Non-profit volunteers discussed the role that hunger plays in prolonging poverty in the fourth part of a professional development webinar series.
Building Equity in the Silicon Valley Food System is hosted by Veggielution, a community garden in San Jose, and Thrive, a San Mateo County-based network of 200+ nonprofit organizations.
The two speakers were Dawn DiFiore, director of community partnerships at Good Shepherd Food Bank in Maine, and Lauralyn Clawson, director of operations at Urban Growers Collective in Chicago.
They spoke to Zoom participants on their individual food systems project that aim to help their own respective communities.
DiFiore said she works with many teams across the food bank.
DiFiore said improving access to nutritious food, building strong partnerships and mobilizing the public are important to finding long-term solutions in ending hunger.
“Our society has more than enough food for all but systemic inequities prevent all of our neighbors from having enough resources needed to meet their basic needs,” she said. “We believe we can and must make a different choice and work together to solve the root causes of hunger.”
DiFiore said hunger in Maine is a significant issue though news outlets don’t usually cover it.
“Maine currently has the second highest food insecurity rate in New England and the highest rate of very low food insecurity – a more severe range of food insecurity that involves reduced food intake and disrupted eating patterns,” she said.
DiFiore said single parent households have the highest rates of food insecurity, and nearly four times the overall rate in Maine. She said Black, Latino, Indigenous and other non-white households also experienced significantly higher rates of food insecurity.
In the Bay Area, there was a 63% increase in food insecurity in Hispanic households with children, and in households experiencing job disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a SJSU ScholarWorks article.
Good Shepherd Food Bank is committed to end hunger in Maine by the year 2025, according to its webpage. To do this, it wants to raise $250 million in a statewide campaign for accessible and nutritious food.
DiFiore said this goal will be achieved with at least $150 million and large scale food donations raised from food retailers, manufacturers, producers and farmers.
She said the other $100 million will come from private donations from individuals, businesses and philanthropic foundations.
“We acknowledge the food bank cannot achieve its mission alone and we rely on the experience and expertise, expertise of the many community partners to do our work,” she said. “We must listen to understand the diverse experiences and needs of Mainers at risk of hunger and we must invest in and work alongside our partners and neighbors.”
Clawson spoke on behalf of Urban Growers Collective, a Black and women-led nonprofit farm in Chicago that aims to create an equitable food system.
Urban Growers Collective grows food, provides jobs and “cultivates eight urban on 11 acres of land, predominantly on Chicago’s south side,” according to its webpage.
Clawson said some of the organization’s short-term goals is to increase knowledge and access to healthy foods as well as increasing the number of healing spaces.
“We very much enjoy partnering with the Chicago Park District because we recognize that park districts are land that is held in perpetuity for the benefit and enjoyment of Chicagoans,” she said.
Clawson said as Urban Growers Collective supports their partners, they try to ensure any land used for urban agriculture is ready for future developments.
The organization also offers community farmers a plot in community gardens for a year to grow food for their families.
Clawson said communities in South and West Chicago have been historically targeted by systematic racism that affects their food security.
During the pandemic, racial and ethnic minorities experienced increased rates of food insecurity compared to whites, according to a SJSU ScholarWorks article.
“Our vision is, we aim to address the inequities and structural racism that exists in the food system using urban agriculture as our tool and method for this work,” she said. “And our mission is that rooted in growing food, we cultivate nourishing environments which support health, economic development, healing and creativity through urban agriculture.”
