Crafting a grassroots introduction to food policy course

Abstract

This reflective essay provides insights from a pilot, public-facing virtual course, Introduction to Food Policy, that was developed and delivered in sum­mer 2022. Building on interest and efforts in Florida in urban agriculture, agroecology, and fostering more equitable food systems through food sovereignty principles, the University of South Florida Food Sovereignty Initiative and the Florida Food Policy Council collaborated on constructing and delivering this introductory course, which was accessible to students, com­munity members and policy makers. Over a six-week period, the pilot course featured weekly presentations from food system specialists in the areas of (1) understanding food policy, (2) re­searching food policy, (3) environmental food policy, (4) food policy advocacy, (5) civic engage­ment with food policy formulation, and (6) re­gional food policy. In this reflection, the authors, a collective of leadership of the Florida Food Policy Council and faculty from the Food Sovereignty Initiative, offer insights about the process of creating the course, delivering the weekly lectures, and some overall concluding observations. We include participant comments from a post-course survey and an outside evaluation from the North American Food Systems Network. This reflection is intended to help strengthen the evidence base in the literature on community-based collaborative educational interventions related to food sover­eignty and related food policy issues. It serves as an example of how a locally organized, virtual educa­tional intervention has the potential for local and national influence on food policy awareness.