 All right, good midday to you if you are just joining us for the webinar Good lunch hour to you My broadcasting you're all right. Well, thank you for joining us today It's noon and we're gonna go ahead and get started with our zoom session Slash webinar today I am Wendy Peters, Muschetti. I'm director of food systems here at live well, Colorado And I want to welcome you to the institutional food procurement possibilities in Colorado and understanding the good food purchasing model webinar today So there's a couple quick notes Logistical notes This is a zoom session. So although we are treating it like a webinar. So you will be able to both See our faces and see our PowerPoint throughout As you do on typical webinars, there is a chat function. So you should see on your Screen a chat box You are all muted and so the way that we will field questions throughout is through that chat box So you if you have questions directly for me or for all panelists Please feel free to chat questions in as we go We do have time for Q&A set aside at the end Of this webinar, but please feel free to type them in as we go and we will sort of work our way through those towards the end We have scheduled a full 75 minutes for this So hopefully you've got some food and you're sitting down and getting comfortable to join us for this conversation So this is our agenda for the next 75 minutes or so for us today So obviously we're going to do some welcome introductions and talk about who is joining us today And then we're going to talk a little bit about Honestly sort of our goals. I'm on the phone live well, Colorado We have the city and county of Denver here on the line as well So we're going to talk a little bit about from our perspectives. Why are we having this conversation? Why are we talking about institutional food procurement today? We're going to provide some information just some some snippets There's sort of background of like what actually has already gone on which is a lot and substantive in Colorado around institutional food procurement Talk a little bit about sort of that situation in context in Colorado today Like what are some of our challenges and whatever some of our assets to move forward with this work? And then we'll have Really substantive time with the Center for Good Food Purchasing talking specifically about their model And then we'll have time for questions and discussions And next steps Going sorry going back to my PowerPoint. Sorry So this is who you're going to see and hear from today. I briefly introduced myself director of food systems here at live well, Colorado I'm also going to make sure you can see here along with me Everyone um is christine alexa Who is um a masters in public health candidate and is working with us here At live well, Colorado completing her practicum and focusing very specifically on sort of possibilities and opportunities Of working with some of our larger institutions around food procurement So christine is on the line is going to present a lot of the work that she's been doing To understand what some of those opportunities are Um, and then we also have joining us. I think you can see him now. Go ahead and wave Blake So we have Blake angelo. So the manager of food systems development at the city and county of Denver um Great recent piece in civil eight eats and civil eats on the work that Blake is doing the city of county of Denver So it's a great resource for people to understand sort of the the resources and support that Denver is bringing into food systems right now And then our last two presenters will be from the center for good food purchasing So you can wave as well. We have alexa Delwitch the executive director of the center for good food purchasing And then Colleen McKinney who's the associate director at the center for good food purchasing And just want to spend a couple minutes introducing you a little bit more to coloradans to these two women They both reside on the west coast But as I said alexa is the executive director of the center But she's comes she is is really sort of the she is the seed in a lot of this work She worked for and at the los angeles food policy council from 2009 into 2015 And during her tenure there is when she really sort of Oversaw and led this development and launch implementation Of a specific model the good food purchasing program that you're going to hear about more today Previous to that she's worked with the united farm workers and the san francisco board of supervisors And she has a master's of public policy from the ucla Colleen the associate director of the center Also worked at the los angeles food policy council from 2012 to 2015 And she was instrumental then in developing and implementing the good food purchasing program as well along with alexa as it grew She also has a master's of public policy from the university of southern california And now she moved on up north and lives in seattle. So we will hear more from alexa and colleen In a few minutes as we dive into the webinar And a couple things I just wanted to say about sort of why this group of people a little bit Um Both blake and i will spend a little bit time talking about sort of our goals of our organizations and why we're interested in this topic um But just a flag is that um, you know We live while colorado has been working with the city of county in denver for Close to a year now and really trying to understand This sort of whole concept of you know anchor institutions and who are anchor institutions and these larger institutions that You know comprise k-12 schools and higher education and correctional facilities hospital and health care systems Both of us from a food systems perspective really trying to spend some time figuring out How do we partner with these other kind types of institutions? That do and can play a very instrumental role in shaping our food system and what it looks like so The city and county denver and libel carado have already done sort of one convening last summer of sort of a Small cohort of institutions to start this conversation and explore how we could work together moving forward um, and as part of our journey Um, it has sort of led us to the center for good food purchasing understanding What kind of frameworks are out there around food and food procurement that we can work collaboratively with our institutions here in colorado around um So I will move on tell you a little bit more about sort of Live well's goals, and then we'll hear from denver a little bit about again. Why is this a conversation that we are really eager to have? um So I just wanted to very quickly flag Sort of our vision goal and strategy that's relevant. I think from here at libel, colorado So we have a vision that all coloradans live in environments with equitable access to the nourishing food and physical activity They need to be healthy We have many many goals one relevant goal in the food our goal in the food arena is to advance sustainable equitable and health promoting food environments um, and one of our very specific and relevant strategies Is to increase the availability affordability and purchasing of nutritious food for low income coloradans and communities of color And I just want to flag all this before we launch in this conversation to say We live all colorado or at a point of saying these are some really lofty and important goals and strategies that we want to advance And we are at a place of exploration Right, we are looking to see who are the other partners and institutions That we could work with that we think have that that the influence and the power and the capability to help us achieve Some of these lofty goals and have the ability to really bring more equity into our food system Which has led us to really looking and understanding more about some of these um larger institutions and how we could be stronger partners Specifically in this one arena of food procurement. So that's where live walls coming from And then we're going to hear from Blake a little bit about city and county Denver's goals Awesome. Hi everyone It's very exciting to be on a webinar with 40 people from across the state who are interested in learning more and exploring What might have been a little bit of a confusing title for some people institutional procurement kind of what is that that sounds very technical Maybe how does that fit into to my broader organizational mission or my day-to-day work? I'm going to step backwards and talk a little bit about the city and county of Denver and our work here Creating Denver's first long-term strategic plan and really provide a little context about how we Arrived here today as a partner with live well and moving forward on this conversation So as some of you may know, we have really for the last year year and a half been actively undertaking a strategic planning process to answer the question of Twofold part one What do Denver residents and businesses envision as it relates to the food system? When they think about living in an in an incredible city in a strong vibrant city Here in Denver and part two of that question is really saying what is the right role proper role and opportunity? For government to be engaged in that unfolding in in the manifestation of that vision So we here in denver are extremely fortunate to have Literally thousands of food businesses and hundreds of food nonprofits So it's pretty clear that we didn't want to just jump in the pond and start trying to Write grants and and figure out, you know how to contribute here and there But really what we wanted to do was step back and say well What do we