FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT - WHITE PAPER: AUGUST 2012
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_________________________________
WHITE PAPER:
FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT
_________________________________
D’ARTAGNAN SCORZA
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SOCIAL JUSTICE
LEARNING INSTITUTE
NIKKI HENDERSON
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PEOPLE’S GROCERY
LA MIKIA CASTILLO
POLICY ANALYST, USC
AUGUST 2012
Contents
1. Executive Summary
2. Introduction
3. The Challenge with Food Deserts
4. Understanding Food Justice
5. The Challenge Facing the Food Justice Movement
6. Current Food Justice Movement Relationship Model
7. The Grassroots Response
Profile: People’s Grocery
Profile: Social Justice Learning Institute
8. Helping Community Members Realize Their Ability to Effect Change
9. Helping Institutions Facilitate Rather Than Impose Change
10. Building a Stronger Food Justice Movement
11. Strategies and Recommendations
12. Summary
WHITE PAPER VERSION 1.0 AS OF AUGUST 15, 2012
© 2012 SOCIAL JUSTICE LEARNING INSTITUTE & PEOPLE’S GROCERY
THIS REPORT WAS PUBLISHED WITH THE SUPPORT OF WHYHUNGER.
SOCIAL JUSTICE LEARNING INSTITUTE
664 E REGENT STREET
INGLEWOOD, CA 90301
PHONE: 323.952.7363
FAX: 310.935.4765
WEBSITE: WWW.SJLI-CP.ORG
2 FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT
Executive Summary
Overview
Many organizations across the country have worked to address the health crises related to diet.
In study after study, we learn that residents in low-income rural and urban neighborhoods
experience higher rates of obesity and diet related diseases. As a result, these communities are
negatively impacted by a lack of access to affordable and nutritious foods, commonly known as
food deserts. Despite efforts by hundreds of organizations and agencies working to find a
solution to the obesity epidemic, the growing problem of food deserts continues to exist and
many underserved communities are still left behind.
Purpose
This purpose of this report is to describe strategies that may help advance the multiple efforts
of organizations working to eliminate food deserts. In particular, organizations at the
grassroots level have the potential to make tremendous strides as advocates who work with
low-income communities to improve local conditions. To help shed light on these grassroots
efforts and their potential, this paper briefly analyzes the efforts of two California based non-
profit organizations. Using interviews, data analysis, program evaluations and document
reviews, this paper will profile People’s Grocery (PG) and the Social Justice Learning Institute
(SJLI) as organizations that are successfully working with residents to address diet related
health disparities within food deserts. By identifying the strengths and challenges faced by each
organization — along with articulating the similarities and differences between their theories of
change — we hope to highlight and draw from their successes. We then conclude with a set of
recommendations to inform organizations working at the grassroots level and hope they can
draw from the achievements of PG and SJLI to decrease diet related diseases within food desert
communities.
Understanding the Issues
When it comes to addressing the challenges of living in food desert communities, the current
the model for achieving change is neither clearly defined nor well organized. There are a
number of organizations working across sectors to help improve the health outcomes of
residents in food deserts. It is not always the case that local communities are at the center of
efforts to improve conditions for residents within food deserts. In some cases, organizations
identify policy leaders or political stakeholders as primary targets for their efforts and activities.
In doing so, some of the organizations who work in this way approach community change from
a top-down perspective, believing that a policy focus will shift health outcomes. Further,
collaboration between organizations is inhibited due to these targeted efforts and inability to
branch out beyond each organization’s operational silos. Most often, these organizations are
not focused on changing community outcomes per se, but instead, are focused on meeting
their funding priorities.
FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT 3
In theory, the existing approach to solving health issues should facilitate collaboration between multiple sectors, lend itself to the development of partnerships, maximize resources, and address issues of access and affordability. In reality, there are limitations that keep the movement from fully achieving positive health outcomes. One such challenge is the lack of clearly defined roles exacerbates the limited level of connection between entities and the local community, who is the primary stakeholder. Moving Towards Change When working to achieve positive health outcomes, each stakeholder needs to understand their own role to maximize the energy and resources put into the effort. There are too many cases when some entities repeat existing efforts, leaving the needs of communities unmet. Additionally, the further an organization is from the local community, the less likely it will have a direct connection to the local community. When organizations and agencies are not working directly with community residents, they run the risk of being out of tune with the needs of that local community. They then become unable to accurately assess the ways in which they can best serve that community and achieve their outcomes. As a result of the disconnect between local community residents and organizations, relationships between stakeholders remain underdeveloped and unable to fully leverage the talent, resources and effort expended to solve the crisis. As a result, some community-based organizations, which are closest to residents, lack influence over how funding and policy decisions are made. The inability to effectively include residents, and community-based organizations serving residents, in policy and funding decisions eventually expands the gap between resources, policy and impact. Recommendations To help close the gap between resources, policy and impact, it should be recognized that most organizations based within the communities they serve are better primed for understanding, communicating and addressing community needs. Both People’s Grocery and the Social Justice Learning Institute play critical roles in the food justice movement in Oakland and Los Angeles respectively, but recognize that they cannot achieve their goals alone. While PG and SJLI, as community-based organizations, work at the grassroots level to promote educational awareness and develop community gardens that help increase access to healthy food; others, including local governments, foundations and private corporations offer resources to help sustain the work that occurs at the grassroots level. West Oakland, California-based community organization People’s Grocery (PG) and Inglewood, California-based nonprofit Social Justice Learning Institute (SJLI) are two grassroots movement-building entities that are currently working to change health outcomes in their communities by making healthy food accessible to all and changing the economic landscape of the communities they serve through education and the development sociopolitical capital. The following recommendations emerged from what we’ve learned by analyzing the work of PG and SJLI. 4 FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT
1. Community-based organizations can support a collaborative model by utilizing
community asset mapping programs, using integrated data strategically, and
strengthening internal and programmatic evaluation.
