Archive for the ‘Society’ Category

Posted by Greg Bloom | July 29th, 2010

Yesterday I posted the statement presented by the People’s Movement Assembly on Food Justice at the US Social Forum in Detroit last month. The statement is a collective declaration — of the shared principles and intentions (“…re-building local food economies in our own communities, dismantling structural racism, democratizing land access, building opportunities for the leadership of our youth, and working towards food sovereignty in partnership with social movements around the world…”).

As I reported during the Social Forum, many of these principles and intentions can be seen in practice in Detroit. My reporting there only scratched the surface of the work that’s been done — and one of the things I learned was how much discussion and collective self-reflection had come before (and in the course of) meaningful action.

In the particular case of Detroit, the local food movement engaged in a series of workshops (facilitated by the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond) focused on confronting and dismantling racism in both the industrial food system and the movement itself. Participants analyzed race and power dynamics, and emerged with a shared set of ideas and vocabulary with which they can collaboratively work to restructure those dynamics.

During the People’s Movement Assembly on Food Justice at the Social Forum, participants formed a breakout group to focus specifically on this process of dismantling racism in the food system. As a white person of privilege working towards food justice in low-income, largely black communities in DC, I was grateful for the opportunity to join this group and learn more about my own role. Several leaders of Detroit’s movement helped facilitate the conversation, and we worked hard to consider what broad lessons could be drawn from their experience. The need (and desire) for greater dialogue was shared by all at the table, but many local food movements might not yet be at a point where it’s possible to gather the right set of people together in a room for a deep analysis of race, power, and white supremacy.

Yet we have to start the process somewhere (and, like it or not, that process is really best started in a place–not on a blog).

Fortunately, one promising answer can be found within the very stuff of this movement: food itself. More specifically, the way that social capital is generated by the growing, preparing, and eating of food. Several participants of the subgroup shared insights into how simple, deliberate community meals are used in their community to create spaces for dialogue and relationship-building. The Detroit folks recalled that their community’s dismantling racism workshops were, in fact, an idea that germinated in the course of a series of dinners among the movement’s leaders.

And so our Dismantling Racism subgroup of the Food Justice People’s Movement Assembly at the 2010 US Social Forum concluded with the presentation of what some may consider a “radical notion”: that we should gather people together in our communities to collaboratively prepare food, eat the food, and talk about the food.

Personally, I was energized and encouraged by this experience; after all, the DC Food For All launched 9 months ago in this very way. Relationships forged in the course of these early meals continue to bear fruit today. So I’m sharing the text of the proposal forged in Detroit here in hopes that we can experiment with these accessible, social, and political community-building meals here in DC.

A proposal for dismantling racism: Let’s eat together

{Click to read the full post.}

Posted by Rhea Kennedy | May 27th, 2010

As a recent American Prospect article made clear, not all farmers markets are geared toward shoppers who need fresh fruits and vegetables the most. Yet two markets in the District have opened or expanded this season to address that critical constituency.

The Howard University Hospital (HUH) began hosting a twice-weekly farmers market Tuesday, May 11, and will continue to feature produce from Pennsylvania and North Carolina farmers each Tuesday from 3 to 7 p.m. and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the hospital courtyard. The hospital is located in Ward 1 at 2041 Georgia Avenue NW, near the Shaw/Howard University Metro and steps off several Metrobus routes. The market accepts WIC and Senior CSFP vouchers.

The purpose of the market, according to a Howard press release, is to help address the scarcity of fresh fruits and vegetables in African American communities. With its location in Ward 1, the campus is a good place to start. The market is a project of the program HUH CARES, and has been commended by Dr. Denia Tapscott, a bariatrician and program director for the Center for Wellness and Weight Loss Surgery, as a service that can address the obesity epidemic among African Americans. The market may get a mention as part of EBONY Magazine’s year-long coverage of the center.

The Ward 8 Farmers’ Market starts its season on Saturday, June 5. The market, which carries a social justice mission, is now entering its 12^th season of bringing fruits, vegetables, herbs, plants, and more from Pennsylvania and Maryland to the heart of Congress Heights.  The market will be held every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the parking lot of the old Congress Heights School at 500 Alabama Ave. SE, near the Anacostia and Congress Heights Metro stations on the green line. For years, this area suffered from a dearth of grocery stores but an abundance of small corner stores, where fresh food makes up only one percent of the offerings.

