Boston City Council, Boston Public Schools (BPS), and the Good Food for Boston coalition are committed to developing and supporting a healthy and just food system in Boston. In the spring of 2018, Boston City Councilor At-Large Michelle Wu, in collaboration with BPS Food and Nutrition Services Director Laura Benavidez, expressed interest in a Good Food Purchasing Program for the city of Boston.

Boston Public Schools, the city’s largest purchaser of food, serves more than 11.1 million meals per year at 125 cafeterias and satellite schools, to more than 57,000 students.

Since July 2018, more than 20 stakeholder organizations have come together to discuss the Good Food Purchasing Program and how we might apply the standards to Boston’s unique context.  

In December 2018, the coalition turned out a cross-sector panel of experts at Boston City Council’s hearing introducing the ordinance. Following the panel, coalition members and community members representing farmers, parents, farm and food processing workers, the school system, animal welfare advocates, fishermen, nutrition experts, environmentalists, and more spoke in favor of the ordinance, eliciting vocal support from the City Councilors in attendance.