2. While community-based organizations may be accustomed to presenting the needs
and challenges their community faces, increased focus on community asset mapping
can both strengthen existing work and provide new ways of understanding the
issues that policy makers, government agencies and philanthropic organizations
work to address.
3. Community-based organizations can combine the data produced through asset
mapping with other relevant data to inform and support their work.
4. Funding organizations may establish requirements for program and project
evaluation, but building a truly collaborative model requires community-based
organizations to strengthen their own evaluation strategies using data.
Recommendations for Government Agencies, Foundations and Corporations
Foundation, government agencies and corporate stakeholders can support a new model that
will lead to improve health outcomes in low-income communities by utilizing collaborative
feedback mechanisms, prioritizing work in partnership with community-based food justice
organizations, and adapting expected outcomes to the realities of community-based projects
and programs.
1. While funding organizations often dedicate significant effort to soliciting input from
key stakeholders, building collaborative feedback mechanisms in partnership with
community-based organizations will ensure that the stakeholders at multiple levels
are able to align their priorities.
2. Given the various levels and sectors in which key stakeholders operate, as well as
the significant differences between work at the national and the local or even
neighborhood level, funding organizations need to develop innovative models for
working with community-based organizations where they are. Many community-
based organizations are eager to share their experiences and challenges with
funding organizations.
3. While accountability is a crucial aspect of the relationship between funding and
community-based organizations, an ethic of mutual trust can help to ensure long-
term positive outcomes.
Conclusion
In summary, each organization in the food justice movement has a specific role to play. It is
absolutely critical that each organization understands its role and recognizes that the
community is best served when each organization lives out its role to the best of its ability.
FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT 5
While stakeholder organizations do not always know or understand the needs of the community, they have resources that the community requires in order to improve their conditions. When grassroots organizations and community members recognize their ability to make change and stakeholder organizations realize their ability to facilitate change, synergy is established and change becomes feasible. 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. Both People’s Grocery and the Social Justice Learning Institute fundamentally believe that change 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. 6 FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT
“People’s Grocery helped me write a grant. They helped me learn another language and that
helped me with speaking skills and presenting myself.”
- S.B., Growing Justice Institute Community Liaison
Introduction
Food deserts have plagued underserved communities across the nation. Residents in low-
income rural and urban neighborhoods experience higher rates of obesity and diet related
diseases. As a result, they are negatively impacted by a lack of access to affordable and
nutritious foods. Despite efforts by hundreds of organizations and agencies working to find a
solution to the epidemic of diet-related diseases, the growing problem of food deserts
continues to exist and many underserved communities are still left behind.
The food justice movement, as a grassroots effort, has the potential to make tremendous
strides as local community advocates work to improve conditions in low-income communities.
To help shed a light on this movement and its potential, this paper briefly analyzes the efforts
of multiple groups within the food justice movement, while appreciating and acknowledging
the challenges of groups working to improve life for residents in food deserts. This paper will
also profile two community-based food justice focused organizations, People’s Grocery (PG)
and the Social Justice Learning Institute (SJLI), who are successfully working with residents that
live in food deserts. By identifying some of the strengths of each organization, along with
similarities and differences between their theories of change, we hope to highlight and draw
from their successes. We then conclude with a set of recommendations to inform
organizations working in the food justice movement and hope they can build upon the
achievements of PG and SJLI to improve efforts to establish food justice within food desert
communities.
The Challenge With Food Deserts
By most measures, poverty is a major factor contributing to poor health and a low quality of life
for America’s urban and rural poor. Poverty and the lack of access to affordable and nutritious
food resulting in high rates of diet related diseases are evidence of the existence of “food
deserts.” According to the US Department of Agriculture, “food deserts are defined as urban
neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food.
Instead of supermarkets and grocery stores, these communities may have limited access to
nutritious foods or are served only by fast food restaurants and convenience stores that offer
FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT 7
few healthy, affordable food options. The lack of access contributes to a poor diet and can lead
to higher levels of obesity and other diet-related diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease.”1
Negative health outcomes in low-income communities and communities of color are
increasingly linked to socioeconomic status. Additionally, the lack of supermarkets and the
abundance of fast food restaurants and liquor stores within such communities2 have
significantly contributed to an increase in diet-related diseases. Residents who live within low-
income neighborhoods often experience higher rates of obesity and chronic illnesses including
diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension,3 compared to their counterparts in more
affluent communities, who tend to enjoy easier access to a wide variety of nutritious foods. In
communities like Inglewood, California, where roughly 35% of local residents live in poverty,4
simply adding a new grocery store is not enough to address food desert issues. This is because
nutritious foods are commonly too expensive, even when they become available. Food deserts
are problematic because they limit the ability of communities, primarily children and youth
within those communities, to function and be productive in a healthy environment that is
flourishing socially and economically.
