Councilmember Tommy Wells, the chairperson of the D.C. Council’s Committee on Libraries, Parks, Recreation, and Planning, touted the health, educational, and environmental benefits of community gardens.  He proposed that the D.C. government play a more active role to ensure that local residents have an opportunity to grow their own food.  Wells noted that under the District’s 1986 Food Production and Urban Gardens Program Act, the mayor was instructed to establish a food production and urban gardens program.  This program would collect and maintain an up-to-date inventory of vacant lots which would be accessible by the public and it would implement policies encouraging “the donation and cultivation of vacant lots.”

Julie Day and Rashelle Celestin, who work for Baltimore City’s Department of Housing and Community Development, were invited to describe Baltimore’s Adopt-A-Lot program, which makes more than 4,000 vacant lots available for community gardening and neighborhood beautification projects.  Each lot is listed on the department’s Web site.  The application process to license a vacant lot takes approximately two weeks.  After the group has used the space for one year, it can renew its license for up to five years.  The department works with the city’s Bureau of Water and Wastewater to provide each garden with water, charging $120 per growing season.  The city has also formed partnerships with land trusts to preserve community gardens and open green spaces.

Access to water is a challenge for many community gardens in Washington, D.C.  Scott Kratz of the Pomegranate Alley Community Garden in Capitol Hill explained that his garden relies on an adjoining garden center, Ginkgo Gardens, to provide the gardeners with water.  Addie Cook, the president of the Fort Stanton Community Garden in Anacostia, said that the garden has not had access to water since it opened in 2001.  At one time, the fire department sprayed the garden with water but that is no longer the case.

A common theme among those testifying is the lengthy and complicated process to lease vacant land.  Groups that would like to lease a vacant lot must work with numerous city agencies to identify the owner, acquire permits, and determine taxes and tax liens.  Stephen Coleman, the president of Washington Parks and People, pointed out that in order to build the North Columbia Heights Green community garden, his organization had to work with seven city agencies and invalidate 45 tax liens.  Many who testified suggested that the city should provide the public with a list of vacant lots that are available for community gardening and urban agriculture purposes, streamline the process to lease vacant land, and designate a staff member who would work with them to coordinate the process.  Several people recommended that D.C. tax codes and land use regulations be revised to make it easier and less expensive for groups to establish urban food gardens.

Through their testimony, individuals and organizations revealed that despite the barriers they face, they have managed to transform vacant land, rooftops and even the back of a truck into food-producing spaces.  As they shared their success stories and the challenges they face, citizens were making the case that with more government support, the District of Columbia could become a center of urban food production.

To watch the entire hearing, visit the D.C. Channel 13 on-demand video Web site for the week of December 11-17 and scroll down to the “12/15/2011 Public Hearing, Committee on Libraries, Parks, Recreation and Planning.”

About the author:  Cintia Cabib is a local documentary filmmaker.  Her latest documentary, A Community of Gardeners, explores the vital role of seven community gardens in Washington, D.C. and shows how these green spaces are changing people’s lives, their communities and their environment.

Skillshares are informal events for exchanging skills which might be useful to our clients. Turnout has been growing since our first two–”Share Photos on Facebook” and “Computer Tips and Tricks”–and each time we’ve discovered new ideas for things we want to teach and learn together.

We’d like you to join us on Friday, December 9th for our next skillshare, Interview Your Family.

We’ll be joined by guest facilitator, friend, and blogger Danny Harris. Danny interviews DC residents from all walks of life and publishes the stories he collects on his blog, People’s District. Thanks Danny!

Got a media skill to share? Email us at storybank@breadforthecity.org

How it works: You shop like any other day, EXCEPT that 5% of all sales at the two Whole Foods locations that day will go toward growing the WIC and SNAP (food stamp) programs at the 14th & U, Mount Pleasant, Bloomingdale and NoMa farmers’ markets during their 2012 season.

Learn more about the project here.

Position: Mobile Market & School Educator
Organization: Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture

Summary

Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture is looking for an enthusiastic, engaging, self-motivated School Educator.  The Educator will spearhead food education efforts for DC-area students in school cafeterias and on the Mobile Market when the bus visits local schools.

About Arcadia

Arcadia is a new non-profit organization with a mission to improve the health of our community, increase the viability of local farmers, and preserve the environment for future generations.  Arcadia’s programs raise awareness about healthy food and its sources and establish innovative connections between sustainable local farms and consumers.

Arcadia’s educational farm is located on the historic Woodlawn estate in Alexandria, VA.  The farm models sustainable growing practices and engages the community through volunteer days, field trips, and special events.  Our Mobile Market is a farmers’ market on wheels that distributes fresh, affordable food to underserved DC-area neighborhoods.  Our Farm to School program connects schools with healthy, local food for their school meals; and engages schoolchildren in the farm-to-table process.  Our Food Hub will aggregate local products that meet strict sustainability guidelines, and distribute them to schools, restaurants and other urban institutions.

