About the Summit spin-off series

PFPC Summit spin-off Series: Continuing the Conversation, All Season Long

This year, the Pittsburgh Food Policy Council (PFPC) is transforming our one-day Pittsburgh Regional Food System Summit into the PFPC Summit Series, a dynamic lineup of events throughout the season. The Summit Spin-off Series provides a more flexible and accessible way to engage with the critical issues, emerging ideas, and collaborative efforts shaping our regional food system.

Through interactive workshops, panel discussions, and networking opportunities, the series brings together food system advocates, practitioners, and community members to learn, share, and build momentum for change.

PFPC Summit Spin-Off Series – Session Topics

1. Community Information & Resource Exchange
   A facilitated space for participants to swap useful tools, contacts, and upcoming opportunities across the food-system landscape.

2. Artistic Expressions of Resilience, Sustainability, Community & Justice
   Showcasing creative works that highlight, and inspire, transformative change in the Greater Pittsburgh food system.

3. Food as Medicine: Produce-Prescription Programs
   Exploring clinical-community partnerships that integrate fresh produce into healthcare for better health outcomes.

4. Food Funders Roundtable
   Guidance from philanthropic and corporate funders on priorities, application tips, and relationship-building for food-justice initiatives.

5. Partnering with Managed Care Organizations for Funding
   How community groups can identify, approach, and collaborate with MCOs to finance nutrition and wellness projects.

6. Good Food Purchasing Policy in Action
   Strategies for adopting GFPP to strengthen local economies, advance equity, and improve institutional food procurement.

Session #1
Planting Roots, Securing Ground:
Urban Land Access from All Angles

WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 2025 5-7 PM
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh - East Liberty
130 S Whitfield St, Pittsburgh, PA 15206

The Pittsburgh Food Policy Council (PFPC), the City of Pittsburgh Department of City Planning (DCP), and CitiParks hosted a community conversation on how City programs could strengthen our local food system.

Highlights

• Helped Shaped Pittsburgh 2050: The City was drafting its first-ever Comprehensive Plan. Attendees shared the food-system priorities they wanted to see in this historic document.

  Got the Inside Scoop:

  • Updates on the Adopt-a-Lot program, what was working and what was coming next

  • Ideas for growing and improving regional farmers' markets

  • Other City initiatives that supported growers, retailers, and eaters

  Registration & Meals

  Breakfast was provided free of charge courtesy of the City.

  A $5 registration fee secured a seat and covered lunch for the day.

  Community members shared their insights, asked questions, and helped build a more just, resilient, and vibrant Pittsburgh food system.