Healthy Food For Everyone! Building a Cooperative Community Food System in West
Oakland
By People's Grocery (from www.peoplesgrocery.org)
People's Grocery is a community-based organization in West
Oakland that develops creative solutions to the health, environmental and
economic challenges our community faces every day.
The number one cause of death in West Oakland is not
violence, but heart disease - accounting for 29% of all deaths from 1996-1998
(Source: Alameda County Public Health Department of Vital Statistics).
We want to change the way the food system works. Our mission
is to develop a self-reliant, socially just and sustainable food system in West
Oakland through community-based, youth-focused and innovative social
enterprises, urban agricultural projects, educational programs and public
policy initiatives that foster healthy, equitable and ecological community
development.
We believe everyone deserves healthy food, regardless of
income. In our view, it's about "food justice" - the human right to healthy
food for everyone.
We have found that when you give people access to healthy
and affordable food, you also begin address problems like obesity and
diet-related diseases, which are at epidemic levels in communities like West
Oakland. We think: why stop at improving the physical health of the community?
So we also provide nutrition education, create sorely-needed jobs, develop
local cooperative businesses and help young people become entrepreneurs and
leaders.
In the short term, our residents need healthier foods,
stable employment, job training and meaningful educational opportunities.
However, our vision is much larger than that. We are building an independent
food system and a local economy grounded in community partnerships and
a local knowledge-base. We want to give people the tools to control
their own food supply and help our community to become more self-reliant.
Our activities include:
• Educating residents about sustainable agriculture,
heath/nutrition, and food justice
• Providing employment, entrepreneurial business training
and life skills for youth
• Developing food-related enterprises and small businesses
• Developing methods of low-cost food distribution and
marketing
• Supporting local family farms, organic farms and farmers
of color
• Strengthening the ability to produce food locally through
urban agriculture
• Advocating for policy changes at the governmental and
institutional level
For more information about the organization, please visit: www.peoplesgrocery.org.
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