


Michele Ogilvie
Sep 13, 2022
United States
Categories:
Gardening, Food Security, Cities, Poverty, Food Justice
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2017, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that approximately 19 million people had limited access to a supermarket or grocery store. The term for this condition is "living in a food desert." A food desert is a geographic area where residents have few or no convenient options for securing affordable and healthy foods — especially fresh fruits and vegetables. A disproportionate number of food deserts in the United States are in high-poverty areas. Access to affordable and nutritious food makes it difficult for children, families, and communities to grow healthy and strong.
Unfortunately, food deserts are also a hard reality for many Black communities, according to a Johns Hopkins University study. (The study is entitled, The Intersection of Neighborhood Racial Segregation, Poverty, and Urbanicity and its Impact on Food Store Availability in the United States, 2014, and the link is below.) The study compared U.S. census tracts of similar poverty levels and found that, in urban areas, Black communities had the fewest supermarkets, white communities had the most, and multiracial communities fell in the middle of the supermarket access count.
Now, enter the Food Justice Movement. Many communities and individuals worldwide are working to ensure universal access to nutritious, affordable, and culturally-appropriate food for all. The movement also advocates for the well-being and safety of workers in the food production process. The Food Justice Movement aims to address disparities in food access, particularly for communities of color and low-income. The concept of food justice intertwines closely with environmental justice and sustainability movements.
Community gardening can help restore the balance of food access. The community garden model is much more than just raising fresh food. Community gardening has many benefits that help communities of color and low income. At the most visible level, the garden provides a space and support for community members to grow food at a much lower cost. Gardeners learn that growing their food offers many health benefits. They are quick to share and trade their bountiful harvests to get more and different foods, further boosting health benefits. Perhaps they share recipes, cook more meals at home, raise cultural awareness of their fellow gardeners, get some exercise in the garden and save money. Growing children need nutritious food, particularly for brain development. This improves a child's success in school and, possibly, a means to break out of poverty.
We have a community garden project called Healthy 22nd Street in Tampa, Florida. This project is a multi-agency collaboration working to improve the health of our community by increasing access to fresh produce through gardening.
Healthy 22nd Street creates a corridor of gardening within an identified food desert. It includes education, community engagement, health/nutrition activities, and building new gardens. It consists of a demonstration vegetable garden and plans for a pollinator garden, as well as gardens at community service locations along 22nd Street. Interested community members will be able to establish a front yard garden and become part of the corridor project. Families, Schools, Neighbors, Healthcare Providers, and Community Gardens - Growing Healthy 22nd Street - One Garden Step at a Time.
We can do it, and so can you. Let's get growing!
Photo by Andrea Cairone on Unsplash.
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Catalog #:
0822.101.01.091322