know now and so we started with a baseline assessment? creatively called the Denver food baseline report and in which we really tried to say okay from a food systems perspective What do we know about food in Denver? That's where we identified the over 2200 food businesses the nearly five Somewhere between five and 600 food related nonprofits Etc. With with that data in hand We then embarked upon a pretty extensive community and industry engagement process where we actually met With community in each of denver's 11 city council districts So all over the city in partnership with 64 community partners who open the door for us Help us actually get the flyers and emails out and really ask the community What their vision was what it meant to live in a great city and how food could be part of that for them We also met with 11 different industry groups Which included farmers of food producers processors distributors Restaurant tours retailers food pantries educators And institutional buyers to really understand all of the different Pieces of a system So how do we understand the food system at both the systematic level and each piece to really understand How they can work together to manifest that vision As a result of all of those 22 meetings We drafted the denver food vision and released that late last year very late last year for community Comment and feedback and what we heard overwhelmingly was there was a lot of support 94 of people who participated in providing feedback on the draft vision Said they agreed or strongly agreed that this was the right vision for the city and county of denver And that vision was that food is an integral part of helping make a more inclusive a healthier more economically vibrant And a more environmentally resilient city Within that we also identified 11 priorities and 11 winnable goals Because that draft denver food vision is still in its Finalizing phase we will we might see some little tweaks, but I would say these are are going to Definitely make it through into the the final denver food vision, which will be the mayor's statement About where he thinks the city can go and all of our resources can help support over the next 15 years So we identified 11 priorities one of which was was really focused on advancing city efforts And seeking to persuade other public institutions to preferentially purchase food from local and or healthy food and beverage businesses So we understand uh as a city and have through some of our sustainability processes in the past Articulated institutional purchasing as one of those winnable goals. It's something that we can really do And by doing thoughtfully can help move the needle on a number of the Really the values integrated and integral to an inclusive healthy vibrant resilient denver The specific winnable goal we're shooting towards is that 25 of all food purchased by public institutions Including the city would come from colorado by the year 2020 for the city and 2030 Is the the winnable goal for the overall vision so in order for us to move forward on that We of course had to Start trying to figure out what resources we could bring to the table to Beg borrow cajole And otherwise inspire other institutions to take this journey together The reality is that denver kind of walking on this road alone to looking at how we can shift our procurement is important But we are an actually relatively small buyer Particularly when you look at all of the power of our educational institutions our hospitals our higher ed Institutions and our other municipal partners in and around the metro area you start to look at that number and you see it You know, it's probably tin Um, well, it's actually between 50x of what we would do just the city alone So the power there through this collaboration is really important We also know some of the challenges that because we spoke to distributors and farmers and ranchers and and others engaged across the food The food value chain the food supply chain that Having one customer like the city of denver Would help but it would be really helpful if there was an ecosystem approach and there were multiple customers So as we looked to sort of build and shift demand and bring the supply side along That we can really look to raise raise all boats at the same time and make sure we're addressing the demand side And the supply side in this kind of incremental fashion So as a result of specifically the engagement with The engagement event that we had with institutional buyers. We we came away with three things The first was a question around can we explore some institutional purchasing standards? What if we're going to work together to do any anything moving forward? We need to have kind of a common base a common a parlance for us to know where each of our values fit in And how we might be able to work together to even push that to some of our distributors and our suppliers and our supply chain We also talked about the opportunity The second opportunity at that event was to to think about collaborative purchasing And if we could agree on some some standards, what could we actually look to buy together? Maybe it would be part of our current contracts Maybe it would be within the little bit of flex room that we have outside of our current contracts to help Sort of pilot and and move the needle on procurement really that's value aligned based on the standards we agreed upon and then the third which is more Sort of functional is that we agreed to try to meet twice a year as an institutional cohort to continue this conversation To seek opportunities as rfps turned over to look for these kind of aggregation distribution partnerships How could we work with weld county and use some of the food hub like infrastructure? They've put together to help denver public schools and maybe even out jeff jefferson county public schools So these these notions of collaboration are core to the institutional procurement cohort work What I will say is that Procurement is one of those interesting strategies That responds in a unique way to the desire that we've heard from distributors and producers and community constituents to have More organizations with healthier food creating a climate of Healthy local food access and really starting to shift some of the cultural elements which are so difficult to achieve And so institutional procurement Though it hasn't always been specified in our community meetings to be exactly Direct so people certainly talk about it'd be great to see the city act in accordance with with its values with its visions But they're not always saying how do you shift those resources? What we've done internally is we've we look to really understand Points of leverage have seen this this institutional procurement is a really unique opportunity on the farmer side We have an opportunity to Leverage some of the most recent research out of the usda That says for a lot of farmers direct market Agriculture your farmers markets your csa's is a really good way to start growing your business But for the future of local food and economic opportunity therein We really have to think about these infrastructure and leverage opportunities that institutional purchasing can provide From the institutional perspective We're already spending money on food. In fact, many of us are spending a lot of money on food At the same time, we also are being asked by our constituents to live out our missions to live out Our values in in deeper and more integral ways and so thinking about how as a small piece Of our overall organizational story Food procurement can help us actually do better service to our our constituents to our mission and certainly offer offers new opportunities for wider and more exciting public private partnerships city-wide And also regional partnerships as we've talked about even statewide. How do we link to western slope growers? How do we how do we link to the eastern plains and what they do? Well and really help contemplate us in a new way as a vibrant regional food system So I will wrap up by just saying that We we believe that procurement is a priority. We have no idea how We are going to move forward as a cohort. And so we are equally as excited to be exploring These options opportunities with you all both on the panel and on the phone or on zoom To really understand how we can shift this to to make it the best possible win-win Using resources that we already have and are already deploying towards food. So back to you Andy Great thanks Blake And just one quick note of logistical note too. I see we have 40 people on the line, which is incredible That's almost every single person that registered just unheard of for a webinar So thank you for spending your lunch with us. Also, if those of you joined just a little bit late Again, this is wendy peter's muscady live well, colorado We do have a chat box since you are muted the entire time Throughout this and we will have time for q&a at the end, but please feel free to chat To submit questions To people throughout the webinar and the chat box that you should see at the top of your screen So we will do a little bit of back and forth between powerpoint and actually seeing seeing us talk And also for those of you who joined us at the smidge late as well. We are recording this We'll talk about this more at the end, but we will share this recording far and wide We do have an event coming up on march 14th, which I think you're all aware of We do want to make sure this this recording is available for everyone before we can be in person in march So i'm going to move on with a little bit more