The market will expand this year, creating the only weekday farmers market east of the Anacostia River.  Beginning on June 8, it will operate from the parking lot of the United Medical Center at 1310 Southern Ave. SE near the Southern Avenue Metro station on the green line. The market will run each Tuesday from 3 to 7 p.m. through October. Also new this year is a website for the market: www.ward8farmersmarket.com.

Both Ward 8 Farmers’ Market locations will accept EBT cards issued in D.C., SNAP cards issued in Maryland, the new WIC Cash Value Checks (CVC), and other food assistance coupons such as those offered by the WIC and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program.

The market continues to provide vegetables and fruit to corner stores in Congress Heights, with the help of a grant from the Capital Area Food Bank, in exchange for the promise that they are sold to the public at reasonable prices.

Posted by Matt Young | April 28th, 2010

“Two weeks, and still nothing,” Rosa sighs. Two weeks of no milk for herself, her two boys and the rest of the family. This scene resonates a driving theme through the rest of the film Garapa.

Garapa. A Brazilian term for raw sugar cane juice: something sweet, something dense with calories, but ultimately just that – saccharine. No vitamins, no minerals, no substance. To try and raise growing families predominantly on a diet of garapa understandably inflicts long-term strain on families in “developing countries” such as Brazil.

The film tells the story of Rosa, the family of a woman named Robertina who lives in Santa Rita, and the story of Lucia and her family, who live in favelas (slums) in Sao Joao. Both communities lie in Ceara, a northeast frontier region of Brazil and historically known as a backwater region (by even Brazilian standards). The families wait for monthly government payments via a “Zero Hunger” program to buy food for 10 to 12 days at a time.

Rosa’s husband at one point says, “Look, I am 28 years old and not once in my life have I eaten three meals in a single day.”

Posted by Xi Wang | March 9th, 2010

DC Food Not Bombs is an adhocratic group that shares vegan and vegetarian meals to promote healthy eating, peace, non-violence, community, and the reduction of waste in our economies. Barrett Jones made this short video of some of the behind-the-scenes preparation and serving.

[Cross posted to DC Food Not Bombs]

Posted by Liz Whitehurst | February 25th, 2010

By Robert Thomason

When Yao Afantchao first left his village in Togo for the United States relatives and friends showered him with gifts of local foods so that he would not be without his native diet. Loaded with mangoes, the peanuts of his region and dried delicacies he crossed the Atlantic.

But when the US Customs Service inspected his bags at JFK Airport, his first lesson in U.S. food economics and practices was a shock. The foodstuff of Afantchao’s homeland was confiscated.

Posted by Amy Johnson | January 21st, 2010

In celebration of their 30th Anniversary, the Capital Area Food Bank hosted a Hunger Policy Forum last Friday, January 15 at the offices of The Washington Post. Entitled, “Ideas & Inspirations for the Future,” the forum centered on a discussion by local and national experts about hunger in our nation and in the nation’s capital.

A few central themes emerged from the discussion. First and foremost among them was the notion that hunger is a problem that we can solve. Jim Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), noted that “the recession is the worst since the 30’s, but we’re rich enough to end hunger overnight. It’s a political problem.”

In other words, as a society we are capable of ending hunger. But do we have the will? And what roles do food pantries play in the problem?

“The time has come to maximize our impact in the political arena,” added Janet Poppendieck, professor at City University in New York and author of several books on poverty, but this mandate has a double edge: if we fail in that, Poppendieck said, then we “allow the marginally concerned to feel much better about hunger, and we are in danger of functioning as a moral safety valve.”

The other theme I noticed was that this potential political willpower for the pursuit of policy change can only be realized through the development of community. John Cook of the Boston Medical Center noted that we are infringing upon a “great awakening in the United States about our community.” He spoke hopefully about the opportunity that could come with a dawning awareness that “we are not individuals pursuing our own needs, but rather we are all connected.”

