To enhance the sustainability of Cincinnati’s regional food system through strategic, collaborative activities to prevent, recover, and recycle food waste and educate the public on the issue.

Lessons learned about tools and tactics through the project that other sustainability directors could use to advance their work.

The most important lesson is the value of collaborating with community partners. The project’s non-profit partner, Green Umbrella, had a regional reach that allowed the sustainability office to have an impact far beyond its jurisdiction because work was replicated through extended partnerships. Green Umbrella also acted as a convener, bringing other regional partners to the table to enhance project work.

As an organization outside of city government, Green Umbrella was also able to advocate for policy and systems changes that internal city rules prohibited the sustainability office from acting on. For instance, changing composting rules to allow more community composting required policy advocacy that could not led by the sustainability office. Partnership development was incredibly important to the project work since policy change institutionalizes sustainability.