Seattle’s Food Action Plan Paves the Way for Stronger Community Food Security

The City of Seattle recently released its updated Food Action Plan, a vision and roadmap for an equitable, sustainable, and resilient local food system. Supported by Mayor Harrell and adopted unanimously by City Council resolution 32144, the plan reflects community priorities around food access, nutrition, climate stewardship, land access, and more. The Human Services Department's (HSD) programs and partners figure prominently in several of the plan's priorities, most notably Community Food Security.

"The updated Food Action Plan prioritizes increasing racial and social equity in Seattle by strengthening local food systems, starting in the most overburdened communities," said Councilmember Tanya Woo, who championed the plan.

The original Food Action Plan was developed in 2012 by Seattle's Office of Sustainability and Environment (OSE) and was one of the nation's earliest strategic food plans. Work to update the plan began before the COVID pandemic, pausing in 2020 so the City could shift focus to emergency pandemic response. When Food Action Plan design started again in 2022, an interdepartmental team including HSD, Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle Parks & Recreation, Department of Neighborhoods, and others were working with OSE to ensure voices were heard across the food system. The plan, according to OSE's Bridget Igoe, "builds upon decades of work, action, and learning by government and Tribal policy advisors, community organizations, food justice leaders, and residents across Seattle."

The themes from community engagement reflected how many issues were still relevant from the 2012 plan, like food security and the local food economy. Community feedback lifted up new themes too-higher food costs, worsening impacts of climate change, low availability of local land access for growing food, how the pandemic revealed weaknesses in the food system, and growing racial inequities. Equally important, community leaders highlighted which approaches are working to address these issues, such as innovative food sourcing and food distribution projects, and community building through urban agriculture projects.

These themes are foundational to the plan's eight strategic priorities and the 47 actions related to those priorities. Stewardship of each action is led by a single City department, with supporting roles for other departments. HSD has a lead role in most of the Community Food Security actions, such as Prioritize Food Access for Unsheltered Populations, Strengthen Disaster Preparedness Efforts, Sustain and Strengthen Food & Meal Programming for Older Adults, Prioritize Access to Nutritious and Locally Grown Food Served in Preschools, and Strengthen the Capacity of Meal Programs and Food Banks. HSD also has supporting roles in actions in the Education & Training, Food Waste, and Food Action Plan Stewardship priorities. The plan is designed so that community engagement and partnership are ongoing throughout the implementation of the plan's actions.

Community food security is essential to HSD's mission "to connect people with resources and solutions during times of need so we can all live, learn, work, and take part in strong, healthy communities." While Seattle and Washington State have higher food security rates than the national average, data from Public Health shows that roughly 1 in 10 Seattle residents still experience food insecurity, defined as "limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways." And communities of color experience food insecurity at 2-3 times the rate of whites. Moreover, national and local data show recent increases in food insecurity, likely due to high food inflation, the end of pandemic-era benefits, and general affordability challenges.

HSD already takes a comprehensive approach to food security through city-wide investments in nutritious and culturally specific groceries and meals for Seattle residents, from preschoolers to older adults. The Food Action Plan's roadmap will guide HSD, other City departments, and valued community partners (including people with lived experience of food insecurity) to look critically at new ways of collaboration and coordination.

Community partners who informed the Food Action Plan have been experimenting with building on-site gardens at food pantries, using technology to lessen wait times for food banks, expanding mobile and home delivery food distribution systems, building new relationships with BIPOC-owned farms and grocers, and increasing the amount of quality food that is rescued from businesses and redirected toward food pantries and meal programs. These and other actions show Seattle's commitment to holistically addressing hunger and related food system challenges. We hope that these and other innovations can be scaled.

HSD's partnerships are also key to the Plan's success, such as ongoing engagement and coordination with the Seattle Food Committee, Meals Partnership Program, and Farm-to-Preschool network. This fall, HSD will partner with the University of Washington and several food pantries on a student nutrition project. Seattle Public Utilities will join conversations with food pantries and meal programs to improve food rescue. And HSD will partner with the Seattle Office of Emergency Management to co-host an emergency preparedness exercise for the food system. Each of these activities supports recommendations in the Food Action Plan.

In Mayor Harrell's press release, several valued City partners, including UW, OSL Serves, Solid Ground, and Public Health Seattle & King County, along with other farmers, food pantries, meal programs, business groups, and Farm-to-Preschool members, praised the plan's community-led priorities, system-wide approach, and focus on coordination. These partners-and other community members who informed the plan-are committed to working together to build a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient food system. Check back on our blog for future updates on the Plan's progress.