Urban Farming & Food Justice When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgot a sheaf in the field, you shall not go again to get it: it shall be for the foreigner, for the orphan, and for the widow; that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. Deuteronomy 24:19
Food Security Food security for a household means access by all members at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. Food security includes at a minimum (1) the ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, and (2) an assured ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways (that is, without resorting to emergency food supplies, scavenging, stealing, or other coping strategies). (USDA)”
Food Justice While these definitions of food security reveal some fundamental ideas behind the term and its correlating school of thought, People’s Grocery recognizes that an accurate and thorough understanding of hunger, the risk of starvation and/or the lack of access to sufficient or healthy food sources entails an analysis of structural inequalities and imbalances of power within a framework of human rights and social justice. After all, it is commonly agreed upon that enough food is produced globally to feed the entire world population at a level adequate to ensure that everyone can be free of hunger and fear of starvation. What prevents equal distribution of food is primarily a complex set of global and local inequities. (The People’s Grocery)
Global Food Crises • Food prices are rising • Number of people living in hunger is growing rapidly • Global food security is threatened
Philadelphia’s Challenges • Low-income neighborhoods have little access to fresh, healthy produce • Diet-related diseases such as obesity and Diabetes are at epidemic levels • There are enormous social, health and environmental costs associated with these problems
What is the Response? • Urban Nutrition Initiative • The Food Trust • Mill Creek Farm • The Jewish Farm School
Changing an Unhealthy System Supply Distribution Education Policy
Urban Nutrition Initiative
University City High School Farmer’s Market
The Food Trust • Working on Policy • Supermarket Initiative • City- Wide Farmer’s Markets
School Nutrition Policy: Healthy Beverages and Snacks
Improving Access: The Fresh Food Financing Initiative A public-private partnership to close the financing gap faced by supermarket operators in underserved communities across Pennsylvania.
Open for Business! $21 million in grants and loans approved for 22 new stores across the state as a result of this project!
Farmer’s Markets
Nutrition Education: Into the Classroom
Mill Creek Farm
Jewish Farm School Urban Sustainability Programs
Distribution Farmers’ Markets Supply Sustainable Agriculture School Markets Cafeterias Community Gardens Supermarkets Education Policy Classrooms PA Legislature US Congress Communities Youth Garden Crews City Council
IMAP: Guatemala
Bringing in Home • Plant a Garden • Use the garden as a forum for discussing global food issues • Connect to an area food bank • Teach the Jewish agricultural laws
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