Who We Are
Mission & Vision
Our Mission
To create a more equitable, accessible, economically-vibrant, and environmentally sustainable food system in the State of Rhode Island
Our Vision
Through the work of the Rhode Island Food Policy Council and its partners, Rhode Island will have a just and resilient food system that provides routes to economic success for all food businesses and their employees, responds to pressing climate change and other environmental issues, and ensures access to fresh, nutritious, community-grown and culturally-preferred food for all.
Our Theory of Change (how we achieve our mission and reach our vision)
We convene, educate, and foster community-based advocacy that drives good food policy forward in order to achieve a just and resilient food system for all Rhode Islanders. We coordinate a statewide network of diverse food system stakeholders who catalyze high-impact partnerships, projects, and programs that address systemic and structural inequities. Our work supports civic engagement, a critical component of a healthy democracy.
Our Values
The Rhode Island Food Policy Council’s values reflect our collective aspirations and guide us in carrying out our mission. They reinforce each other, and are to be viewed holistically.
Because we value collaboration, we prioritize working with others to create and uphold a shared mission and vision, agree upon and abide by community agreements, decide together on policy priorities, and take collective action to move the local food system forward.
Because we value equity, we work explicitly and consistently to eliminate racial, cultural, and economic disparities, both in our network and across our whole food system, in order to improve outcomes for everyone by prioritizing the people most affected by food system inequities
Because we value community, we cultivate fellowship among our members by surfacing shared interests and goals, and by establishing relationships that leverage our unique personal identities and histories and allow us to work together in a spirit of trust, respect, and generosity.
Because we value diversity, we acknowledge and celebrate differences between our members, actively engage with communities across the state to share our mission and vision, seek perspectives from people who directly experience structural inequality, and consistently invite and welcome new members to join the network.
Because we value empowerment, we cultivate capacity, expertise, authority, and influence within our network and we encourage our members to use that power to take collective action for change that aligns our shared mission, vision, and values.
Statement on our Past and Future
The Rhode Island Food Policy Council was founded by a group of visionary leaders on World Food Day in 2011 and has been making a growing impact across the state since then. In our first five years we helped pass the state’s Local Agriculture and Seafood Act Grant Program and were instrumental in establishing the position of Director of Food Strategy in state government. In recent years, we have educated thousands of Rhode Islanders about good food policy, raised the capacity of hundreds to advocate for issues that make a difference in their communities, and established high-impact programs, projects, and pilots aimed at catalyzing progress toward a just and resilient state food system.
The need for the Rhode Island Food Policy Council is urgent. As we enter our second decade, we know we have more work to do, especially when it comes to centering racial justice and climate change in our network’s activities. The primary beneficiaries of our efforts are Rhode Islanders who suffer from inequalities inherent in the food system – lack of access to food, nutrition, transportation, land, capital, infrastructure, clear air and water, healthy soils, economic mobility, and a supportive policy environment – but our work to improve the environmental sustainability and economic strength of our food system benefits all Rhode Islanders.
In early 2024, we began a process of determining how the Rhode Island Food Policy Council can best direct our efforts to build momentum toward reaching our mission to create a more equitable, accessible, economically-vibrant, and environmentally sustainable food system. The results are presented in our three year Strategic Plan (2025-2027).
commitment to equity And Justice
RIFPC recognizes the fact that many negative impacts of Rhode Island’s current food system are grounded in a history of colonialism, genocide of indigenous people, slavery, private ownership of land, and the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of too few.
We also recognize that people with visible and non-apparent disabilities are among the most marginalized groups in our country. RIFPC believes that when power shifts to be shared more equitably across our communities and our state, we transform our future together for generations to come.
The mission of RIFPC is twofold. First, to build and maintain a strong network of committed stakeholders from across our entire food system. Second, to leverage that network to build a strong food system that is environmentally and economically sustainable, and that provides all Rhode Islanders with wholesome and affordable food. We believe that it is only possible for us to fulfill this twofold mission by identifying and working to eliminate the ways in which our food system is unjust.
In 2019, Council Members worked together to form this statement. It is revisited each year by the Council, Board, and staff. We strive to become a transformative, anti-oppression organization.