Understanding Food Justice
Food justice is an effort to address the food desert
problem facing communities across the nation. The
Social Justice Learning Institute (SJLI) defines food justice
as “ensuring that individuals, families and communities “Food justice is the
have access to healthy, high quality, low cost, locally application of social justice
grown, culturally relevant and nutritious food from the solutions to address
5
seed to the plate.” Food justice is the application of inequality in the food
social justice solutions using a popular education model system.”
to address inequality in the food system. SJLI argues that
increasing access to healthy food is only helpful if it is paired with an increase in education and
commitment to equitable economic development across the food supply chain. Food justice
organizations recognize the need for education and empowerment alongside the need for
affordable access to quality food. Food desert communities must be provided the opportunity
to support local economies, which are essential in improving their health and quality of life.
Based on the definition provided by SJLI, food justice is a complex concept that requires several
1
“Food Deserts,” USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, accessed August 10, 2012,
http://apps.ams.usda.gov/fooddeserts/foodDeserts.aspx.
2
Michele Ver Ploeg, et al., “Access to Affordable and Nutritious Food – Measuring and Understanding Food Deserts and Their
Consequences: Report to Congress,” USDA Administrative Publication 036 (2009), accessed August 10, 2012,
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/ap-administrative-publication/ap-036.aspx.
3
Ibid.
4
“American Community Survey,” U.S. Census Bureau, accessed August 10, 2012,
http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_10_5YR_S2503&prodType=table.
5
Social Justice Learning Institute, “100 Seeds of Change Program Plan” (Inglewood, California, August 1, 2012).
8 FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT
key elements in order to turn food deserts around. For the purposes of this paper, we will
focus on how two organizations work to build the food justice movement.
There are several ways to go about seeking food justice. A common response by organizations
that recognize the problem of food deserts is to lobby developers, grocery chain companies and
local elected officials for more stores and supermarkets in underserved communities. While
increasing access to healthy and affordable food through grocery stores is an important
component that contributes to solving the problem, it is not the only element or even the
primary element. Education and empowerment of local community members encourages them
to make better decisions and is critical to solving the food desert problem. Food justice
oriented organizations emphasize that strong children, families and communities start with
how we fuel our bodies. They also recognize that the way we fuel our bodies is determined not
only by individual choice, but also by the options available to us. Their belief is that by
educating the community about the foods we eat and encouraging nutritious eating for a
healthier life style, individuals will work to gain access to healthier foods, thus improving public
health outcomes. The following diagram illustrates the building blocks that are essential for
food justice to occur within communities located in food deserts.
People’s Grocery and the Social Justice
Building Blocks of Food Justice Learning Institute believe that with
access to healthy and affordable food,
education to facilitate healthy eating
and active living, a streamlined focus on
improving public health and economic
equity within the community, food
Education Access
justice can be achieved. One of the
ultimate goals of food justice
organizations is to ensure food security
within areas that have been deemed
Economic Focus on food deserts. WhyHunger, a leader in
Equity Health building the movement to end hunger
and poverty by connecting people to
nutritious affordable food, supports
grassroots solutions that inspire self-
reliance and community empowerment. They make the case that “community food security is
about making healthy food accessible to all” and we add that food security is achieved through
a distinct focus on and prioritization of food justice in underserved communities.
The Challenge Facing The Food Justice Movement
There are many barriers to achieving food justice for residents living in food desert
communities. According to authors Alison H. Alkon and Julian Agyeman, issues of race, class,
FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT 9
access and power inform the many historical tensions that prevent equity in the food system6.
From exploited farmworkers to destructive monoculture practices to consumer eating habits,
there are many areas ripe for change. As a result, many key players have taken up the fight to
change the food system, while maintaining very different approaches. These “stakeholders”
include health-focused organizations, like public health departments who offer expertise
measuring the impact of food deserts on the health of community members, as well as
economic development and redevelopment agencies. Other stakeholders include agriculture-
focused organizations, government agencies, corporations and foundations, whose work aims
to achieve a certain set of outcomes as a result of their grantmaking.
While many of these stakeholders have good intentions and are critical to the success of the
food justice movement, there are tendencies to misdirect the movement through uninformed
and/or redundant efforts, grantmaking and/or misunderstanding of roles and leaving the most
critical stakeholders disregarded and/or overlooked in the decision-making process. The most
critical stakeholders in the food justice movement are the members of the communities most
affected by food deserts. Food desert residents that suffer from limited access to healthy and
affordable food, experience adverse health impacts. These health disparities have plagued low-
income communities, particularly people of color, for generations. The short- and long-term
effects of these impacts have resulted in various social, economic and environmental challenges
facing residents.
