Featured Programs & Activities
Partners Efforts Result in Executive Order to Address Food Insecurity

In 2010, Governor Christine Gregoire issued Executive Order 10-02 on “Strengthening Washington’s Food Systems Through Policy and Collaboration.” She assigned five state agencies to work collaboratively to examine state food policy, food-related programs and food-related issues.

The agencies working on completing the Executive Order include:

  • Department of Health
  • Department of Agriculture
  • Department of Health and Human Services
  • Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction
  • Washington State Conservation Commission

Agencies and stakeholder partners prepared a report to address food security, nutrition and health challenges and opportunities for solutions in Washington State. The University of Washington’s Center for Public Health Nutrition provided staff support to this collaborative effort and developed the report that was finalized by state agencies.

The Executive Order specified that the report will:

  • Help agencies, stakeholders and legislators explore ways to promote nutrition
  • Educate the public and policy-makers on the status of hunger in Washington, and
  • Highlight the importance of farmland preservation.

The report and its development:


Report Released in 2012:

Report on Washington's Food System: Response to Executive Order 10-02 (pdf)

Report Development Process
 The Inter-Agency Workgroup met monthly with representatives of five sectors: Hunger & Food Security; Health & Nutrition; Promotion of Washington-Grown Products; Farms & Farmland Preservation; and Food Systems. The UW Team worked closely with Agency staff and stakeholders to plan the structure of the report and to produce draft sections. Agency Directors and a broader group of stakeholders were involved in quarterly meetings.

The Executive Order was a result of years of work by many Partners. A broad coalition of stakeholders worked with legislators to propose Senate Bill 6343 during the 2010 session of the Washington legislature. The bill called for the creation of a Washington Food Policy Council. Although the bill passed, Governor Gregoire ultimately vetoed the bill, citing overlap of the bill’s goals with the activities of state agencies. Due to her commitment to “a more focused examination of state food policy, food-related programs, and food-related issues,” Gov. Gregoire issued the Executive Order to create this collaborative initiative during the June 2010 Food System Strategies Summit organized and hosted by the Washington State Access to Healthy Foods Coalition.

Partners

Public Health – Seattle/King County
Northwest Agricultural Business Center
Childhood Obesity Prevention Coalition
Children's Alliance 
WithinReach 
Cascade Harvest Coalition
Rotary First Harvest
WA Dairy Council
WA Food Coalition
Meals Partnership Coalition
Northwest Harvest
United Food & Commercial Workers Union

Featured: March 2011, updated 2012

Target Audience

Low income families and other state residents

Region

Statewide

For More Information:
  • Karen Luetjen, UW Center for Public Health Nutrition, 206-616-1569

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