Responsibilities

The School Educator will report to Arcadia’s Farm to School Director, and will develop and implement educational programming at DC-area schools.  In addition to participating in special events and other duties as assigned, the School Educator will oversee two main programs:

Mobile Market Education

• Develop engaging, standards-based, age-appropriate farm-to-market educational programming for Mobile Market visits to DC-area schools, to include interactive culinary activities, mock farmers’ market activities, and plant life demonstrations;
• Manage budget, equipment, materials and food for Mobile Market school visits;
• Lead Mobile Market educational programming at schools during school visits – pilot project in early Spring 2012 for full roll-out in Fall 2013;
• Coordinate visit logistics with school point people (teachers, principals, custodial staff);
• Develop systems to gather feedback and evaluate program effectiveness;
• Work closely with Mobile Market Director and Mobile Market Assistant; and
• Assist with special Mobile Market educational events related to youth/family engagement.

Local Food Taste Tests

• Develop in-cafeteria, local food taste test programming in conjunction with Arcadia’s Farm-Fresh Feature initiative, which celebrates a different seasonal, local produce item each month;
• Lead Local Food Taste Test pilot project in Spring 2012 for full roll-out in Fall 2013;
• Coordinate with school point people (teachers, principals, food service staff);
• Recruit and manage volunteer assistants (parents, teachers, food service staff from school community);
• Coordinate preparation of communication and educational materials, recipes, signage, stickers, and handouts;
• Source and prepare food and serving implements; and
• Develop system to gather feedback and evaluate program effectiveness.

Qualifications

• Culinary/food safety experience required
• Experience with and desire to work with children (pre-K-12) in the school setting
• Experience with curriculum development (in the DC school system a plus!)
• Experience working with low-income, diverse populations
• Strong commitment to Arcadia’s mission and values
• Strong understanding of and passion for issues such as nutrition, child health, sustainable agriculture, and culinary arts
• Self-starter; ability to work in a low-structure environment
• Dynamic, energetic personality
• Excellent organizational and time-management skills
• Strong attention to detail and ability to coordinate complex logistics
• Excellent written, oral and presentation skills
• Ability to work well with a team
• Willingness to work evening and/or weekend hours

Hours & Travel

20 hrs/week; January 2, 2011 – June 15, 2011
Hours are flexible, but primarily be during school hours (8am-3pm), occasionally nights/weekends
Must be able to travel to schools in Washington, DC

Compensation

$15/hr, plus fresh produce from the farm when available!

To apply:

Email brief cover letter (300 words or fewer), resume, and list of 3 references to info@arcadiafood.org with subject line “Mobile Market School Educator Application” by 5pm on Friday Dec. 9.

The D.C. Farm to School Network is pleased to announce that the third annual D.C. Farm to School Week will take place October 3-7, 2011 in schools across Washington, DC!  The week will get students excited about local food and where it comes from.  Schools will feature seasonal, local foods in their school meals, and engage students in hands-on food education.

Get your school involved! Learn how at www.dcfarmtoschoolweek.org, where you’ll find tools, resources and instructions for registering your school.  The D.C. Farm to School Network will help every step of the way.

Sponsor the event! We’re looking for organizations and individuals interested to help make D.C. Farm to School Week a success.  Read our Sponsor Packet to learn more.

Cleveland Elementary students visit Common Good City Farm

The event will kick-off the first ever National Farm to School Month in October, celebrated by schools all over the country.  Last year, over 150 schools served up seasonal specialties such as honey-braised local apple and collard green salad, and Asian slaw with local cabbage during D.C. Farm to School Week.  And dozens of schools coordinated farm field trips and chef demonstrations to engage students in the farm-to-table process.  Let’s make this year’s event even better!

For more information, visit www.dcfarmtoschoolweek.org or email Andrea Northup, D.C. Farm to School Network Manager at the Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture, at andrea[at]dcfarmtoschool[dot]org.  This event is brought to you by the D.C. Farm to School Network and the Office of the State Superintendent of Education Department of Wellness & Nutrition Services, in conjunction with schools and other community partners.  And remember, D.C. School Garden Week will take place Sept. 26 – Oct. 1!

While the debate continues on how to successfully navigate the modern food system and encourage healthier eating habits, one theme is clear: systemic change starts at the individual level, and changing individual behaviors necessitates food education opportunities that are low-cost and accessible to traditionally underserved communities.

That’s why Brainfood will be launching Brainfood Community MVPs, a new youth-led teaching initiative, this fall.  We’ll be heading out of the kitchen and into the community as a fully mobile teaching unit, bringing recipes for healthy alternatives, working with local farms and gardens, and spreading the good news that healthy cooking ain’t all that bad after all.