background about Again, I mean there's all this talk about working with institutions And this is work that actually already has happened and been happening in colorado So christine christine is going to spend a little bit of time right now Talking about sort of the foundation upon which this good work is being built So for the past couple months Wendy and I have been working on a paper that frames how shifting institutional food procurement Can potentially benefit the out the surrounding community In this process we learned a lot about food system work and institutional food procurement work Throughout the nation But our focus being on colorado. So we know we have a strong foundation here That spans k-12 higher ed our health care system and here are just a few examples Of what's happening in colorado, but we know there's a lot more work being done as well So first off in the k-12 sector Sure, most of you know about the farm to school work That's happening. That's really revamped local food procurement across our state In addition Similarly in the higher education realm the real food challenge is an institutional food procurement process that's happening actually at the university of dunbar And they focus on just sustainable healthy and green standards within their purchasing I'm just going to check. Sorry. I'm it's a little awkward going back and forth between the chat and the screen at some point Um Yes, we will get to your questions as well Just if I remember this is wendy I'm sorry a few of the reports of trouble with the video if you cannot all see the power point Could you could you please chat it in? I think you should be able to see the power point with videos on the side If that's not the case let us know. Thanks. Sorry. There's no worries And then lastly in the hospital sector The healthy hospitals compact here in the front range is a group of 19 front-range hospitals that have actually committed to new policies That talk more about healthier food beverages marketing and breastfeeding So there's a lot of different work that's happening in a lot of different sectors in colorado Great And this is wendy. We're just moving the camera back and forth here One other additional opportunity That I just wanted to flag and thank you christine is sort of the the growth in this work of working with a variety of different institutions Is what's called the anchor institution learning cohort and this is supported by mile high connects It is metro denver focused They focus on several place-based facilities higher education hospitals for example And this cohort is it truly learning cohort and coming together To really look at how to do practices around higher local build local by local Through cross cross collaboration and community engagement across multiple You know anchor institutions place-based institutions in metro denver So just another example of some really good thinking and collaborating that's going on right now in colorado All of which from we are learning as partners as to sort of when to connect and how to connect and how to move forward together So just a couple quick more slides before we pass it off to the center for good food purchasing We keep asking ourselves here, too As we sort of explore this kind of work is you know, well, why colorado and why now right is why You know looking to different types of strategies and why is this necessary and The fact of the matter is and that we all probably know on the phone right now is that we still have Um a lot of challenges and that are related to what we eat and what we put in our bodies in our food system in colorado We talk a lot about having the nation's lowest obesity rate Which is true if you are a white adult it is not true at all if you are a child And there's very big discrepancies across income and race and ethnicity as well As we say here very low income adults have an obesity rate that's actually pushing 30 percent Um And we know that diet is a significant contributor or protective factor We like to point out related to many chronic diseases Um and that as simple things we know is that the vast majority of all of us still do not eat That recommended daily amount of fruits and vegetables. So um and that this lack of access piece is that You know lack of access to affordable healthy food has significant implications for low income populations And about a quarter of color ends across the state Have um what's considered limited access to healthy food options. So a lot of sort of data statistics That a lot of us are really aware of um, but just to point out is that I think what part of what I see is my job and probably Blake's job is to say We still we don't we do these are not intractable Intractable problems. We think that there are solutions and strategies But as our job to keep looking at sort of what are other systems level solutions that we can do To address these issues and we have a heck of a lot of assets. So one thing that I am always astounded by here in colorado um Is really how many amazing people are doing really incredible work in food systems around the state But we have I think particularly strong infrastructure to do food systems and food policy work in the state of colorado And I mean that compared to a lot of other states Um, we have very active producer associations and producer groups We have you know food hubs food aggregation centers really developing all over the state so much so now that they've come together Through the colorado food hub network We have a lot of folks working in the anti-hunger and food insecurity space and building local partnerships across the state We have about 18 or so local food policy councils or local food systems coalitions Which have come together through the colorado food policy network um, and just thinking about it's just some examples Of other partners That are so critical to working with large institutions. We have very active labor unions. We have incredibly um powerful parent advocacy organizations in colorado. We have groups all over the state Um, do we're doing work with community connectors or community health workers or promotoras that are you know Building some of those bridges with some of our institutions in our communities So just wanted to flag that we think we're in a really good position to colorado right right now to do more Of this work because we have some incredible infrastructure partnerships To do this work and do it really well So with that We are going to pass the screen over to the center for good food purchasing and diving a lot deeper What you're all probably excited to hear about is it one very specific process for doing this work? So alexa take it away. All right. Hi everyone. Um, and as Colleen will get our Powerpoint set up as I just introduced myself But we are thrilled to have the opportunity today to explore with all of you how the good food purchasing program Might be used as a tool to help support and really amplify the the deep exciting work that's going on in den the dember area. So today we are going to Um explore, you know some procurement basics share information on the background impact and Expansion of the good food purchasing program and we'll describe in a little bit more detail How the program actually works and what it means for an institution to participate and we'll end by sharing a few stories from institutions in oakland, california and austin texan texas who are currently participating in the program So, you know just to start with some terms. What is procurement? Um, just in at its most basic. It's the pro procurement procurement is the process by which food is purchased um Next slide each year institutions like government agencies schools, you know k-12 schools hospitals universities are spending billions of dollars on food But often these institutions have no idea where the food is coming from and how it's produced and that's information that really matters to many of them um Procurement as a strategy to transform the food system has has gained a lot of momentum over the last decade uh through food policy councils and a number of other food system leaders and procurement initiatives that Wendy and christine walked us through so um, you know, we've just heard about the amazing work underway in the denver area And it's it's really exciting to see how sectors are coming together to leverage their buying power So the center for good food purchasing sees public institutions like cities and school districts as really key players in helping to create a More equitable food system for a few reasons First, you know for one thing they're major buyers of food the national school lunch program alone spends over 11 billion dollars on food each year public institutions are spending taxpayer dollars to Purchase this food and as policy makers they have both the opportunity and the responsibility to ensure that public food contracts reflect a community's value And they really have the opportunity to use the public contracting process to create Create greater accountability Along the supply chain by asking the companies with whom they're purchasing for stronger commitments related to transparency And since these are often federal dollars that are being spent the goal is to make the best use of possible of these limited funds public institutions are also community leaders and when they take a stand, you know as blake alluded to when a public institution takes a stand For their values others follow And finally public institutions are critical providers of food to communities often with the least access to good food Including low-income