Posted by Xi Wang | January 15th, 2010

Food access is a topic that is gaining attention both nationally and locally.  A few stories this past week have converged on the topics of food access and children.
The momentum for school gardens and for students to have a better understanding of their relationship to food is building–especially in the nation’s capital.  The installment of [...]

Posted by Liz Falk | November 11th, 2009

Will Allen calls this a Good Food Revolution. And when standing shoulder to shoulder with 250 other people in a giant greenhouse on the outskirts of Milwaukee — where every foot of space is sprouting edible, nutritious, organic greens — it’s hard to not feel like this is a Revolution.

Last week I had the opportunity to attend a training and conference at Growing Power. Held at the 3-acre Growing Power main facility, the training was an insightful look into the operations of a highly successful urban community farm project. I toured the site, learned the ins and outs of Growing Power’s innovative farming systems, and spoke at length with staff and interns. Growing Power, now running 10 farm sites, managing more than a dozen greenhouses and an extensive aquaponic system thus enabling year-round food production and having processed over 20 million pounds of food waste into fertile soil, is (un)paving the way to urban food security and sustainability.

Ten years after establishing themselves, Growing Power is now being approached by Milwaukee city officials for advice and insight into creating sustainable communities. Milwaukee, with the help of Will Allen, has created a City Master Plan with urban agriculture as a major component of it. Public transportation is slated to be brought to every nook and cranny of the city, native and perennial plantings are replacing the ornamental non-native ones seen in public spaces, the Milwaukee Public Market is being expanded rather than closed, and subsidized housing projects are being renovated to include social and community services within them so to encourage people to stay in their communities. And just last week, the city of Milwaukee promised to help Growing Power raise $8 million to build the country’s first vertical farm!

Following the training, the conference, called “Growing Food and Justice For All”, was equally as exciting. It was there that I experienced the Good Food Revolution in action – at a very large scale. 250 people from all over the US (including Hawaii) and several from other countries were there to learn from Growing Power’s work and the work of each other. Each person came from a different community with different needs, different challenges and most importantly, different resources.

So, how is this all a Revolution? As revolutions go, this Good Food Revolution is driven by the people, and is for the people. And it’s only beginning to gain momentum. This Revolution is the energy of thousands of people across the US who work passionately and tirelessly to ensure that food – Good Food, fresh food – is available and accessible to every individual: to the young, the old, the rich, the poor, the disabled, the sick, nursery schoolers, college students, the urbanites, rural dwellers, the homeless and the homebound. This is the endless amount of resources and information each Good Food leader holds and their open and willingness to share it with others. This is the tangible action happening in our communities as a result of the communal knowledge. These actions beautify urban spaces. They teach at-risk youth how to farm and care for the land. They create urban markets where small family farmers can sell produce and make a living. They bring fresh produce to food deserts and corner stores where it has been scant. They empower people to live healthfully, to take control over their dietary choices and the health of their communities. They unite people through a simple and central component of all human existence: food.

The Good Food Revolution is changing the organizational structure of our food system as we know it. The new system we, each of us, are working to establish enables transparency and involvement at every level, from seed to fork. People (not machines) are planting seeds, tending fields, and delivering fresh food to their community. Food grown in communities is staying within those communities, creating jobs, and sustainable food economies.

As a stakeholder in our DC Good Food movement, the trip to Growing Power was an opportunity for me, personally and as Director and co-Founder of Common Good City Farm, to gain perspective on a community food project, on its management structure, on its methods of operations, its relationship to its staff, immediate neighbors, and the greater network of community food projects nationwide. Further, I was looking forward to attending a food conference that was more than just about how to grow food, but that was focused on how to involve people, how to ensure equity for all people, how to inspire people to be leaders and recognize their own potential. And moreover, it was exciting to represent DC, the Nation’s Capitol, at the conference and bring my new learned wisdom back to share in hopes it can help continue our momentum as leaders in the Good Food Movement here.

Altogether, in one conference room, talking about people, talking about food, talking about peoples’ access too food, about neighborhoods and growing food in cities, it was very clear that a Revolution is happening with our food system. Each person in that room is doing their part, in their way, to make sure that somebody else is able to have Good Food. And as we all know, “ a group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed that is the only thing that ever has.”

Liz Falk is a founder and director of Common Good City Farm.