“Greater successes are achieved when the top and bottom realize their role in the movement and work in cooperation, and partnership, rather than in isolation. …[C]hange happens not from the top down, or only from the bottom up, but when the top and bottom work side-by-side to achieve social change.” –from the Facilitating Change in the Food Justice Movement study
Facilitating Change in the Food Justice Movement
In our work for food justice, we know that we face many challenges — lack of food access, so-called “food deserts,” skyrocketing rates of obesity and diet-related diseases, to name just a few. And we know that many of these problems hit low-income communities and communities of color the hardest. Too often, communities hardest hit by the impacts of the unhealthy food system aren’t seen as also having the solutions to the challenges they face–when the reality is that the most lasting and sustainable solutions are those that come from the ground up.
D’Artagnan Scorza, Executive Director of Social Justice Learning Institute (SJLI) in Inglewood, California, and Nikki Henderson, Executive Director of People’s Grocery (PG), in Oakland, California, have been talking about this paradox for a long time. They continued these conversations as part of WhyHunger’s Community Learning Project for Food Justice, and the result is the groundbreaking study, “Facilitating Change in the Food Justice Movement.”
The paper examines the roles of community-based organizations, non-profits and funders in facilitating real change, and analyzes the strategies and theories of change of SJLI and PG as organizations successfully working with residents to address diet-related health disparities. The report concludes with strong recommendations for food justice and community health work to start from within the community, driven by community needs and local leaders with support–rather than direction–from external organizations and funders.
Our publication Cooking Up Community: Nutrition Education in Emergency Food Programs is a living document. The guide is part of an ongoing effort to aggregate and make available critical resources for emergency food providers. You can email us at nhc@whyhunger.org to let us know how we can continue to improve this resource. In the coming months, we will be posting an appendix to the guide (at the above link) with new profiles and tips.
Here is an example of what’s to come…
FOODBANK OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Santa Barbara, CA
DESCRIPTION
The Foodbank of Santa Barbara County is a mid-sized food bank that serves a quarter of the Santa Barbara County population, approximately 100,000 people. Part of their mission is to improve the nutritional health of all residents of Santa Barbara County because everyone can benefit from optimal health. To accomplish this, the Foodbank has transformed itself into an organization that is about advocacy, empowerment, preventive health, and ultimately, community food security.
The Foodbank took into account that when parents were not adept at preparing food, the potential for increased nutritional value derived from foods was minimized, and families were still hungry. Their capacity includes a combination of self-efficacy, the belief that one has the skills and knowledge to perform a particular activity, and the belief that certain behaviors, in this case preparing food, can influence health outcomes. These issues required the Foodbank to change their educational approach and see every food that they distributed as an opportunity to educate their clients and support their mission.
NUTRITION EDUCATION ACTIVITIES
The Foodbank of Santa Barbara County’s philosophy on nutrition education is continuous food learning throughout a person’s life. As Serena Fuller, PhD, RD, the Foodbank’s Health Education and Evaluation manager puts it, “We should always be educating and exposing people to food. Open mind, open palate. It’s about learning and adapting throughout the lifespan.” [read entire article…]
By Brooke Smith, Director of WhyHunger’s Grassroots Action Network
For a few amazing autumn days in New Mexico, I had the opportunity to visit and learn from the production innovations, long-term training strategy and layered community leadership of the Agri-Cultura Network and AFSC New Mexico’s Farmer-to-Farmer training program. Check out snapshots of the trip with WhyHunger Community Learning Project friends and partners Aaron Cardona, Cesar Lopez, Don Bustos, Fidel Gonzalez and Patrick Jaramillo.
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Hoop houses on Don Bustos’ Santa Cruz Farm in Espanola, NM, produce thousands of pounds of produce every season.
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Visiting a training and production farm in Albequerque, NM.
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The team at the South Valley Economic Development Center, where the post-harvest processing takes place.
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Don, Aaron and Cesar visiting an Agri-Cultura Network training site in Espanola, NM.
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Fidel demonstrates how he’s using passive solar techniques to heat the greenhouse during the cooler months.
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Fidel shows us his sprouts.
Alejandro Tecum is originally from Guatemala. As a boy, he used to help his father and grandfather on their family farm. He remembers the day when a US Peace Corps volunteer arrived to help his father transition from traditional, sustainable farming practices to more modern conventional methods. He recalls the first harvest using the new methods being plentiful, with healthy, vibrant, flavorful vegetables. But with each consecutive year, the bountiful harvest got smaller and smaller, despite the increase in the synthetic petroleum-based fertilizers. Now, as the Director of the Adelante Agricultura Program at Adelente Mujeres in Forest Grove, Oregon, Alejandro works with and supports Latino immigrant farmers and their families in learning sustainable, organic farming practices.
On La Esperanza Farm, Alejandro provides training and technical assistance to 35 people and families who are interested in learning to farm both to grow food for their families and as a way to provide additional income. Below, Alejandro shares more on the farm and the families there who are growing food and creating new opportunities for themselves and their community.
Adelante Mujeres is a 2012 USDA Community Food Projects Grantee. Click here to learn more about the organization’s work in its home community of Forest Grove, Oregon.
