a Community-led coalition convening. advocating. and guiding. san francisco toward a good food system

Mission

FAACTS works to connect the food systems of SF and, informed by our values, builds a unified approach that inclusively meets the food needs of our neighbors. Our mission is to build a just, sustainable, and holistic food system, ensuring we are neighborhood-based and coordinated across every district in the City, with the goal of nourishing our community in a way that is sincere, healthy, empowering, specific, culturally relevant, humble, and abundant.

values

  • From sourcing to distribution to food waste management, food access must be a holistic, non-transactional and dignified experience for all, rooted in communal and individual autonomy across communities.

  • Food systems issues are a human rights issue. Solutions need to address systemic inequities to empower individual agency and community-led resilience and accountability.

  • Informed by our understanding of the historical and systemic racial inequities of San Francisco, our food coalition centers racial equity by ensuring decision making, investment, and leadership are representative + inclusive of communities most affected.

  • Our coalition supports and advances an interconnected, community-centered, accessible, and abundant value chain that fosters agency, dignity, and health for San Francisco.

  • Bringing about a food system that is inclusive, community-led and participatory without the exploitation of people, land, or the environment.

  • We acknowledge that our food system exists within capitalism, and we aim to decouple the profit motive inherent in colonial/white culture from food. Food is essential. We work to be in reciprocity and respect with our food, the land it comes from, and the Indigenous people who are the land's true stewards.

our history

The Food and Agriculture Action Coalition Toward Sovereignty (FAACTS) came together in May 2022 when more than a dozen representatives from community organizations sprang into action to save $45 million that was being used to feed over 70,000 families during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the direct advocacy of this coalition, we have been able to secure $75 million over the last three years.

When the group first convened, it became clear that ensuring consistent and equitable access to food and nutrition services in San Francisco would go well beyond both a one-time advocacy effort and short-term thinking about hunger. Hunger on a grand scale predates the COVID-19 pandemic, and the need to redefine food as a priority in SF has only grown. A citywide, broad-based movement is required to realize a more just and sustainable food system that meets the needs of everyone and builds toward food sovereignty. Through a series of mini-retreats, including over 70 participants across 30 local partner organizations, FAACTS was born in 2022.

Meet the organizations behind the coalition.