Folks, Make Your Voice Heard - Weigh In on Spokane's Draft Sustainability Action Plan

This is crucial: Your input as well as your support for the DRAFT Sustainability Action Plan for the City of Spokane will help ensure that it is adopted and implemented by City government. The plan makes many bold recommendations for strengthening the Spokane regional food system and supporting local agricultural production.

The draft plan, compiled by the Sustainability Action Subcommittee of the Spokane City Council, if adopted, would update and expand upon Spokane’s 2009 Sustainability Action Plan. It identifies specific strategies and actions that will help meet the 100% renewable energy goals as adopted by the City in 2018, and to meet regulations set by the State of Washington to address greenhouse gas emissions.

For the first time, this draft plan emphasizes the local food system as an integral part of meeting these sustainability and climate goals. Let’s not wait another ten years to make these important changes a reality. Please make your voice heard, show support for the recommendations and help the process by suggesting improvements where needed.

Read the Plan

Submit your feedback

Farmer? Meet with Other Farmers to Discuss the Draft Plan?

The food system recommendations of the draft plan are innovative and far-reaching. It will be important for the volunteers who are compiling the plan, the Sustainabilty Action Subcommittee of the Spokane City Council (SAS),  to engage with food producers, processors and eaters as the plan is developed. While farmers can submit their feedback through the survey now, later in the season, when the harvest slows down, there will be one or more "Meetings in a Box," to which farmers are especially warmly invited. The meeting will be focussed on the food and farming items in the draft plan. This will provide the SAS another way to receive comments on the draft or hear suggestions for additions, refinements, or what might need to be taken out. Nothing has been scheduled yet, but if you're a farmer (within 100 miles of Spokane), processor, food system worker or eater of food and you're interested in meeting, send a message to Kirsten Angell (member of SAS) using the button below and she will get back to you.

Sign up for a "Meeting in a Box"

Background: All over the country, municipalities are finally taking a long, hard look at the importance of their local food systems, the central role of local farmers and food processors as well as the benefits to the citizens who live in their jurisdictions. The COVID-19 Pandemic has brought into focus a renewed appreciation for building local resiliency and a foundational aspect of resiliency is a vibrant local food system.

This draft plan was compiled over a period of two years by the Sustainability Action Subcommittee of the Spokane City Council with input and engagement from dozens of local, regional, and national experts. It will undergo six months of public engagement which allows time to incorporate public feedback after which it is hoped the plan will be adopted by the Spokane City Government.

Farmer/Food System Pertinent Sections of the Draft Sustainability Action Plan

Sustainable Development Goals: Coordinating efforts to make our local food system stronger and more agile to emerging challenges (p. 21);

Health & Well-being: Increase household food security region-wide (p. 26);

Update City codes and planning documents to ensure preservation of urban farmland (p. 46);

Economic Prosperity Goal: Invest and promote a just, regenerative, and resilient local economy ... Partner with regional and neighborhood business associations to develop resiliency plans for specific sectors of our economy, including ... food processing & supply (p. 64);

Health & Well-being Goals (p. 77 - Also see the 'Household Food Security' section of p. 77):

Support the Spokane Food Policy Council (SFPC) in studying, identifying and implementing sensible and achievable codes, policies, and requirements that eliminate barriers and reduce costs for urban farms and community gardens and expand local control of food grown, processed, and sold directly to consumers.

Work with regional partners, including SFPC, to develop and adopt a Regional Food Plan. This document will outline the needs of the community and a blueprint for meeting these needs.

Partner with local nonprofits, advocate groups, and other governmental organizations to create a Regional Food System Partnership. This partnership will bring stakeholders together to maximize our local food system capacity, efficacy, and efficiency.

Partner with other public entities, local business organizations, and food producers to launch a local food campaign to educate the public on the benefits of eating local

After reviewing the Sustainability Action Plan, please submit your feedback to the Sustainability Action Subcommittee. Your feedback will help guide their revisions and provide City Council guidance on moving Spokane toward a more sustainable future.

Read the Plan

Submit your feedback

Sign up for a "Meeting in a Box"

To learn more about Spokane’s Sustainability Action Plan

Visit the Sustainability Action Subcommittee's website