[Community_garden] New York Times Farm bill article

[Betsy Johnson]

Although the editorial may not reflect it, the Healthy Food & Society
Coalition advocating for the Farm Bill is specifically recognizing the need
for support for community gardening.  The increased funding for the
Community Food Projects program does provide additional funds targeted for
community gardens.  The current CFP is funded at $5 million.  The House
Committee bill currently has $30 million.  Since more than half of the
current $5 million is going to programs that involve community gardens, one
expects as much as $10 - $15 million of the new Farm Bill to help community
gardens.  We just need more noise that the Community Food Projects program
must be MANDATORY not DISCRETIONARY funding!

Particularly if you live in the districts of the following members of
Congress, let them know how important it is to support the MANDATORY funding
and about the role of community gardens in improving access to healthy food.

HEALTHY FOOD AND COMMUNITIES: Members of Congress who support one or more of
these issues on the agriculture, appropriations and other leadership
positions.

Target members for House Ag Committee on HFC issues:

California: 	Baca - nutrition sub-committee chair, supporting healthy
food package (in HR2401, NOURISH Act, the Hispanic Farm Bill)
		-Staffer: Yooli Choi
Kansas: 		Boyda - original cosponsor of HR2364
				- Staffer:Lindsay Matese
North Carolina: Etheridge - commodity sub-committee chair, 
interested in healthy food package in Blumenauer bill (HR2364 and HFED
program)
				- Staffer: Ben Bell
New York: 	Gillibrand - original cosponsor of HR2364 
				-Staffer: Brooke Jamison
Tennessee: 	Davis - healthy enterprise development program
				- Staffer:Noel Smith
Wisconsin: 	Kagen - original cosponsor of HR2364
				-Staffer: Mark Cason

House Members off committee but influential:

California: 	Pelosi - Speaker of the House
				-Staffer: Melissa Shannon
Farr - farm to cafeteria and procurement
	- Staffer:Troy Phillips
Connecticut: 	De Lauro - ag approps subcomm. Chair, with HR 2144 has
sponsored the healthy food package
		-Staffer:Brian Ronholm
Illinois: 		Rush - CBC, retail access - healthy food package
	- Staffer:Aysha Moshi
Jackson - healthy food package
	-Staffer: Megan O. Moore
Maryland: 	Hoyer - Majority leader - interested in health and 
			Farm policy
				- Staffer:David Introcaso
New York: 	Rangel, Ways and Means Comm Chair, CBC lead, supports
healthy food package
		-Staffer: George Dalley
Hinchey, supports local food, farm to cafeteria
	- Staffer:Moira Campion
Ohio: 	Kaptur - farm to cafeteria, farmers markets, infrastructure (HFED)
		- Staffer: Roger Szemraj
Washington: 	Larsen - original sponsor of 2002 CFP reauthorization, 2004
Farm to Cafeteria authorization
		- Staffer:Mike Dabbs

Also, if you live in districts represented by Reps. Blumenauer (OR), Kagen
(WI), Boyda (KS), or Gillibrand (NY), please let them know that you
appreciate their leadership!

Thanks, 
Betsy Johnson

-----Original Message-----
From: community_garden-bounces at list.communitygarden.org
[mailto:community_garden-bounces at list.communitygarden.org] On Behalf Of
garlicgrower at green-logic.com
Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2007 4:38 PM
To: community_garden at list.communitygarden.org
Subject: Re: [Community_garden] New York Times Farm bill article

Hi, Folks!

Nice article, but notice there is not one word about community gardens -- or
even urban agriculture.

If these other members of the coalition want community gardeners support,
there MUST be some quid pro quo going on -- I can't see asking our 
community gardeners to take time from pushing our local politicians and
gathering community support to save our community garden and spend time 
on the Farm Bill -- volunteers have only limited energy and time and right
now, we need all the help we can get to save our community garden.

Dorene Pasekoff, Coordinator
St. John's United Church of Christ Organic Community Garden and Labyrinth
Phoenixville, PA


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