Multnomah Food Initiative

Welcome by County Chair Jeff Cogen

Social responsibility has been a guiding ethic in Chair Cogen’s professional life. He founded the Portland Pretzel Company and built strong relationships with local vendors. The Portland Pretzel Company was the first certified organic bakery in Portland and when the time came to hire full-time employees, Jeff made sure the company paid for their health care.

Jeff was elected to the Multnomah County Board in November 2006 for a four-year term. In 2010, he won election to a four-year term as county Chair. At the county, Jeff has racked up a list of successful initiatives. These include a new library in North Portland’s Kenton neighborhood, long overdue reforms to the Business Income Tax, growing fresh food for the Oregon Food Bank on surplus county land, and crucial efforts to support returning veterans. Jeff has displayed vision and hands-on leadership in areas such as sustainability, diversity and equity, and government reform.

Keynote by Rev. Dr. W. G. Hardy, Jr.

A native of Portland, Pastor Hardy has been senior Pastor at Highland United Church of Christ since 1996.  He is a locally and nationally recognized public health champion, working to reduce health disparities in the African and African American communities. Under his leadership, a coalition of 35 urban multi-faith leaders have come together to stem rising rates of chronic disease and obesity. The coalition recently adopted food and wellness policies, impacting over 60,000 community members. 

Agenda and Worksessions available here

There will be a table set up for registrants to bring 1-2 pieces of information regarding their organization's projects or policies that align with the Multnomah Food Action Plan. Hope to see you in June!

Organizational Supporters Map 

The Multnomah Food Action Plan serves as a strategic document for our community to collaborate, plan and invest wisely on food system goals and actions. To make sure our food community stays connected we've mapped our organizational supporters in an interactive way. Each dot represents an organization, mapped to it’s primary business location, and the colors correspond with the different pillars of the Multnomah Food Action Plan. Each color is proportional to the number of commitments an organization has made in that pillar area. All information for this visualization was self reported. You can sign the Declaration of Support or update your commitments here.

SAVE THE DATE 

2012 MULTNOMAH FOOD SUMMIT! 

The 2012 Multnomah Food Summit will be held Friday, June 15th at the Oregon Convention Center.At the first Multnomah Food Summit we imagined what we could accomplish together. From that beginning our community created a 15-year food action plan with a shared vision and shared goals. At the 2011 Multnomah Food Summit our community focused on turning shared goals into action.

At the 2012 Multnomah Food Summit we will focus on cultivating a shared and broad understanding of Food Justice. Please join us in discuss and share our community's vision for a healthy, equitable and locally prosperous food system.