What is Community MVPs?

The inspiration for Community MVPs came directly from the youth population that Brainfood has served for over 10 years.

In participant focus groups, one clear theme emerged: after building cooking and leadership skills at Brainfood, program graduates want to use their skills to serve the community.  We were inspired, though not surprised, that our youth want to help fill the need for more hands-on, culturally appropriate food education resources in the District.

Community MVPs is a program that gives Brainfood graduates the opportunity to take their cooking and leadership skills out of the kitchen and into the community. This 9-month program teaches returning Brainfood students how to develop and facilitate hands-on workshops on healthy cooking.  During the fall participants will design workshops and refine their teaching techniques.  In the spring, participants will identify community groups who are in need of food education resources and schedule times to deliver their workshops at on and off-site locations.  Participants will also be paid for their work as community teachers.

Why this program?
In focus groups conducted with current and past participants we discovered that program graduates wanted to use their cooking skills to serve the community.  We were inspired, though not surprised, that our youth are ready to help build a support system in DC that empowers residents to make healthier food choices.

Community MVPs is also a continuation of Brainfood’s commitment to meeting people where they are. Building a healthier DC will take more than just having great spaces for urban gardens and farmers markets, or having businesses open retail locations in more neighborhoods. We believe that community based outreach, free or low-cost food education resources, and the creation of safe and welcoming spaces are necessary to change the way that people eat, cook, and buy their food.  We also believe that Community MVPs will exemplify how a diverse group of stakeholders can leverage local food and resources to positively impact the community.

How can Community MVPs help my group or organization?
In Spring 2012, our inaugural class of Community MVPs will be offering hands-on cooking workshops on healthy cooking to community groups.  Have our trained core of student teachers teach a healthy cooking workshop at your organization’s site, or schedule a time to bring a group to our kitchen.  Our student teachers are DC teens who are committed to building skills and empowering the community to make fresher, healthier food.

Wanna support our inaugural class of Brainfood Community MVPs?  We’re currently looking for committed, creative individuals to coach our youth teachers to success.  Check our our website or email Carina Gervacio (carina@brain-food.org) for more info.

The Parkside-Kenilworth Farmers Market will be just over the Pedestrian Bridge at the Minnesota Avenue Metro Station on the Kenilworth Avenue side. The Market is a collaborative effort between City Interests, the owner and master developer of 15.5 vacant acres of land at Parkside; the University of DC; and the Banc of America Community Development Corporation. The Market is just one of many initiatives underway in DC’s own federally designated Promise Neighborhood, which received a $500,000 grant from the US Department of Education in 2010 to address community-wide issues of health, nutrition, housing, economic development, and education from cradle through college and career.

The yellow star indicates the Farmers Market.

The Market is working toward being able to accept SNAP and WIC payments and hopes to utilize the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) as well. It is the hopes of the Market’s founders that the weekly event will become an outlet for creative, active programming and will draw greater attention to the concerns of food access and nutrition in underserved neighborhoods throughout the District.

This is an exciting development for the Parkside-Kenilworth neighborhood and for Ward 7 as a whole! Check out the Market on Saturday, September 3^rd from 9-1pm to support ongoing efforts to address food access inequalities east of the Anacostia River.

WHAT: Parkside-Kenilworth Farmers Market

WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 3^rd from 9am – 1pm and every Saturday following through November

WHERE: The corner of Burnham Place NE & Kenilworth Terrace NE, just off the Minnesota Avenue Metro Station Pedestrian Bridge on the Kenilworth Avenue side. Visible from DC-295.

WHY: Supporting the Market will support the larger cause of bringing greater food access to underserved neighborhoods throughout Washington, D.C.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jennifer Adach, 202.986.2200 x3018, jadach@frac.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. – August 11, 2011 – More than 37 percent of households with children in Washington, D.C. reported in 2009-2010 not having enough money to buy food that they needed for themselves or their family at times during the prior twelve months, according to a new analysis of food hardship data (pdf) released by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC).  Among states, D.C. has the highest food hardship rate among households with children.

FRAC’s Food Hardship in America series analyzes data that were collected by Gallup and provided to FRAC. The data were gathered as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index project, which has interviewed more than one million households since January 2008. FRAC has analyzed responses to the question: “Have there been times in the past twelve months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?”

The analysis released today examines food hardship rates – the inability to afford enough food – for households with and without children. Data are available for every state, every Congressional District and 100 of the country’s largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). Findings for Washington, D.C. and the metro area include:

• There is a dramatic difference in food hardship rates between households with and without children. In 2009-2010, 37.4 percent of households with children in the District of Columbia said they were unable to afford enough food. The food hardship rate for households without children drops to 14.9 percent.
• For the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria MSA, 9.4 percent of households without children reported food hardship in 2009-2010. But, once again, the numbers were dramatically higher for households with children – 19.4 percent of households with children said that they had difficulty affording enough food.

