Kelly Fragale
Dyami Soloviev
Tony Cho

City of Kingston Food System Plan

Kingston NY

"The City of Kingston is developing a Food System Plan that will provide a guide for the City to take meaningful, impactful, and sustainable action towards strengthening our local food system with a focus on improving food security and equitable access to nutritious foods.
This Plan will build upon and inform the work of the Department of Health and Wellness(External link), which already supports policy, system, and environmental changes to increase access to nutritious foods. It will also support and incorporate the City’s Energy & Sustainability(External link) work as a strong, resilient food system is also one that is climate-friendly and regenerative."
(from https://engagekingston.com/food-system-plan)

• Located in your community or region: Kingston is a small city along the Hudson River (the population is about 24,000). The city is about an hour's drive from my home in Albany.
• Completed or in final stages of completion: The plan appears to be almost complete. They have one more public meeting in June, which we hope to attend.
• Designed initially with some level of green or sustainability aspiration: The city's project description uses the word "regenerative" to describe the food system they hope to create. The consultant also describes their vision in this way" "We believe the complexity, dynamism, and even chaos of contemporary food systems demand a new way of seeing."
• Working to bring some whole into being, not just to solve a problem: This food system plan appears to qualify as "an organizing initiative aimed at bringing a new or transformed social or economic infrastructure ... into being." It has high aspirations
• A contact person: Kristin Kessler, Project Manager, City of Kingston, kkessler@kingston-ny.gov. I met Kristin recently and know a few others who work for the city of Kingston.
And lastly, I'm excited by this idea! I look forward to returning to a focus on food and nourishment (that was part of my undergraduate work nearly 30 years ago), while also connecting to my current focus at work on climate solutions for local governments. I also love that this plan has a focus on equity and public health.

Link: https://engagekingston.com/food-system-plan

City's consultant on the plan:
Angela R. Hansen
Consultant, Food Systems Foresight
angela.r.hansen@foodsystemsforesight.com
https://www.foodsystemsforesight.com/