1. Communities Putting Prevention to Work
1010 Lake Street, Suite 430, Oak Park, Illinois 60301
Making suburban Cook County Phone 708.524.5156 Email cppw@phimc.org
a healthier place to live, work and play. Website www.cookcountypublichealth.org
Establishment of a Cook County Food Policy Council
Request: Pass a Cook County Board ordinance establishing a Food Policy Council for Cook County
The Cook County Food Policy Council, if endorsed by the County Board, would convene a variety of food policy stakeholders, from
government to private agencies to individuals. These stakeholders would work to develop a plan that ensures all county residents
have access to healthy foods and would address issues related to the food system, from farm to table.
Why Establish a Food Policy Council in Cook County?
• A number of Cook County residents, in particular those living in the South and Southwest regions, lack ready access to
stores selling healthy food.1
• Living further from stores selling healthy food increases the risk for diet-related diseases, such as poor pregnancy outcomes
and obesity.2
• The establishment of a Cook County Food Policy Council will be a first step to coordinating and promoting healthy food
access for all Cook County residents.
• Food policy councils develop and strengthen relationships between government, non-profit and private organizations.
• Cook County Government is uniquely positioned to lead this effort to ensure all residents have access to health food.
What Can A Food Policy Council Do?
• Food policy councils function as forums for concerned parties to address food issues and as platforms to develop consistent
policy and program development in a specified region.
• Food policy councils can provide a direct link between government agencies and concerned citizens.
• By engaging a variety of stakeholders food policy councils can help ease the burden of coordinating food access issues on
local governments.
Basic Facts3
• The first Food Policy Council started in 1982 in Knoxville, TN.
• Today over 100 councils exist across the nation, and that number is growing. (http://www.foodsecurity.org/FPC/)
• The Illinois Food, Farms, Jobs Council was created by state legislation and signed into law in 2010. This council is working to
secure fresh food access to all Illinois residents.
• The Chicago Food Policy Advisory Council was created in 2001 and is a private organization with active participation
by city departments. It has held several networking forums and has produced a policy agenda to work with Chicago’s
government stakeholders.
• The Evanston Food Policy Council was founded in 2005 as a private organization and has since expanded to include the
village of Skokie.
• In summer 2010 the USDA released an RFA to address hunger that required applicants to partner with their local Food
Policy Councils.
1
Block, D., Chavez, N. & Birgen, J. (2008). Finding Food in Chicago and the Suburbs: The Report of the Northeastern Illinois Community Food Security Assessment.
Report to The Public. Chicago State University: Chicago, IL
2
USDA. 2010. Access to Affordable and Nutritious Food: Measuring and Understanding Food Deserts and Their Consequences.
3
Drake University Agricultural Law Center. 2005. The State and Local Food Policy Project. http://www.law.drake.edu/centers/agLaw/docs/fpc_qna.pdf
A partnership project led by the Cook County Department of Public Health and the Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago.