Summit at Governor's Mansion to raise awareness of Nevada’s food insecurity
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Tue, 11/19/2013 - 2:57pm
State and federal agencies and non-profit organization leaders will meet Wednesday with Nevada’s First Lady Kathleen Sandoval at the Governor's Mansion in Carson City to address food and hunger issues during the Northern Nevada Food Summit.
More than 150 participants have been selected who represent the four components of the state’s recently adopted Nevada Food Security Plan, as well as representatives from the health and economic development sectors. The goal of the summit is to raise awareness of the problem of food insecurity, and begin work to develop healthier, more food secure communities across Nevada, according to the USDA.
The Northern Nevada Regional Food Systems Summit is a collaborative effort of individuals involved with multiple state, federal, education, private and nonprofit organizations who work to ensure Nevadans have food.
Today in Nevada, one in four children (28 percent) lives in households that cannot reliably provide three nutritious meals every day, according to USDA. One in seven adults must regularly seek emergency food assistance, and one third of Nevadans live at or below 200 percent of poverty and are eligible to apply for SNAP – formerly known as food stamps.
One-third of Nevadans are periodically unable to feed themselves and their families. That is the reason that Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval directed development of the Nevada Food Security Plan, and has identified food security as one of the core functions of government.
The Food Summit, hosted by Nevada's First Lady, will bring together leaders from across many sectors to contribute their best thinking to building community food security in Nevada.
The Food Summit is will be at the Nevada Room of the Governor’s Mansion. Sponsoring groups for the Summit include the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, Nevada Department of Agriculture, Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey Counties, Food Bank of Northern Nevada, College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, USDA, Western Nevada Development District, and Partnership Carson City.
Speakers will include Mark Walker, the new dean of the University of Nevada Reno Cooperative Extension, Cherie Jamason of the Food Bank of Northern Nevada, Angela Owings, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Food Security, Jim Barbee, Director of the Nevada Department of Agriculture, Debora McDermid, the Vertical Dimension, Trish Kelly, of Applied Development Economics, Christy McGill of Healthy Communities Coalition, and Sarah Adler, United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Development State Director.
During the lunch session, participants will see a food system in action, as students from Rachael Leach’s 6th grade class at Silver Springs Elementary School will share their system of creating compost from school food waste, which is used to feed the school garden. This award-winning, multi-year project is an example of STEM and entrepreneurship in action. Prior to joining the Food Summit, the students are being treated to lunch at Adele's fine dining restaurant, courtesy of Charlie and Karen Abowd.
The final session will collect from all participants their ideas on how to collaborate to create complementary food security and regional food systems.
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