of the value of farming and farmlands to folks who may have lost touch.   We’re working with County, City and State decision makers, as well as grantors, NGOs, health institutions and schools to encourage the Farm to School programs.   We’ve won conservation, program design awards and saved 85 organic acres for agriculture in perpetuity,   We’re definitely working at the “growing edge,” (pardon the pun!)  We think it’s all about connecting the dots and promoting recognition of our interdependency.

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Fresno Planners Consider Food Access
October 16, 2007
A senior planner for the city of Fresno, Roots of Change 2007 Planning Fellow Sophia Pagoulatous is making news by incorperating local food systems into city planning efforts.


From The Fresno Bee 10/14/07
Farm fresh
What is a farmers market exactly? That was among questions posed last week at a Community Hunger and Nutrition Forum in Fresno where panelists discussed barriers to neighborhood farmers markets.

Fresno is seeking to do a better job of defining markets and tweaking ordinances to allow the markets in more locations.

"Part of the problem is that farmers markets aren't defined in the zoning code," said Sophia Pagoulatos, supervising planner with the city's Planning and Development Department.

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Guest Blog - Planning Fellow Brahm Ahmadi
A 2007 ROC Fellow, Brahm is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of People’s Grocery and a leader noted for commitment to social justice, cooperative economics and access to healthy food for low-income, inner-city communities. Brahm is leading an effort to create a new retail format for West Oakland that will model a way to overcome the challenge of urban food deserts. Brahm is also active in organizing for economic democracy and was a founding board member of the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives.

August 23, 2007
When I attended the ROC Statewide meeting on March 3 in San Francisco I was simultaneously inspired and disappointed by what I observed. On the one hand, I was inspired by the momentum and resources being placed behind such a necessary and important vision. On the other hand, I was disappointed that there were so few people of color in attendance, that the vision was not entirely inclusive of truly diverse perspectives and that the leadership of ROC, and those who were its spokes people, were mostly of homogenous ethnic and political backgrounds.

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Guest Blog - Planning Fellow Hannah Laurison
A ROC 2007 Planning Fellow, Hannah is a policy analyst with the Public Health Law Program’s Land Use and Health project , where she specializes in community and economic development. Prior to joining PHLP, she staffed an $80 million public-private initiative that worked to develop new grocery stores in Pennsylvania’s low-income communities.

August 10, 2007
When I was invited to participate in the Roots of Change Planning Fellows program, I challenged myself to learn as much as possible from the other Fellows about how each of their perspectives on the food system might be applied to my work with urban planners and public health advocates.  I am trained as an urban planner to think about how the built environment affects our interactions with other people and with the environment.  In my current position at Public Health Law & Policy, I train public health professionals to use the tools of land use planning to increase access to healthy food in underserved communities.  


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