children seniors and so engaging public institutions that are serving high numbers Of low-income people ensures that good food is a right and not a privilege The vision behind the good food purchasing program is to ensure that taxpayer dollars are invested in the local community With companies that support good jobs protect the environment Support regional producers high welfare standards for farm animals and protect the health of our communities Participating in the program is a commitment from the institutions to use their buying power to show large-scale demand for food Produced by companies that reflect these values and that demand will create a market where the supply of good food grows as a result So a little bit of history on where we started The good food purchasing program was developed by a multi stakeholder working group of the los angeles food policy council The working group spent about two years Developing the policy. It was a collaboration of nonprofit organizations with expertise in labor environmental sustainability public health animal welfare the group also consisted of Staff from the los angeles county department of public health farmers distributors value-added producers and a few major food service Providers so in addition to the working group We also shared the standards that we developed with nearly 100 local state and national food system experts To get their feedback. We wanted to make sure what we were creating was really airtight and the process began with a lot of research like I think all of these processes do and examining potential procurement models from across A cities across the country and the working group found that while there was really exciting work happening with procurement That addressed either local sourcing or healthy food You know, there wasn't one single policy that brought all of these different issues together and because The collaborative nature of the working group and the different interests that were represented at the table the group agreed That a good food procurement strategy should really address the entirety of our food system if we wanted to change it We couldn't leave any of these values behind So there wasn't an existing template for this. Um, so they the group created a new model And that model really lifted up five values an equal measure that we Saw the slide for previously good jobs the environment high welfare standards for farm animals regional farmers and health The working group identified the city and the school district is as key opportunities because together those two institutions were spending About 200 million dollars on food each year The working group was ultimately successful in getting the The institutions to adopt the program for a couple of reasons First they built a robust multi stakeholder coalition To advocate for the policy They worked closely with the mayor's senior advisor on food policy As well as the ellie unified school districts food services director to help navigate the inside channels Um, and they also hosted a number of listening sessions with key stakeholder groups such as government agency heads Um distributors farmers to ensure that the the policy was fully vetted The program was adopted by the city of la and the school district in 2012 and i'm just going to share a little bit about this story of ellie unified Their story shows that in a relatively short period of time their Commitment to values-based procurement could have a pretty significant influence on their entire supply chain So major success has been through the innovation that the program helped to catalyze Within one of the largest school food Distribution companies in the western u.s. That was a key distributor for ellie unified when the district adopted the program it really inspired a curiosity and Interest in the ceo and he started looking at his business through a totally new lens He'd never thought about things like, you know, how workers in his supply chain were treated or environmental sustainability And in one case he was really inspired to work with one of his manufacturers to develop a healthier more sustainable bread product So they developed a whole wheat Fun that was made from wheat sourced from a cooperative of sustainable farmers in the central valley of california and that bread that bun was milled and baked in Los angeles into 40 million servings of bread products for the students that and through this One shift they were able to create 65 regional food chain jobs They eliminated high fructose corn syrup. They reduced sodium the kids loved the buns and the prices stayed the same And now that bread product not only makes its way onto 650,000 ellie unified students plates But into hundreds of other school districts across the southern california region This you know really shows the ripple effects that one district can have through their commitment The district also reduced the amount of meat that they were purchasing by about 15 and at the same time they redirected That cost savings towards better meat including a 20 million dollar contract for chicken produced without the routine use of antibiotics And given the really the you know, very real constraints that a school district faces with their budgets le usd thought about how they could make shifts and have an impact In ways that worked for them and their budgets. So that meant shifting money towards regional producers That weren't necessarily small producers because that would have had a cost impact for them, but ultimately Just by redirecting the money towards the local local producers and local processors they were able to create, you know Over 150 jobs In the LA region So we tested the model in los angeles and you had some great successes and we expanded them from there In 2016 san francisco and oakland unified school districts formally adopted the program And together the participating institutions are spending over 200 million dollars on food every year And efforts are now underway to expand the program to roughly a dozen cities across the country Um with the potential to shift billions of dollars and so I'm going to turn the Presentation now over to call lean so she can provide a little bit more detail what the program actually does and how it works Thank you So that they can set goal Set goal and meet their commitment. Sorry. I forgot I was muted. Yeah, so just start at the beginning. Thanks Colleen Yeah, yeah, okay. So our job at the center is really to support institutions in Meeting the commitments that they set through the good food purchasing program So I just wanted to give a quick example Of what that looks like when we're working with a school district, for instance, so a school food service director Would approach us and let us know that they're interested in doing a An assessment of participating in the program and we would work with them to do an evaluation of Basically showing where their food dollars are going and how their current suppliers are aligning with the good food purchasing standards Then with the backing and support of A coalition of local organizations We assist That that district or that food service director with setting some goals and then getting those metrics incorporated into Formal district policy rfp's contracts any of those channels that can help them You know actually have the the sort of formal Channels to meet their goals and then we work with them on an annual basis to measure progress Celebrate their successes over time as they make changes and progress toward meeting those goals So at the heart of the good food purchasing program are the good food purchasing standards So i'm going to explain a little bit about what those look like and how they work So as alexa talked a little bit about Earlier we brought together meeting experts from across the country To help us develop standards in each of the value categories. So working with Experts in regional economics labor environmental sustainability animal welfare and public health To really figure out what were the standards? What was the best way to define these five values? So the standard set of roadmap for Working toward what we see as the ideal food system. So an institution that participates in the program is Look to to make change in each of the value categories by sourcing a certain amount of food From producers that reflect the five values in the program So in a way it's similar to leave certification and that the standards set a basic minimum in each value category But there's incentive and that inspire to inspire institutions to score Better and better in each of the categories. So there's a baseline and then there's room to grow Based on the priorities of the institution and the local regional coalition So what does that mean in practice? In certain value categories, we rely on third party certifications. So for example In the environmental sustainability category, we point to usda certified organic or biodynamic As sort of the highest level, but we also want, you know room for institutions to get in the door So we point to other certifications that may not be as robust as The organic certification but are an entry point for an institution That's just beginning to make shifts in the purchasing practices So there's a wide range that recognizes that Institutions are all starting in different places and have sort of different levels of capacity based on various constraints including budget In other value categories where there aren't food third party certifications For producers or you know, they're they're pretty Small certifications. We also use other