Current Food Justice Movement Relationship Model
In the current food justice
movement, the model for Food Justice Movement Key Players
achieving change is neither
clearly defined nor well Local
organized. There are a Communities/Residents
number of stakeholder
organizations working across
sectors to help improve the
health outcomes of residents Government,
Food Justice
Foundations,
Organizations
in food deserts. It is not Corporations
always the case that local
communities are at the center
of efforts to improve
conditions for residents within
food deserts. In some cases,
Health, Economic Youth, Hunger,
stakeholder organizations Development Farming Organizations
6
Allison H. Alkon and Julian Agyeman, eds., Cultivating Food Justice: Race, Class, and Sustainability (Cambridge: MIT Press,
2011), 21-46.
1 FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT
0identify policy leaders as primary targets for their efforts and activities. In doing so, many of
the stakeholder organizations who work in this way approach community change from a top-
down perspective, believing that a policy focus will shift health outcomes. Further,
collaboration between stakeholder organizations is inhibited by the inability to branch out
beyond each organization’s operational silos. Most often, these organizations are not focused
on changing community outcomes per se, but instead, are focused on meeting their funding or
political priorities.
Because the relationship between various stakeholder organizations is not clearly defined, roles
may be unclear. Characterized by the top-down approach, the existing food justice model
prevents efficacy. Furthermore, corporations, government agencies and foundations may
attempt to set outcomes that are not always directly aligned with or considerate of lived
experience of community members. The following diagram illustrates the types of stakeholder
organizations that play a role in the food justice movement and describes this dynamic.
FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT 1
1Currently, influence (represented by blue arrows) travels predominately from the outer rings to
the inner rings -- tracking power from outside to inside the movement -- thereby weakening the
core as the center of power. For example, corporations like Wal-Mart or Monsanto and
governmental institutions like the USDA move inward through the rings via money and
influence. This occurs while community-based organizations are vying for influence
(represented by the red-dotted arrows) based on grassroots efforts and work with community
members.
In this model, one of the primary challenges occurs when grantmaking by foundations
determines the direction of programming, and overall efforts, of community organizations. In
some cases, organizations with missions that cover a specific area in the health field,
experience what is known as “mission creep” as they seek to redefine their efforts to match
funding priorities. This trend has the potential to negatively impact the movement as
organizations moving outside of their area of expertise inhibit funding from reaching
organizations that are most closely linked to the need. For example, a health clinic that should
focus on health education, prevention and treatment might decide to build a community
garden in a food desert. While this is a noble cause, community garden development is not the
clinic’s area of expertise. If there are several community-based organizations whose sole
purpose is to develop community gardens, then the health clinic should develop a meaningful
partnership with the existing community-based organizations carrying out that function rather
than taking on an effort to build a community garden. Partnering with community-based
organizations will help develop relationships among various organizations serving local
communities, build cohesion within the food justice movement, avoid redundancy and allow
the organizations to strengthen their own primary mission.
In theory, the existing approach used by stakeholder groups could lead to solving health issues
that facilitate collaboration between multiple sectors, lend itself to the development of direct
partnerships within the food justice movement that maximize resources, and address issues of
access and affordability. In reality, there are several limitations that keep the food justice
movement from fully achieving food justice. The lack of clearly defined roles exacerbates the
limited level of connection between entities and the local community, who is the primary
stakeholder. When achieving any goal, each stakeholder needs to understand their own role to
maximize the energy and resources put into
“When achieving any goal, each
achieving that goal. There are too many cases
stakeholder needs to understand when some entities repeat existing efforts,
their own role to maximize the leaving other important aspects of the need
energy and resources put into the unmet. Additionally, the further an organization
effort.” is from the community it intends to serve, the
less likely it will have a direct impact on the local
community.
When organizations and agencies are not
working directly with community residents, they
1 FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT
2run the risk of being out of tune with the needs of that local community. They are then unable
to accurately assess the ways in which they can best serve that community and achieve their
outcomes. As a result of the disconnect between local community residents and organizations,
relationships between stakeholders within the food justice movement remain underdeveloped
and unable to fully leverage the talents, resources and efforts expended to solve the crisis. This
aggravates the crises because community members, who are most affected by the issues, have
little influence over how decisions are made about the best approach to address the challenges
facing their community while often have limited resources to make an impact. The ongoing
battle with the “top down” approach to priority setting is that it determines the direction of the
food justice movement without fully understanding the need.
While government entities, private foundations and corporations make significant financial
contributions providing valuable resources, these entities tend to dictate the direction of
community work by tying funding to specific goals and outcomes that they, rather than the
community, define. This becomes problematic because, while these stakeholders hold good
intentions, their ideas and goals may not necessarily be in line with or relevant to the ideas and
goals of the communities they seek to serve through their contributions. For example, a
community-based organization in the initial stages of developing urban gardens will inevitably
be in need of resources to help move their initiative forward. A foundation might be willing to
provide funding in the community, but only to build an educational kitchen that will be used to
teach community members how to prepare nutritious foods. While an educational kitchen
would definitely serve the community, a kitchen may not be what the community needs at that
moment.
Offering funds specifically for the development of a community kitchen puts the community
members in a challenging position. The community may not be ready for a kitchen, but the
community-based organization would like to develop a relationship with the funder, and thus
agrees to receive financial support to build a community kitchen. This might cause the
organization to stray from its initial emphasis on building urban gardens. Meanwhile, the
community still needs funding to support the development of community gardens that provide
opportunities to grow quality produce for the soon-to-be-built educational kitchen.