“The fact that one in three households with children – and one in five in the metro area as a whole –struggle to afford enough food in the nation’s capital should shock people, and should underscore the fact that we cannot weaken programs that benefit low-income families,” said D.C. Hunger Solutions Director Alex Ashbrook. “We urge Members of Congress – who live and work in this city – to ensure that all deficit negotiations protect nutrition programs and other parts of the safety net that help low-income people.”

When Congress returns to Washington after its August recess, it will enter the next phase of consideration under the recently passed debt ceiling deal. D.C. Hunger Solutions joins FRAC in urging Congress to recognize the absolute necessity of protecting low-income programs such as SNAP (food stamps) and school meals from cuts.

“These data merely underscore what every Member of Congress should know already — that his or her district has tens of thousands of households struggling with hunger or food insecurity,” said FRAC President Jim Weill. “Weakening any of these key safety net programs would make hunger and malnutrition more common and deeper. It could increase fiscal deficits, further weaken the economy, and increase human suffering in the district.”

The full analysis is available on FRAC’s website (www.frac.org).

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Thanks to the Double Dollars program, our clients can enjoy more farm fresh produce all month long.

Thanks to grants from the Wholesome Wave Foundation, an increasing number of farmers markets in DC not only accept food stamps (including WIC, SNAP, or senior vouchers) but even double their value up to $10 for each visit.

So, for example, if someone wants to spend $10 of their SNAP money at a participating market, the market will give them another $10 for a total of $20 to spend on fresh fruits and vegetables. That goes a long way toward making locally grown, fresh produce affordable for our clients.

Even better: food stamp recipients can double their dollars at as many participating farmers markets as they want, in as many weeks of the month as they want. So if someone goes to two farmers markets a week, every week of the month, and that person spends $10 in food stamps each time, he or she receives an extra $80 that month to spend on fresh, healthy produce!

There are currently at least eight local markets that participate in the Double Dollars program (up from just two when Bread for the City first reported on this program back in 2009). Participating markets include:

• Ward 8: 1901 Mississippi Avenue SE. Saturdays 9 AM – 2 PM
• Columbia Heights: 14th St. & Park Road NW. Saturdays 9AM-2PM
• Dupont Circle: 1500 20th St NW. Sundays 8:30 AM – 1 PM
• H Street NE: 625 H Street NE. Saturdays 9 AM- Noon
• Health and Human Services: 200 Independence Avenue SW. Wednesday 11 AM – 2 PM.
• By the White House: 810 Vermont Avenue NW. Thursdays 3 – 7 PM.
• The Crossroads (MD): 7676 New Hampshire Avenue Takoma Park. Wednesdays 2:30-6:30 PM
• Silver Spring (MD): Ellsworth Drive between Fenton St & Georgia Ave. Saturdays 9AM -1PM

WIC, SNAP, or Senior Food Voucher recipients simply go up to the market information table each time they attend, swipe or present their food stamp card, and tell the staff member on-site how much of their food stamp allotment they would like to spend. The staff member will hand them their dollars, as well as an equal number of “Market Dollar” coupons that they can use at the market. It’s that easy to make food stamps go twice as far!

Last month, Bread for the City hosted a Free “Farmers Market” at our NW Center, where we provided over 150 people with a free bag of fresh produce. This Friday, from 10am to noon at our Southeast Center (1640 Good Hope Road), we’re doing it all over again! We hope that by promoting initiatives like the Double Dollars program at these markets, we can help our clients access fresh, healthy foods all month, every month.

We're ready to give away more fresh, free produce, this time at our SE center!

I am working on getting copies of the zine to those groups who hosted workshops during the urban farms bike tour — Neighborhood Farm Initiative, Washington Youth Garden, the Farm at Walker Jones, City Blossoms, and Common Good City Farm — all of whom are featured in the Summer 2011 issue’s beautiful black-and-white photo essay. Bittersweet will be available at small, local outlets soon, but if you’re antsy to see and read more about community and food, you can read some of the stories on their website (or of course you can purchase a copy of the zine).

Though food has been the focus of the previous two issues — spring 2011 (public health) and summer 2011 (cultivating community development) — the fall 2011 issue will focus on defending human rights. Since many of you are activists in matters beyond just food access (though, really, food access is about empowerment, so it’s all related), I wanted to mention that Bittersweet is seeking contributors for future issues of the quarterly magazine. Those interested can contact Amanda Lahr at amanda(at)bittersweetcreative(dot)com.