An account of the Food Policy Council’s workings, from Katie Souris:
Asheville’s new Food Policy Council is leaving the mall with a brand new pair of pants, and it will be wearing them around town for a few months (come on, we’ve all been guilty of it) to see how they fit.
The fledgling FPC has been a legitimate mall of sorts up until now; interested parties from all backgrounds and missions convening in UNCA’s Sherrill Center to discuss, hash out, deliberate, and ultimately dynamically agree what this web should support. Through a trial run of Dynamic Governance in action we decided that this mode of decision making would govern the 7 clusters that are taking shape out of the large group.
The third and final FPC meeting was geared to establish how many representatives each cluster would send to a central circle and how many and what those clusters would be. This was no easy task since as I mentioned we were also charged to decide on a way to decide. That success is arguably the most important thing to come from our meeting, as Dynamic Governance (a new concept to many of us more familiar with Consensus or shouting modes of decision making), could enable our Council to make….progress, consistently, and to work together, listening to all voices at the table. Accomplishing what has been repeated as the goal of inclusivity and representation of the under-represented….
Read More from the Mountain Xpress.