Furthermore, community members who are building community gardens will be diverted from
their work to focus on building the new community kitchen.
It is important to honor stakeholders invested in the success of the food justice movement and
equally important to work in a way that best utilizes resources, reduces redundancy when
unnecessary and accelerates ideas into action. When any stakeholder group imposes their
ideas and goals onto a community, they impede change and devalue the humanity of residents
living in an area of high need. Most community change agents do not want a hand out but
instead, prefer the assistance needed to be self-reliant. Rather than impose ideas onto an
underserved community, stakeholder groups must listen to the ideas and goals of the
community and determine how they can best partner with the community residents to achieve
those goals. They must work side by side, not from the top down, to help enhance the goals of
the residents so that they meet the needs of the community and improve health outcomes. In
FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT 1
3doing so, organizations involved in the food justice movement can work to empower
community members by facilitating, rather than forcing, change.
The Grassroots Response
Most organizations based within the communities they serve are well primed for
understanding, communicating and addressing community needs. Both People’s Grocery and
the Social Justice Learning Institute play critical roles in the food justice movement in Oakland
and Los Angeles respectively, but recognize that they cannot achieve their goals alone. While
PG and SJLI, as community-based organizations, work at the grassroots level to promote
educational awareness and develop community gardens to increase access to healthy food,
others, including local governments, foundations and private corporations offer resources to
help sustain the work that occurs at the grassroots level. The two organizations are grassroots
movement building entities working to bring food justice to their communities by making
healthy food accessible to all and changing the economic landscape of the communities they
serve through education and the development of sociopolitical capital.
Both Oakland and Inglewood have been identified as food desert communities.7 The residents
of these communities demonstrate how the lack of healthy food options can lead to the
prevalence of diet-related diseases. In 2003 in Oakland, 20.3% of adults were obese and 36.2%
of children in the Oakland Unified School District were overweight; 1,312 per 100,000 people
were hospitalized for diabetes from 2003 to 2005, while the overall Alameda County rate was
1,076 per 100,000.8 Between 1999 and 2001, 1,360.4 people per 100,000 were hospitalized for
heart disease.9 In a twenty-year study, 27.4% of participants developed hypertension, in
comparison to the 24.8% statewide prevalence of high blood pressure.10 In Inglewood, 9.9% of
adults reported diagnosis with diabetes, compared to 7.0% in California overall; 7.7% reported
heart disease, compared to 6.2% in California overall; and 25.2% reported hypertension,
compared to 24.8 in California overall.11 Additionally, 26.6% of Inglewood residents reported
diagnosis with high cholesterol, 19.4% of adults reported obesity and 42.9% reported being
overweight.12 In this analysis, we will explore the work of PG and SJLI in order to understand
how their efforts help advance the food justice movement and improve the health and
wellbeing of the communities.
7
“Food Desert Locator,” USDA Economic Research Service, accessed August 10, 2012, http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-
products/food-desert-locator/go-to-the-locator.aspx.
8
“Select Health Indicators for Cities in Alameda County 2007,” Alameda County Public Health Department, accessed August 13,
2012, http://www.acphd.org/media/53003/hc2007.pdf.
9
“Oakland Health Profile 2004,” Alameda County Public Health Department, accessed August 13, 2012,
http://www.acphd.org/media/53274/oakland.pdf.
10
Deborah A. Levine, et al., “Geographic and Demographic Variability in 20-Year Hypertension Incidence,” American Heart
Association (2010), accessed August 13, 2012, doi:10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.110.160341.
11
“2007 LA County Health Survey,” County of Los Angeles Public Health, accessed August 13, 2012,
http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/ha/LACHSDataTopics2007_rev.htm.
12
“2005 Public Use Data Files,” California Health Interview Survey, accessed August 13, 2012, http://chis.ucla.edu/.
1 FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT
4Profile: People’s Grocery
People’s Grocery (PG) believes that any
thriving community starts with self-
determined residents utilizing their agency
and social cohesion to create a vibrant,
productive and sustainable community.
For the last ten years, PG has worked to
transform West Oakland’s local economy,
health equity, and social capital networks
through food systems.
Local Economies: PG has piloted three
enterprises, the Mobile Market, the Grub
Box and People’s Community Market. The
Mobile Market, the first of its kind, has
been replicated across the country, and is
still considered one of the most innovative
approaches to food access in historically
underinvested communities. The Grub Box
program is currently a partnership between
PG and a new farm Community Supported
Agriculture (CSA) project, and has demystified
the incorporation of food stamps and a subsidized
pricing structure for other CSA programs. In 2010, PG spun off a for-profit grocery store,
People’s Community Market, a 15,000 square foot store in the middle of West Oakland.
Health Equity: PG’s nutrition education programs build community will and valuable
data to show that local investment in healthy food systems causes health improvement
among residents. Two of their three gardens are now in the hands of allied
organizations that are offering community members new opportunities to grow and
enjoy fresh produce. Their cooking classes, nutrition demonstrators project, community
celebrations and workshops have collaborated with public hospitals and health clinics
reaching vulnerable communities with specific cultural needs. Their work with Alameda
County Medical Center has led to clinical case studies and collaborations with youth
programs within Highland Hospital.
