OCP Budget Oversight Hearing

March 27, 2023

Testimony by Lea Howe, DC Greens

Honorable Chairperson Nadeau and Councilmembers on the Committee,

My name is Lea Howe and I am the Director of Institutional Food Initiatives for DC Greens where we work to advance health equity in the District by building a just and resilient food system. For a decade, I’ve advocated for policies that enable all people - especially youth - to have access to healthy and culturally appropriate foods. I am also here today as a member of the DC Good Food Purchasing Program Coalition, a coalition of over 30 organizations in the District of Columbia committed to transforming the way public institutions purchase food, to create a transparent and equitable food system.

Our coalition believes that food procurement is a powerful tool to further social justice and racial equity. As you know, the District provides meals to tens of thousands of children, seniors, and vulnerable residents each year, and spends over $80 million annually on food procurement. The way we spend these dollars determines the nutritional quality of the meals we serve to residents, whether our meal programs support local food businesses, and whether we are supporting fair wages for the food workers that produce these meals—among other policy implications. Food procurement, when done right, can strengthen our local and regional food supply chains, promote fair wages and benefits for food workers, and improve public health.

Good Food Purchasing Program

Our coalition supports a values-based food procurement program, known as the Good Food Purchasing Program (or GFPP), that is currently being implemented in DC Public Schools. The GFPP is rooted in five core values: local economies, nutrition, valued workforce, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare. Jurisdictions implementing the GFPP have already realized benefits including reduced carbon footprints and water use, investments in local, union jobs and their local food economy, and improvements in the nutritional content of the foods they serve. If prioritized by all District agencies, values-based procurement has the potential to transform our food system, leading to significant co-benefits for health, the environment, and our local economy.

For this reason, our coalition is seeking budget enhancements to expand values-based food procurement across the District government. We have submitted these requests in a letter to you and other members of the Council, as well as to the record for this hearing. In my testimony, I want to touch on the investments we are seeking for OCP.

OCP Support

First, we would like to see an expansion in OCP’s food procurement expertise and capacity. Several agencies participate in food purchasing and distribution, yet there is no centralized coordination at OCP overseeing food procurement. Furthermore, OCP does not have designated staff focused on food contracts with the expertise to improve food purchasing District-wide. This means our nutritional and quality standards vary widely from agency to agency. To improve food procurement across the government, we ask that you designate $250,000 annually to OCP to establish an Office of Food Procurement to oversee all food contracts managed by OCP. In the alternative, we ask that you appropriate $125,000 to support at least one designated FTE at OCP to oversee food purchasing.

Baseline and Progress Assessments

In addition to staff resources at OCP, expansion of GFPP will require additional funding for monitoring, evaluation, and technical support. To that end, we ask for $100,000 annually to support a baseline assessment, followed by annual progress assessments, for the five agencies that purchase meals: Department of Aging and Community Living, Department of Parks & Recreation, Department of Corrections, Department of Youth Rehabilitative Services, and the Department of Human Services. 

Together, these requests will promote health equity, advance racial justice, fight climate change, protect workers’ rights, and strengthen local and regional economies – all through the lever of food procurement. We hope that you will seize this opportunity to leverage the $80 million the District spends on food each year to build a resilient and equitable food system, and to improve the health and welfare of District residents.

Thank you for your time today. I am happy to answer any questions you might have in follow up.