strategy strategies. So for example in the labor category The policy the the program inspires public institutions to look at their supply chain and take steps When companies in their supply chain Aren't following basic labor law and we provide technical support to institutions and figuring out how to do that So I just want to give you an example of how One institution so Los Angeles unified How this was sort of put into practice by a local coalition there so There was an issue between one of the key distributors and the company's Truck drivers who are organizing to join the teamsters union And so because the district actually had a policy in place Around how the companies in the district supply chain treated its workers through the program the pop the food purchasing program Helped to secure a union contract for about for 165 teamsters truck drivers And as a result employees base salary increased From $13 to $19 an hour And workers at that company now have health care benefits and more channels to address safety issues on the job And and they've also that company has seen their retention Of employees increased so it's been kind of a win-win in that situation Goals and shifts are in this way are really locally driven So the institutions and the community advocates set priorities around how to increase the food in the supply chain So it's really you know really provides that framework and then the center provides sort of a centralized independent evaluation That that leaves that takes that some of that burden off of institutions so that they can really focus Their central on their central mission of putting the healthiest possible meals on the plates of the folks that they're serving Our theory of change involves creating supply chain transparency And with that improved information leveraging the buy the buying power of major institutions to drive change in the market And the work that came out of los angeles inspired a national movement The power of the program is that it covers a lot of different issues and brings their stakeholders together Under our common framework. Um, so we work with national partners such as the food chain workers alliance and the union of concerned scientists who Provide important campaign support to local coalitions who are working to expand the program to their cities So we mentioned formal adoptions in los angeles and oakland It's also formally been adopted in san francisco But we're also actively working with coalitions and institutions to replicate the work and other cities all across the country So right now there are about nine cities with active campaigns And a dozen or so with With active interest in working on this and they're all kind of working Around very different strategies and I think this is really key that you know the local context And the local leadership matters and sort of how this is being deployed and how you know local institutions and and partners are engaging around the work. So some of it's being led by Uh, you know grassroots grassroots groups or worker centers In some places it's being led by city government And others is being led by food policy councils. Um, and each model has sort of taken a pretty different shape But I think what's really exciting from our perspective is that all of these These campaigns these works this work um really shares um a common A common vision and common roadmap So it feels like a collaborative effort and a national movement and then to close out, I wanted to share a couple of case studies, um of Like examples of how the work is shaping up and oakland and austin because they I think they give a little bit of flavor to sort of how this is looking a little bit different and how different Places are incorporating the program to help them their their own goals and their own sort of objectives On their food procurement work So oakland unified school district was the first institution outside of los angeles to approach us And our partnership with them has was really the first place where we were able to test this model outside of los angeles and see some Some impact and some success um so I guess just to start the the Good group purchasing program was a priority for oakland unified because Their nutrition services division has really invested a lot of staff resources into their farm to school initiatives You know, they're widely Known as national leaders for the work that they're that they've done and they wanted to be able to really quantify and demonstrate The impact and evidence for continuing to work on these initiatives Um, so the good food purchasing program provided them with an evaluation tool and concrete data To talk about their successes and identify Thoughtful and you know well measured goals for areas that they want to work and accomplish more So using the feedback from their baseline assessment and follow-up evaluation. They were able to really set Really specific detailed goals and a roadmap for where they want to head and achieving goals in the five value categories over the next 10 years And I think one of the exciting things about the work that they've done is they've been really Creative and figuring out how to meet their goals while staying cost neutral so one example of this was The way that they redesigned menu items to stay within federal requirements Well incorporated items that you know sort of objectively do cost more like sustainable beef So rather than you know, try to do a one-to-one swap out for a ground beef hamburger patty they used Smaller amount of ground beef and used it in a taco Format so then they were able to supplement with black beans and and that's a cheaper item that Also helped them to meet their protein requirements within the meal pattern requirements for school lunches um, and so That was a way that they that they thought about the ingredients that they were using You know in sort of a creative way to be able to do to meet some of their goals and you know It's a popular menu item that they taste has tested with students to make sure that it would be Well received so it's been a really successful model for them there um And then I think on the just wanted to share on the local coalition side the Oakland food policy council Hope collaborative teamsters union those were some of the organizations that led advocacy Efforts to get the program adopted in the district and they continue to support the district in ensuring the program values are communicated to students and Helping the district meet its goals and monitor progress along the way. So they're a key partner to the district in that process And if I just want to talk a little bit about the work in Austin, so the city of Austin Office of sustainability has really been the lean convener of local institutions So in this way it looks a little bit similar to how Denver has been has been sort of working to convene Institutions that are interested in talking about some of these issues So they in Austin they've you know got both public and private institutions engaged That are really interested and committed to working on procurement together And I think for them many of the institutions have been engaged in farm to school or other food procurement work But what got them really excited about the good food purchasing framework? Was the ability to unify around a common framework to express their regional priorities? And their successes along the way and in and sort of giving some good publicity to the progress that they're making in building a regional you know good food system So last year we conducted baseline assessments with two pilot institutions The austin independent school district and ut austin and then both of these institutions have Shared with the the whole cohort sort of their experiences along the way and then they're there how they found The baseline assessments to be helpful for them and invalidating the work that they've done And so they were really they've talked about the way it gave them specific knowledge about areas for You know conversations with their vendors to build better traceability systems and get more good food products incorporated And into their purchasing in ways that were feasible to them So really talking about the value that they found in the process to help bring more Institutions in their cohort into the into the fold to participate So they're now thinking the austin coalition is now thinking collaboratively about how to more fully incorporate Existing good food suppliers into their supply chains and figuring out the role that they play and encouraging other regional farms To become more responsible producers around issues of labor and sustainability and so on And then the city is going to take the leadership in terms of helping them publicize the work that they're doing So We see cities as you know, the where are the most innovative Groundbreaking work at policy in policy starts it all starts at the local level And cities lead the way especially now given the tremendous amount of uncertainty Of around what's happening at the federal level So We see our work as as leveraging the collective buying power of cities and school districts But also the collective voice of multi-sector coalitions and local leaders to create large scale system change So we're excited to be to be collaborating with you on this journey to provide You know one framework to think about and the work that you're doing And with that I just want to hand it back over to wendy to Find out if there are any questions follow up. So thank you great Thanks Colleen and thanks Alexa. So um now is your time to Go right