Areas of Work

HEAL Food Alliance

Health, Environment, Agriculture, Labor

brings together groups from the various sectors of movements for food and farm justice to build our collective power toward transformative change.

To get there, we are organizing campaigns and running programs in three areas:

1
Growing Community Power

The HEAL Food Alliance  supports organizing across communities and the sharing of skills, knowledge, and resources among our members and their campaigns. As an alliance, we drive campaigns that advocate for policies that address inequities in our health, environment, agriculture, and labor sectors.        
Currently we are partnering with the Center for Good Food Purchasing to develop and promote the Good Food Purchasing Program (GFPP), a program which encourages large institutions to direct their buying power toward five core values – local economies, environmental sustainability, valued workforce, animal welfare and nutrition – using the Good Food Purchasing Program to guide their efforts. GFPP has been successfully implemented in school districts in Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco, and Chicago, Cook County, IL, and Washington DC, and we are actively working with institutions in Austin, the Twin Cities, Madison, Cincinnati and New York City to adopt the program. 

2
Developing Political Leadership

Good governance of our food system depends on holding political leaders accountable to our Platform for Real Food, and on having champions of our work. HEAL builds political leadership for the food and farm justice movements through local and state-based political campaigns.        
We know that food systems that work for our communities are only possible if the leaders setting policy care about people and the planet more than profit. That’s why HEAL launched the School of Political Leadership (SoPL) in 2017 - to cultivate political leadership for the food movement and train individuals who can champion our Platform for Real Food.

SoPL supports food and farm justice leaders who are ready to lead policy change that reimagines how our food and farm systems function. Over the course of a year, SoPL equips a cohort of food and farm justice leaders with the tools they need to 1) run for office; 2) work on campaigns; and, 3) drive political change. Together we are creating a blueprint for democratic food and farm systems that are accountable to all of our communities. We believe these renewed systems can prioritize community, sustainability, dignified work, and real food.

3
Exposing & Limiting Corporate Control of Our Food System

Our food system is controlled by a small handful of powerful corporations that have significant influence over politicians and the policies that govern health, environmental, agricultural, trade, and labor standards. Together, HEAL and its members highlight the practices and policies that support businesses that adhere to our Platform for Real Food, and expose the practices and policies that enable businesses that abuse workers, small farmers, consumer health, and the environment.     
Our work is grounded in a shared vision for change: together, we are articulating what we really want, and the various tactics that will help us get there. Our vision is grounded in our Platform for Real Food, informed by the wisdom of 50 organizations and advocates that have deep experience and expertise in each of the ten planks.