Social Capital: PG has gained regional and national recognition as a leader in the
evolving food justice movement by sharing their community change model and learning
from other communities who work to transform conditions in historically underinvested
communities. For years, organizations have used PG programs as a resource to become
more competent in the areas of race, class, power and privilege. Their reputation has
FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT 1
5built strong relationships in diverse communities, positioning them as a bridge builder
between the food, health and economic development sectors.
Profile: Social Justice Learning Institute
The Social Justice Learning Institute is
dedicated to improving the education,
health and well-being of youth and
communities of color by enacting social
change through research, training and
community mobilization. The
organization trains students to conduct
research on problems in their
community using a rigorous yearlong
curriculum while providing basic
academic support (i.e., tutoring,
homework assistance, academic
counseling, etc.) and college
preparatory education. The youth in
their program learn what it takes to
achieve academically in order to go to
college and become civically engaged, solution-oriented
and critical participants in the democratic experience. Through their
community-based action research efforts, youth have driven SJLI’s approach to food
justice by developing and presenting research on their health and social conditions.
Additionally, their youth are educated and trained to go beyond conducting research and learn
how to implement their solutions. Through this model, the youth have gained skills teaching
community members how to build gardens with the expressed goal of educating the
community about their health, increasing community access to healthy and affordable food,
and exposing them to a healthier life style.
SJLI is committed to addressing inequality in the food system and seeks to impact this issue in
several ways:
Production: In 2010, SJLI launched the 100 Seeds of Change initiative, which is an effort
to build a local food system by developing at least 100 school, community and home
urban gardens and farms in Inglewood, CA. The initiative focuses on empowering
residents to build an economically viable and sustainable local food system. SJLI
provides direct provision of affordable, healthy, locally grown, organic and culturally
relevant food, through local gardens and orchards. Also by partnering with organizations
that have higher yield, SJLI is bringing healthy food options to their community by way
of Inglewood’s CSA program and a farmers’ market.
1 FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT
6Advocacy: SJLI works directly with the City of Inglewood and Inglewood Unified School
District to develop policies that transform the local food system and address public
health issues in the community. By reimagining their city space in innovative ways that
offer greater opportunities for a localized food system, SJLI believes this also creates
greater food sovereignty for community members.
Education: SJLI outreaches to and educates youth and community members through
regular healthy eating and active living workshops, gardening and tree care courses and
hands on opportunities in local gardens and orchards.
People’s Grocery and the Social Justice Learning Institute agree that the development of critical
consciousness leads to critical change, and that educating community members and building
relationships is key to successful transformation. While PG and SJLI are both committed to
transforming food desert communities into “food oases,” these organizations have taken
different approaches to achieving their goals. Both focus their efforts on empowering
community members by increasing educational awareness and access to nutritious foods, along
with changing the economic landscape of their communities. However, they have different
methods for helping community members realize their ability to effect change and have
distinctive tactics for helping institutions facilitate, rather than force, change. The following
section outlines the community engagement approaches of each organization.
Helping Community Members Realize Their Ability To Effect Change
People’s Grocery
People’s Grocery has adapted a resident-driven model of social change known as The
Opportunity Makers Model to help community members realize their ability to effect change.
The model was developed by Vested Interests, Inc., after over ten years of work through
Monument Community Partnership (MCP), a place-based community building initiative in the
Monument Corridor neighborhood of Concord, California. The following is an excerpt from The
Opportunity Makers Model paper:
The Opportunity Makers Model is designed to complement existing community building
models and accelerate the pace of community transformation, create greater equality of
opportunity, and increase the social status of low-income residents as a function of
implementing the model.
From The Opportunity Makers Model paper, we learn that there are two basic elements:
1. Resident Engagement and Leadership Development builds the capacity of
residents to become versatile community problem solvers and generators of
community change; combines personal and community development in a
mutually reinforcing process; and continually expands residents’ social networks
and sphere of influence over time. PG accomplishes this through:
FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT 1
7i. Establishing inclusive decision-making structures such as the
California Hotel Project where a Residents’ Council meets monthly
to talk about garden projects and priorities to further the creation
of an onsite team that wants to be involved in planning events,
launching new programs and building community with the
surrounding neighborhood.
ii. Providing healthy food options through the Grub Box Project
which, along with use of local gardens and partnerships, increases
access to healthy produce for residents of West Oakland.
iii. Offering weekly community building activities through “Flavas of
the Garden,” PG brings a variety of educational guest speakers to
gardens during volunteer days. Residents take active roles in
harvesting and cooking. Through this event, PG learns more about
assets of the residential community at Cal Hotel and about the
people in the neighborhood. Events have included neighborhood
cleanup and beautification, community meals and workshops on
the history of the neighborhood and how to access local food and
health services.
iv. Educating and training for justice through the Growing Justice
Institute and Anti-Oppression in the Food System curriculum. Each
week, Growing Justice leaders receive training and technical
assistance at People’s Grocery through a series of workshops on
budgeting, event planning, outreach, small business skills and
more.
v. Providing opportunities for social entrepreneurship through the
Garden Enterprise Program Greenhouse and Garden, which
employs people at the California Hotel. The program helps hotel
residents sell vegetables grown onsite, which provides them with
an income – and, as a public-facing project, build public support
for other PG programs.