into a little bit of q&a So if there is a chat box, some of you have already been putting in questions Um, so if you have any more questions or comments or thoughts for anyone who you've heard today now is a time to type those in And we will sort of moderate that and direct them to the right person So please type questions away. I did have one question if this was being recorded. Yes, it is. So we will share this Um to all participants and to others afterwards to please share And also I see a couple questions coming in right now Um, so a question for Alexa and Colleen Um, I'm just going to read this straight up I love the very coordinated and integrated approach that you have taken to create this program and policies and especially the implementation During the process to adopt this model throughout california in the country Who are the key people and leaders in position that inspired buy-in? From those who may not have been as convinced of the merit of this program at the outset To what extent were those who were doubtful of the program Brought to the table during the development of the process and the model That's a great question. Um, and i'm just i'm looking at the question again to so You know at the at the very beginning I Well, you know, I think one example That is really near and dear to my heart. Um, I wouldn't necessarily say they were skeptical, but We from the very beginning we engaged the ellie county department of public health to be involved in the work that we were doing and um because we knew that having the county's stamp of approval would You know incredibly important for getting the mayor's blessing the school district's blessing in terms of moving forward and so the The department of public health the director of chronic disease Was a member of the ellie food policy council's leadership board And he was you know a big supporter of the work of the food policy council But he was very clear from the outset that his staff could work with us on the nutrition component of the work that that was really the only piece that he you know that he could commit staff time to working on and the because for him, you know the intersections between health and sustainability and animal welfare and labor issues It hadn't been a framework that he was Really that familiar with and didn't necessarily know much about food systems work And so flash forward. I think it was three years later He was providing the keynote address at a forum with public health directors from across southern california And there were you know 200 people in the room and there he was standing Talking about the good food purchasing program saying that you know, this was the future of public health and connecting all of the dots between those five values and how You know health was the intersection across all of them So I think just you know having Not only their their buy-in, but then their leadership was critical In terms of Others who may have been skeptical the listening sessions were really important in terms of hearing from like, you know, the procurement officials that were going to be charged with Possibly taking on more responsibility within their departments and so really getting them comfortable with Empowering them with the information around You know what all the different food system issues were and how important their role could be in in working to transform our food system I think that that engaging them in that process of learning and understanding was really critical because I at the very beginning Maybe they were a little bit skeptical, but then it was a learning journey for everyone And they were ultimately, you know felt very Excited and proud of the work that they were doing procurement is not always one of those things that is Celebrated and so another piece that Colleen talked to spoke to a little bit was the celebration aspect and the recognition So each year with the Elliott food policy council and now as more cities are taking this on The public recognition and having the mayor City council school board provides certificates of recognition For the great work that is happening. That's often, you know, invisible, thankless work It has been a real source of pride and Accomplishment for everyone that's involved. I don't know Colleen. Do you have anything you want to add to that? Uh, no, that's right. We can there was a Oops, sorry Colleen There was a um and a couple of great questions coming in but a real quick follow-up Which is why you're on that point. Alex. There's a question The LA department of health It was there have been any peer-to-peer connection between them and other public health directors in other parts of the country You know, they are part of the They they have a big cvc grant for some of the procurement that work that they're doing through sodium reduction and also I'm not there are two big grants that they receive so through the cdc they're networked with other public health departments and and Frequently communicate with other public health departments around the work that's happening in LA Great, thank you. And then we have a question is so as a farmer, how do I start? Like what are the first steps that farmers can take to gauge in this work? Well, uh, I don't know if any if we're the experts here to talk about that, but um, I do think that so If you're well the way that the way that we've we've seen this work in the past is You know, some of the school districts depending on size are purchasing directly from from farmers and And connecting with the you know local farm to school lead organization in in A city or a region is one really really key step and also, you know getting a better understanding of who the the key distributors are um, and and making those connections there, but but my my guess is that It maybe dead Blake and and wendy could speak to this better than me, but there are really important resources out there who are Helping to play that intermediary role make it facilitating those connections Across the Denver region to get more good food producers in the supply chains of the institutions, but it's you know, it can be complicated But often it happens through, um, you know the The subcontracting in through the formal procurement process. Um, so I'll kind of stop there because I don't want to take us down a really technical Well, no, there's actually a sort of follow-up question. I think is related But Blake, did you want to do you have anything you want to weigh in on at all about? um Sort of first steps for the farmers before I move to the next question No, I I think uh, the advice given was really good My my hunch is that when we do this kind of institutional procurement work It doesn't necessarily mean that we're addressing Some that we're directly addressing like food safety standards and and trying to Reduce insurance requirements or do any of those kind of mechanisms directly I mean, I do think that's fair that some of the boundaries and barriers that producers have experienced are real and That said, I think this is one of the methods and this kind of collaborative purchasing approach the standards based value based approach that starts to get organizations of different sizes and scales to a rethink some of those Insurance requirements minimum thresholds seasonality requirements, etc. And b to provide pressure From like, okay now we're actually watching we're looking at the invoices and also expecting you to tell us where this food comes from So not just we don't just have a low price Kind of bid preference, but we've got a a providence or a production methodology bid preference Which has this longer term effect. So I think alex is absolutely right in the short term if there are Distributors that are servicing farmers in your area that you can start talking to About pack size quality standards insurance requirements, etc familiarize yourself with what the baseline is for selling in And then I would also encourage you to contemplate Particularly for any farmers shifting from direct market into institutional markets for the first time What what your your product availability might look like? Can you provide a palette a week of a product? Can you provide, you know two to four cases? So what is your your idea of what that is and how can you make? Sort of your own business case around that so when you come to to conversations with those distributors From the supply side you've kind of worked out the answers that that really no one can work out for you What what volumes do you need? What's a reasonable price point for you and then from our side? We're kind of working from the demand side to say how can we think about reconfiguring? You know recipes so that we can take advantage of of grass-fed meat Understanding it's more expensive or sustainably grown meat the example provided earlier Um How can we think about it? Maybe not moving to line item bids but setting procurement goals within those? Those bigger bids to to accommodate and incentivize Folks to work a little harder to connect with farmers So the there's no doubt in my mind that we still have a long way to go In doing the brokering and bridging For this to be as effective as it can be but I think those kind of steps Um might help expedite the overall transition Great there um some really incredible and rich comments and questions coming in and We'll try to get to all of them. We will get to all of them before we end the recording for sure Um, but just to kind of stay on this on this theme for just a couple of minutes. There are some more questions Um, wanting to hear more about participation