Online Townhall Platform Seeks Your Minnesota Food Charter Suggestions

You’ve been asked to participate and you have! And now the Minnesota Food Charter is taking things to the next level. It’s here and you’re invited to participate – from your desk at work or sofa at home. The Minnesota Food Charter MindMixer Online Townhall platform is live.

Now through the end of January 2014, the Minnesota Food Charter will ask for your input on several critical topics related to the affordability, accessibility, availability, infrastructure, and knowledge related to healthy food access in Minnesota. And the best part about this online engagement tool is that all you need is Internet access to share your input.

“We launched this online presence to connect with a broad base of people who care about the future of healthy food in our state,” says David Wallinga, M.D., a Minnesota Food Charter Steering Committee member. “For the next 12 weeks, MindMixer will pose questions, ask for recommendations and ideas and compile feedback that our steering committee can then use to draft the Minnesota Food Charter.”

Using questions and polling techniques, several topics will be addressed including:

  • How to make healthy food more affordable
  • How to develop policies that promote healthy eating and food skills
  • Methods to keep the food supply more safe
  • How to develop and diversify food production and related enterprises

MindMixer has a track record of successfully creating online communities that engage with people and produce great ideas. More than 400 organizations have used this online engagement tool to obtain ideas from nearly 1 million people, fostering meaningful change at organizations around the country.

“We anticipate that during the next three months hundreds of people will share their feedback and suggestions,” added Dr. Mindy Kurzer, Chair of the Minnesota Food Charter Steering Committee. “This ‘socializing’ of ideas is a perfect way for our Food Charter to be the best it can be and we hope Minnesotans will embrace the concept, bookmark the site and start weighing in on the food issues that face our state.”