2. Community Building Incubator is dynamic, institutional and creates a framework
to restructure the social, resource, and policy infrastructures of both low-income
and better-off communities. It supports, resources and provides a platform for
resident-generated solutions to community challenges; engages a broad group
of community stakeholders and decision-makers and builds their capacity to
work in peer-based partnership with residents; and creates strong, productive
relationships and social networks among stakeholders from all different
backgrounds. PG accomplishes this through many of the programs and events
mentioned above.
1 FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT
8The aim of the PG’s efforts is to create a continuous and growing pipeline of resident problem-
solvers who have an expanding sphere of influence and impact in the community. These are
people distinguished by their motivation to help themselves and others, and who are looking
for opportunities to act on this motivation. PG talks about potential leaders being in three
progressive phases of personal and leadership development:
1. Opportunity Seekers: Residents who are actively looking for opportunities for a
better life.
2. Opportunity Users: Residents who are actively using opportunities for self-
development.
3. Opportunity Makers: Residents who are actively generating social and economic
opportunities for themselves and others, and increasingly influence community
growth and development.
People’s Grocery has adapted this model into a theory of change that relies on the resident’s
relationship with food to create resident-driven change in local economies, health equity, and
social capital. Engaging residents as these opportunists, their work in West Oakland has
demonstrated that resident-driven
community transformation works.
PG Success Story
J.T. is an African-American woman
living in West Oakland. When
People’s Grocery first met her, she
was battling houselessness and
dealing with underemployment,
looking for ways to supplement her
income. She was also looking for
ways to eat healthy food on a
regular basis—J.T. grew up in Santa
Rosa, where orchards and farms
were plentiful, and she was appalled
by the lack of access to produce in West Oakland.
J.T. was seeking opportunity to engage with healthy foods, and she attended a community meal
hosted by People’s Grocery. At that community meal, Oakland residents prepared dinner in a
community kitchen. Discussions about community health, family health, and personal growth
occurred over chopped onions and boiling soup, building camaraderie between the team at
People’s Grocery and residents curious about health.
During the after-dinner discussion, J.T. learned about People’s Grocery’s Growing Justice
Institute, a leadership development program for residents interested in implementing food and
FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT 1
9health projects in their community. She applied for and was accepted to the program, joining
the inaugural Growing Justice Institute cohort.
Throughout the first year of the Institute, J.T. engaged opportunities to improve her personal
health and build her leadership. She participated in designing and implementing several
community events in collaboration with People’s Grocery. She completed a workshop series
with topics ranging from food justice, the political economy of food systems, and social
determinants of health.
J.T. also created an opportunity for herself through a connection made while performing
outreach with the Growing Justice Institute cohort at a community event. The Bay Community
Fellowship in West Oakland was looking for community partners to develop a garden, kitchen,
and nutrition education space at their church. J.T. established a relationship with them and
secured work exchange housing, ending her houselessness. Her community project will focus
on building their community garden and related activities, which creates opportunities for
other residents to learn about and gain access to healthy foods.
The Social Justice Learning Institute
The Social Justice Learning Institute takes a different approach. In order to encourage
community members to realize their ability to effect change, SJLI utilizes a five-fold process that
incorporates education, empowerment, community building, collaboration and a
comprehensive model for growth and sustainability. SJLI’s process for change is executed using
the following model:
1. Educating youth and residents using research and training as tools to explore the
challenges in the existing food system while facilitating information
dissemination among residents. This is done through workshops, trainings and
in-school classes.
2. Empowering community members to take hold of their health and eating habits
by becoming advocates of change who work to increase:
i. Their awareness of injustice and health disparities in their
communities related to food security issues as well as the
environmental and policy changes that are needed. This is
accomplished through advocacy training and public awareness
campaigns.
ii. Their knowledge about healthy eating, physical activity and the
nutritional opportunities already provided in communities. This is
accomplished through town halls and public displays.
2 FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT
0iii. Their skills by developing and providing workshops and trainings
in urban gardening, nutrition, healthy food preparation and
economic entrepreneurship.
3. Building a sense of community by providing an urban agriculture network of
community, school, and home gardens within the city that will:
i. Assist in strengthening community ties as they grow local fresh
produce and create food goods together.
ii. Increase their food dollar at home by supplementing with fresh
food grown at home or purchasing the affordable produce grown
in the community.
4. Collaborating with public entities (local/state/federal government and their
associated programs), existing community entities (NPO’s, foundations,
community groups), schools, churches and businesses to provide opportunities
to work to achieve common goals. This is accomplished through community
events, activities and coalition building.
5. Growing and Sustaining collaborations through lasting partnerships that create
long-term economic opportunities for a strong food system initiative with the
return on investment being a self-reliant community. This is accomplished by
creating sustainable businesses around the home grown food supported and run
by community members.
Given PG and SJLI’s approaches to movement building, each organization has a central
commitment to work directly with residents in order to build capacity in their communities.
Subsequently, community building at the local level is at the heart of each effort as each
organization draws on the personal experiences of local residents to establish a sense of
responsibility within the community. Through the community building process, each
organization works to develop local leaders who take on the responsibility of transforming their
community. As a result, education and collaboration are emphasized in each organization’s
activities.