of farmers in the assessment and planning phases Um, also a comment that you said procurement largely focuses on larger farms I'm wondering if these farms have expanded their crops to supply institutions through through the program Have agricultural providers been encouraged to implement more sustainable farming practices And any other insight on what this market has meant for your ag partners in general? So in additional comments Colleen or Alexa? One quick comment I would make um in and in that case we were talking about le unified and they're In I mean, they're the largest buyer food in the city of Los Angeles They're huge and they did at one point Work with some smaller producers and it it wasn't a good fit for the district and it wasn't a good fit for the distributor or the the farmers um because the the scale of le unified was just too big to The the scale was too big for the farmers and and so What the district decided was you know at this point we've got to focus on just Redirecting locally with larger farmers that said other school districts that we've worked with have Wonderful experiences working with smaller farmers and the way that the standards work is the large farms are sort of the entry point um And then the but institutions are encouraged to source more and more from smaller farmers for more points And so I think one of the important pieces That we learned in other institutions have learned is is really just you know knowing what your capacity is and understanding so that there aren't negative impacts on anyone involved in the work and There has been some really exciting work happening in Austin around As Colleen mentioned in her presentation Beginning to work with some of the producers in the region to say, okay, you know, have you heard of these? um social justice certifications that might not be you know readily available in the austin area right now but You know how there's a great opportunity and there's been there have been producers that are really interested in in in taking these certification programs on what they need is support in financing for the certification and so the city is working to line up The outside investors to help finance the the producers with the with the certification costs Um, so those are some of the early stories happening in in austin. That's I think a great model and exactly what you know We're trying to help facilitate through this process Great, um and a couple more questions. I want to get to but first two comments to call out One and Maggie says thank you for answering the question. Um, also, um everyone who is on Should see there's a note from Nana Meyer. It's a so as anyone on the call So that's to everyone not panelists, but folks that are participating in the zoom session Has anyone started exploring a transformation in the procurement processes within the cu system? So if you're on the line, please feel free to chat back Um, this is some work that you're doing within cu and the system anywhere One other comment. I just wanted to share that came in. It's really important to remember For all of us is to continue to pay attention to how child nutrition reauthorization unfolds over the next year a couple of years um Child nutrition reauthorization cnr Is the healthy younger free kids act the last time was this past is the big federal omnibus bill that oversees All of our school meal programs and the wick program and some other child food food programs But a really good note to selves that if if there is move To block grant funding for school meals that would drastically affect sort of what we do around things like farm to school and local procurement So sort of a note to all of us as advocates to pay attention to that um And then um, so more questions that have come in Um, there's one sort of asking really about your evaluation process a little bit Um, there's so many questions. I have to scroll back to it. Um, so wondering more about the evaluation tool of gfpp Um that we've heard about the third party certification process, but it's unclear how that's done And can you talk a little bit more about that process and how your progress is measured and reported? Yeah, um And we're going to talk in more depth about this when we visit on the 14th So I don't want to like still too much of that thunder for that presentation, but I will talk a little bit about it so we that's really the the role of the center is to um to complete the the assessment um and work with the participating institutions to Collect data about all of the items that they're purchasing. So we're looking at line item records that include You know what the product is how much money was spent on it with the volume was and then what was the Source farm that it came from so really understanding That as far back to the beginning of the supply chain as possible where that product is coming from and then We have a pretty extensive database already of um of producers um regional producers in places where we've already done scoring and national producers and they're Categorized or you know, sort of ranked in terms of their alignment with the values the in the program and then so we cross-reference suppliers that we get information about from the producers with the suppliers in the database and do additional research on suppliers as necessary to be able to Ultimately produce sort of a report that includes things like the percentages of products that are You know fit Meet the standards in the local economies category and then breaking that down Around whether they're large farms or small farms sort of as Alexa alluded to this tiers in the program so So showing you know the percentages of the total food that An institution purchases that meet with each of the five value categories in the program and then Looking at you know, what are those? What are the specific farms and where are they spent? Where do where are they spending a lot of money? Where do they have you know, you know opportunities to purchase more food that that is you know demonstrably meeting those categories so Working with institutions to use that information then to sort of set that plan and those goals to to Increase them out of food that's meeting the categories over time and then following up Doing the same kind of process In each year to to sort of track that progress toward the goals Great. Thanks Colleen So we have a question about really this model working in rural communities and this is a question. I've heard before so Rachel is on the line. Thank you for raising it is And she also says thank you for this super exciting strategy and model but Could you talk a little bit more about Conversations about how to apply this model in rural communities? Especially given very high rates of food insecurity in rural communities But also sort of the presence of most of our agricultural production in rural communities So how maybe where you've seen or if you had conversations about how this could work Sort of a non metro areas Colleen, do you want to talk a little bit about the Bellingham work? Yeah, I mean I think that the sort of the beauty of the program is that the framework is We have you know primarily worked in larger cities. I think it's very clear looking at the list You know that we have had on the slide That that's the case, but you know, it's it's sort of universal in the way that the the Values and the certifications translate across areas. So You know, I think one of the areas that we we have been approached by that It's a it's a smaller region. It's not necessarily rural, but it is sort of an agricultural community in Washington state is in the Bellingham Watcom area And so they've sort of approached us to to start thinking about how this could translate into their context and so So, you know, I mean having those those early conversations haven't actually dived into the The baseline assessment with many of their Local institutions, you know, they're particularly interested in their school district. They're getting involved, but I think that You know, it's it's an area that you know, we have started moving in some places and so it's not Yeah, like I said, I think that that's the nice thing is that it can translate across different different sizes of regions and institutions so And I think particularly in the rural areas that cohort approach is really important in terms of, you know What Blake was talking about earlier really, you know Getting a clear understanding of you know, who is part? Who are the large purchasers and how how can they work in coordination to? um to aggregate their demand and And set that vision for the region. So the aggregation is really key So since this work started out of a food policy council and we have Several food policy councils in the state of colorado. There's a question about from a food policy council member About strategy really like if there should be a focus first on getting their city Or county, you know, whatever they're based out of this example is denver. It's a city and county council Get the city or county to adopt this first or work with the institutions that you're really trying to work with Or kind of tackle them both at the same time if you have thoughts on on that strategy Yeah, I can I can take that one. Um, I think that well, so, you know, I think in los angeles is the city The city of la was the first institution to adopt and that was somewhat important to You know to the folks involved in the coalition there from you know having the city sort of demonstrate leadership and setting the tone for other institutions in the region To get involved. Um, and