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To honor and celebrate Mrs. Cheryl L Graffagnino for her years of distinguished service as the Coordinator for Local Food System Strategies in the Center for Public Health Innovation at Columbus Public Health and to applaud her for improving the quality of life for the residents of the City of Columbus and Central Ohio.
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WHEREAS, Cheryl was a core member of the team that led the development of the City of Columbus - Franklin County Local Food Action Plan - moreover she helped provide strategic support to include the adoption of the plan by Columbus City Council and the Franklin County Board of Commissioners in late 2016; and
WHEREAS, under Cheryl’s leadership, more than 1200 Columbus and Franklin County residents and food system stakeholders helped informed the Plan’s 4 goals and 27 actions which seek to increase coordination and communication among new and existing food system efforts; increase access to and education about healthy, affordable, local food; increase the role of food in economic development; and reduce food related waste; and
WHEREAS, Cheryl, since joining Columbus Public Health, has represented the City of Columbus and Columbus Public Health on the Joint City-County Local Food Team, led the development of the Local Food Board and supported the Franklin County Local Food Council - and indisputably she has been the driving force behind many of the local food system successes; and
WHEREAS, under Cheryl’s leadership, more than $300,000 in local funding has been directed toward farmers markets, farm to school and community gardens and over $600,000 in USDA grants have been awarded to local projects - Cheryl supported the launch of the Linden Farmers Market and the FarmsSHARE programs to increase access to healthy, affordable, hyperlocal food in the community’s most vulnerable neighborhoods - she also led efforts to implement changes to the City of Columbus Zoning Code; changing the code to allow onsite sales of fresh unprocess...
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