International Workers Day Celebration Of Buffalo Board of Education’s Work Towards Good Food Purchasing  

BUFFALO – In honor of International Workers Day and celebrating Buffalo’s Board of Education Members recent food bids of over $1M dollars awarded to local farmers and small food producers, the Good Food Buffalo Coalition looks forward to continued solidarity with the school district. The Coalition is planning a press event later this month to celebrate the BOE's recent accomplishments and share a vision for values-based procurement.

The Good Food Buffalo Coalition launched in April 2018 as a diverse grassroots coalition committed to expanding local food purchasing through values-based procurement by bringing the Good Food Purchasing Program to Buffalo. The Good Food Purchasing Program is a way to expand local, fair, sustainable, humane, healthy food, in public institutions. The Program has been implemented in twelve institutions in six cities to date, impacting over $525 million public dollars every year to support food that's good for our workers, animals, public health, environment, and local economies. Buffalo Public Schools Child Nutrition Services is looking to explore what this could look like locally through an initial Baseline Assessment.

The Board of Education’s recent work to award bids to local farmers provides great momentum to take the districts’ local food purchasing commitment to the next level by not only supporting local food vendors and farms, but encouraging food vendors to support labor laws and the right to organize, encourage environmentally-friendly practices and animal-welfare, and further addressing hunger and poverty in our communities by pledging support to minority-owned businesses and food vendors.

Western New York Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO President, Richard Lipsitz said, "As a Good Food Buffalo Coalition partner, the Western New York Area Labor Federation stands with this initiative to provide good jobs for the workers that produce, deliver, and prepare these nutritionally-balanced foods for the well-being of the students in the Buffalo Public School system."

Buffalo Teachers Federation President, Phil Rumore said, “The Buffalo Teachers Federation is a proud partner of the Good Food Buffalo Coalition. The Good Food Purchasing Program has promise for our children and the region and it makes sense to support the Buffalo Public Schools Child Nutrition Services as it moves forward with conducting the Baseline Assessment for the Good Food Purchasing Program.”

Massachusetts Avenue Project Community Organizer, Rebekah Williams said, “We are excited about the work the Buffalo Board of Ed and the Buffalo Public Schools Child Nutrition Services are doing around expanding local food purchasing and we look forward to continue working with district partners to explore an expanded vision for values-based procurement. Our vision for the Good Food Purchasing Program is that all children in our district have access to healthy food, and food that values workers, animals, and the environment, while lifting local communities out of poverty.”  

About the Good Food Buffalo Coalition: The Good Food Buffalo coalition represents over 18 local partners and 15 national partners that is working with Buffalo Public Schools Child Nutrition Services to bring the Good Food Purchasing Program to the district. The Good Food Buffalo Coalition includes: African Heritage Food Co-op, Buffalo Parent-Teacher Organization, Buffalo Teachers Federation, Community Health Worker Network of Buffalo, Crossroads Collective, Fruit Belt Advisory Council, Grassroots Gardens WNY, Massachusetts Avenue Project, Northeast Organic Farming Association of NY, Open Buffalo, Partnership for the Public Good, Sierra Club Buffalo-Niagara, SunniBlu Health and Wellness, SPCA of Erie County, UB Food Lab, Ujima Company, Inc., WNY Area Labor Federation, and WNY Council on Occupational Safety & Health.

About Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP): MAP's mission is to nurture the growth of a diverse, accessible, and equitable local food system, promote economic opportunities, and empower youth through social change education. MAP is a not-for-profit organization started by neighborhood residents on Buffalo's West Side in 1992. MAP's Growing Green Program was founded in 2003 to address the growing land vacancy, high youth unemployment, and food security needs of the community.

Good Food Buffalo Photos Online: https://goodfoodcities.org/portfolio/buffalo/

Media contact:
Rebekah Williams
Rebekah@mass-ave.org
716-359-3082

To learn more about Good Food Purchasing and the Buffalo Public Schools, read PPG's policy brief here.