so then la unified was the second institution to adopt and they They really where the bulk of food is being purchased in los angeles the city purchases very little food sort of by comparison and so The the actual impacts that we saw, you know, primarily came from la unified's participation But you know having the city Provide that leadership role was really important. Um, and then I think an interesting sort of other example was in Long Beach, um, where we did A little we've we've you know been working with them to figure out. Um, how to move the policy forward there. Um, and they la area as well and they, um Were really interested in in sort of the same thing getting the the city to adopt and they didn't really have the school district In mind at all. They were really focused on on the city and then when they actually Worked with the city to get information about where their food Was coming from almost all of the food that the city was purchased with being Purchased from the school district So when it came down to what this, you know, in terms of actually being able to, you know, do Any sort of assessment with the city they They learned that they were going to have to have the school district on board as well So really understanding that the food that that, you know It was it was key in the strategy for working with the city to also be working with the school district Help them to sort of figure out that they needed to have an approach that that focused on both Of those institutes get it, you know working with both of those institutions and and getting both of those institutions sort of bought in So I think that just that that step of really understanding where food is being purchased from Was was really valuable and sort of figuring out what that strategy was for them as a food policy comes And I think in terms of Policy first or working, you know with the food services director It's a little I and I think you Raise this as an option as well the sort of parallel but integrated approach of Beginning to think about what the policy in a campaign looks like while at the same time working with the institutions to Make sure that there's buy-in On the inside because without The buy-in and the leadership from the people who are being asked to make the changes It'll be really difficult even if there's a policy adopted If you don't have that internal buy-in then a policy is only as good as the implementation And then we have a question about Working with institutions that maybe already are doing direct purchasing. So Can you talk a little bit more about the model works with institutions that are already Purchasing directly from regional farms Versus working with institutions that maybe have contracts with food service providers And ties to their distributors insurance and food safety parameters and vendors Um, I'm not a hundred percent sure that I understand the question So if I don't answer it, please let me know But I think you know in So a lot of the institutions that we have worked with are are you doing some, you know Some form of local procurement or direct procurement. Um, and so In sort of the relationship we've been able to help some of those institutions, you know Actually quantify the amount um in terms of their overall purchasing. Um, and then, you know, I think with the case of los angeles, you know, they They had Didn't have a ton of um of this work in place and so being able to Show sort of that like before and after a little bit in terms of the progress that they made was actually we are actually able to capture like You know the the total shift that was made and the impacts that were made. So, you know with with somebody like oakland where They already had a lot of initiatives in place. We were you know, it was more of like Quantifying where they are now as opposed to looking at like the complete before they started all of these initiatives and after um, so Yeah, I don't know if that's Really answering the question But that's just a little bit about the experience that we've had in terms of places where there's already work happening versus not Yeah, I think I think that was part of it I do think it's about that question of working like institutions that are have working with like sedexo Aramark, you know versus ones that are just already doing that direct purchasing Um now the model must they I'm assuming you know kind of have to adapt a little bit Start in different places. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, you know working I mean with this many of the school districts have have their own programs and they they may buy a small amount directly from producers But then the bulk of their food is coming from distributors And but they're not working with a food service management company The the institutions that are working with a food service management company definitely adds another layer Of complexity. Um, because you know, they're they have preferred vendor lists. They have some flexibility in in Incorporating more regional Requested suppliers from their clients, but it it's more challenging and I think What we've seen With the food service management companies is often they've never really been asked to provide The details on where the food is coming from so often, you know, maybe the clients want to know if something's local or something's organic and The invoice will specify as much But this takes it another step farther to say well, we we actually want to know who the producers are so that requires um Work to engage it's just another layer of conversation because the food service management company needs to work with With their vendors to create that transparency which Yeah, it's it's all very feasible, but it just there are definite Additional Complications and no yeah all manageable, but it's it is a little bit different than working with a food service Uh department directly with their vendors Yeah, I know that makes very good sense So I think we have one last question here. Um, and then we can wrap up with next steps but it's just about um Are any of your purchasing partnerships focused more on fresh produce? Or are there different like price points value points for process product? I think they're getting thinking on the lines of like the seconds market for seconds Can you see all of the above? um So I think I mean in terms of the value in terms of What's being purchased? I mean the the institutions There's right all of the above. Um, and they're doing all sorts of really creative things with seconds But in terms of our evaluation the our focus is really on um, the minimally processed I think lightly processed produce would would factor into it, but We're really focused on minimally processed ingredients that are easy to trace Uh easier to trace than say a highly processed granola bar or something like that We're not trying to we're not able to trace all the ingredients. So we focus and the bulk is coming from, you know, those five food product categories minimally more minimally processed food categories Great Thank you to everyone. So thank you Alexa and Colleen and Blake and to christine who's here with me I think we got through all of our questions Um, and as we said, we are recording this and we will send out the link Uh to everyone who participated. We will also be sending this link to anyone who is rsvp to join us on march 14th So hopefully everyone on this on this call is zoom session Um, is aware of that next step. So we have in the morning of march 14th Is a much smaller group It's really to work with that sort of cohort of institutions that Blake and I mentioned sort of our next convening Um of a few metro Denver institutions We're going to go a little bit deep with the center for good food purchasing and then starting at noon over lunch And then into the afternoon, uh, have a much broader A community partner workshop where we hope as many of you or all of you will join us to really talk about What are all the different roles that all of us as stakeholders can play and how to really engage in this work going moving forward? And then christine, do you want to close it out by just mentioning so the paper and what's coming? And then we have a nice resources slide. Yes. Well, definitely Um, so I mentioned briefly the paper that wendy and I have been working on um, that's just talking about how shifting institutional food procurement can benefit the surrounding community And our goal is to have that completely finished and sent out on march 7th Um, so it is a resource that you can read through before coming to the convening and we really encourage that It kind of gets into the nitty-gritty in the research Um surrounding this topic So it would be great if you guys could even just take a look look at the glossary Or the additional links that can just give you some more information before the convening And then we have a couple links here. Um, and this is just I would say like a lot of the main links that I use in terms of writing the paper Um, but just things that you can kind of click on and get more information based on kind of what stakeholder you are and What level the food system you're looking to focus on? Um, but there's a lot more information out there as well And that's it. We're just flagging this to see that we we all these hyperlinks of references and sort of go to resources Uh, we'll be obviously in this presentation when we send it out So lots more information coming your way and thank you so much for all of your time for all of you And we'll see some of you on march 14th It's windy. Thanks everyone. Thank you. Thank you