It’s no secret that food is more than simply our daily intake of calories. Food is culture, it’s time with family and friends. Food can be an important source of income for some, and for most it’s love shared. Food is beautiful.
And yet, so many still struggle with access to it, especially here in the Hilltowns. Luckily, there are folks from the community actively talking about how to improve that fact at the Hampshire County Food Policy Council (HCFPC).
HCFPC is a regional Food Policy Council (FPC) looking to identify and adapt to a wide range of needs in our area. In practice, it offers an organizational structure that empowers action at the grassroots level. It gives people a platform to have their issues heard, offers structures to organize and formulate change, and provides constituents the opportunity to advise and inform their legislative representatives. They even help find necessary funding and partnerships for actions and initiatives.
“Food policy councils identify and propose innovative solutions to make local food systems more economically and environmentally sustainable and socially just”
(-HCFPC Website)
While FPCs can be formed on the state level (such as the Massachusetts Food Policy Council), they more often begin as local movements. They are generally made up of a wide range of interested parties, and are often established to assess specific issues or services. FPCs have been formed to address the needs of food systems since 1982, starting in Knoxville, Tennessee. There are currently over twenty unique FPCs in Massachusetts, alone. Most are centered around major metropolitan areas while some, like HCFPC, operate on a more regional basis.
While the Hampshire County FPC was established in January of 2022, its foundation was built over the course of five years spent working with community members across the area on projects like the establishment of Mobile Markets in Amherst and the Hilltowns.
With support from the Collaborative for Educational Services, a public nonprofit educational service agency, HCFPC has spent the past few years working to expand their reach and the access they promote. From their homebase in Northampton, they have partnered with such organizations as the Hilltown CDC, various local Councils on Aging, the University of Massachusetts, and even the Hilltown Community Health Center to bring its resources to eighteen towns across Hampshire County.
The HCFPC utilizes Sociocracy, a model of collaborative self-governance, and forms focused groups called Circles. Operating as a decentralized model, the Hub Circle sits at the center of the organization and is responsible for setting the aims and domains of each of the four Core Circles – Food Action, Food Policy, Capacity Building, and Vision Circle.
Each core circle has sub-circles which work on specific projects in the given area. For example, the Storytelling Circle is a sub-circle of the Food Policy Circle, helping the organization to collect stories from community members in order to influence policy change in the food system. Collectively there are roughly 50 active decision-making members across the circles, this is no small group of action minded folk.
Under the guidance of the HCFPC, community members work with staff from local organizations to self-govern, and have generated an impressive number of successful projects. In Amherst, the Fort River Community Garden now features upwards of 75 plots. In Westhampton, their Community Garden now helps provide fresh produce for school lunches and local folks in need.
And after starting conversations throughout communities in Hampshire County, the HCFPC established the Storytelling Circle that focuses on gathering, documenting, and sharing the stories of underrepresented community members’ and their difficulties accessing fresh and healthy food. In 2023, the Storytelling Circle curated its first collection of those stories by launching the Community Story Archive, which is housed on their website. Many people in the hilltowns will find the stories in the Archive relatable, especially since it includes stories from hilltown residents. These stories reflect the many ways in which folks could use a little help – and the relative lack of sustainable solutions to the problems at hand.
A common thread throughout these stories relates to the difficulties generated by a lack of reliable transportation. In the Community Story Archive, Jacy Armenti talks about her struggles utilizing the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority’s ADA Paratransit shuttle. Jacy has epilepsy and can’t legally drive.
While the availability of a dedicated transportation opportunity is a definite boon, utilizing the PVTA shuttle system can turn a twenty minute errand into a three or four hour ordeal. While it’s better than nothing, the service requires multiple ride requests, offers unpredictable wait times, and currently provides no real-time progress updates. Customers with needs such as Jacy’s can find themselves unnecessarily stranded for unknown periods of time. But more than that, even helpful existing technology for the main PVTA lines, such as phone apps for payment or regular bus cards, can’t be used with the shuttle van.
The Storytelling Circle of the HCFPC debuted their story archive at the Forbes Library in Northampton in June of 2024. It included 24 unique stories, which are now available online. The installation is also poised to move to the Meekins Library in Williamsburg.
It will open on March 8th, and focus on Storytellers from the Hilltowns like Jan Gibeau who served as the Director of the Chesterfield Council on Aging until recently, and Tamar Smith who works as a Meal Site Coordinator at the Williamsburg Senior Center. The event will run from 1:30pm – 3:30pm. There will be speakers from HCFPC, as well as Storytellers sharing their experiences live and in-person, including Jacy Armenti discussing transportation challenges in the hilltowns. The installation will be up through March, so even if you can’t make that Saturday you can still experience the piece.
This installation project is funded by Mass in Motion, an initiative of Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Williamsburg Cultural Council, a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. HCFPC also accepts donations, and funds go to support staff and projects, including policy priorities. This year HCFPC identified transportation as a priority and the Old Creamery Co-op is happy to partner with HCFPC as the first collection point for a new Transportation & Food Access Survey.
It’s a short questionnaire, which focuses on two primary questions meant to elicit storytelling: 1.) Tell us about an outrageous or memorable transportation challenge you or someone you know experienced getting food in the Hilltowns, and 2.) What is your wildest dream for how to resolve Hilltown transportation challenges? You can find the questionnaires on the tables in the Café and the collection box on a shelf next to the bakery case. Alternatively you can fill out the form online here.
Maybe you’re interested in finding out more? Find their website here and consider joining a Circle. This is another way to give back and support your neighbors, and to help realize goals you couldn’t see on your own. Just look at all the fantastic accomplishments of folks working with the Hampshire County Food Policy Council.
Hampshire County Food Policy Council
(413) 588-5562
Email: foodpolicycouncil
@collaborative.org
