National Right to Food Community of Practice member FAACTS (Food and Agriculture Coaltion Toward Sovereignty) held its first annual Food Action Summit in March 2024 in San Francisco. FAACTS is a coalition of 30 member organizations, mostly BIPOC-led, representing all parts of the food system in San Francisco.
Why the summit? In 2013, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution proclaiming that food is ”a basic human right and essential for human health,” setting a goal for a hunger-free San Francisco by 2020. Four years past this goal, and food insecurity and a broken food system continue to plague San Francisco.
How did the coalition form? In May 2022, more than a dozen representatives from community organizations sprang into action when they learned $45 million was to be cut from the budget of the City and County of San Francisco, essentially all of the food security funding provided by the Human Services Agency (HSA). These funding cuts would affect the nutrition needs of at least 70,000 families across the city. Through the direct advocacy of this ad hoc coalition of HSA grantees and food justice groups, funding was restored to the city budget through the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
Shortly after this victory, it became clear that ensuring consistent and equitable access to food and nutrition services in San Francisco would go well beyond both a one-time advocacy effort and short-term thinking about hunger. Through a series of mini-retreats, including over 70 participants across 30 local partner organizations, the Food and Agriculture Action Coalition Toward Sovereignty (FAACTS) was formed in 2022. FAACTS works to connect the food systems of San Francisco and builds a unified approach that inclusively meets the food needs of all neighbors. The coalition is committed to being neighborhood-based and coordinated across every district in San Francisco. FAACTS mission is to build a just, sustainable, and holistic food system, with the goal of nourishing community's across San Francisco in a way that is sincere, healthy, empowering, specific, culturally relevant, humble, and abundant.
The path to food sovereignty, community members share in the inspiring video below, includes the right to food.
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