Good Food Rising Youth_Toolkit_JooMag | Page 126

getting active in your school You deserve a say about what’s on your plate Phew. We’ve covered a lot so far. Since all of these food system issues are interconnected, solving everything at once can feel daunting. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, let’s remember there’s a huge opportunity here to get involved and make change—and you can start in your very own school. Whether you care about animal welfare, the food workers who grow and process your food, the environment, nutrition and culturally relevant food, or supporting local food businesses— you can have a voice in making sure your school’s food represents your values. We hope that you these resources help you do just that. One way to influence your school’s food purchasing is through the Good Food Purchasing Program. This Program puts the values of this toolkit at the center of your school’s food This means, for example, that an institution can’t purchase food from farms that steal workers wages or companies that create unsafe working conditions in their factories. And it doesn’t let anyone off the hook for having terrible practices in one area while doing well in another. The Good Food Purchasing Program stresses that we can make the biggest impact on our food system by addressing all these values together. We talk more about this—and why we’re putting our muscle behind the Good Food Purchasing Program as a way to go after this vision—in the first section of this toolkit. 124