SJLI Success Story
For several years, the Social Justice Learning Institute has partnered with the Inglewood Unified
School District to provide a critical learning program for Black male youth at Morningside High
School. Through this program, the organization has developed youth leaders who tackle food
justice by educating their fellow students and residents about health while building community
gardens, distributing fruit trees to local residents and advocating for change to their local
elected officials. These youth initiated the development of the Empowerment Community
Garden, the first community garden established in the City of Inglewood, and have worked
diligently to produce a model that will provide nutritious food to the community while
encouraging the growth of an economically sustainable food system.
FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT 2
1Through the Black Male Youth Academy, students from Morningside High School learned about the injustices within their community and the negative impacts that living in a food desert had on their health. They began to make connections between the types of food that were available in their community and the health challenges within their own families, realizing that the foods they were eating were harmful to their bodies. When the students surveyed their neighborhood, they saw that there were several markets in the area, but also that there were far more fast food restaurants and liquor stores. They noted that access to the healthier foods was limited because people in their community are unable to afford the more nutritious options, which is why they often rely on the cheaper, unhealthy options for daily consumption. The students decided that they wanted to change their conditions and decided to build a community garden. T.B., now a senior in high school, was a sophomore when the students at Morningside High School took the health of their community into their own hands and created Empowerment Community Garden. Over the past two years, he has volunteered with SJLI as they built two community gardens (one on school district land and another at a city park), two school gardens and seven gardens at the homes of local residents. Residents are currently building Inglewood’s first small urban farm at an Inglewood school. T.B. and his friends help in the gardens, tilling the soil, planting and harvesting produce, and assisted SJLI in creating their CSA program, delivering fresh produce to people in their community. They also participate in canvassing the community to educate residents about their health and assisting with the annual distribution of fruit trees to local residents. When he sees advertisements from First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign for a healthier America, T.B. feels pride in knowing that he is participating in a larger movement to improve the health of his community. As we can see from the stories of J.T. and T.B., implementation of the PG and SJLI approach to facilitating community change has proven to be successful in both Oakland and Inglewood. Because of the work of these organizations in educating, engaging, empowering and building their communities, J.T. and T.B. were able to utilize the services offered, become deeply involved and develop their agency to eventually take lead in their communities’ efforts. SJLI and PG share the belief that members in the community know what they need but are challenged with finding appropriate resources to help residents achieve their goals. Both 2 FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT 2
organizations have worked to create effective models for community engagement in the food
justice movement while developing empowered change makers.
Helping Institutions Facilitate Rather Than Impose Change
Certain challenges may emerge when government agencies, institutional stakeholders and
philanthropic organizations provide specific policy recommendation or programmatic funding
for the food justice movement without consulting local communities. The lack of
communication and understanding of the community’s needs could direct resources to an area
that will not yield impact. This approach may cause community-based organizations, who are
dependent upon external resources, to succumb to the pressure of complying with guidelines
set by funding entities and institutional stakeholders. As a result, some community-based
organizations may compromise their primary mission and fall short of meeting the needs of the
community they serve. Through PG’s and SJLI’s efforts in their communities, using their own
strategies to achieve food justice, we see two organizations working collaboratively with local
residents to assess community conditions, develop leadership, and engage key stakeholders to
advance community developed priorities. PG’s Grub Box project, community-building activities,
critical food system curriculum and social entrepreneurship opportunities, and SJLI’s policy
research, healthy living trainings, 100 Seeds of Change food system initiative and urban
agriculture network, are useful examples of how community-based organizations work with
resident to enact change in the community.
Successful efforts can be realized when community-based organizations, funding entities and
institutional stakeholders understand their goals and roles while working together. For
example, foundations can help further the causes of organizations like PG and SJLI by
workshopping together prior to setting program and funding priorities. This will help
foundations understand and evaluate community needs and offer resources that will advance
community-based solutions. It is essential to recognize the difference between intent versus
impact. The intent of various key stakeholders and institutions in providing recommendations,
funding and resources, although genuine and much needed, may lack impact in their
implementation. Even with a positive intention to improve existing conditions in a particular
community, without a solid understanding of what is taking place on a grassroots level and
what solutions are needed in the community, the work may become counterproductive or
impede the progress of organizations already making headway. In order to effectively increase
impact a community in a way that solves food justice challenges, government agencies,
institutional stakeholders, philanthropic organizations and community-based organizations
must work together — from the establishment of goals to the implementation of community-
based solutions.
Building a Stronger Food Justice Movement
FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT 2
3A model that reverses the top-down approach, starting bottom-up, and encouraging side-by- side collaboration, is a much more effective framework for the food justice movement. Having community-based organizations working with residents to take the lead in setting priorities, and government agencies, foundations and corporations providing support in response to community member goals will foster a more communicative, operational and successful food justice movement. This following model demonstrates direction of influence that moves community members from the periphery to the center. A stronger, more effective model has influence traveling both ways, but being led by community members, tracking power from inside the movement to the outer rings (represented by the red arrows). Intentionality is given to culturally-appropriate approaches when traveling between rings. Furthermore, travel between rings is available to all and creates equity. It is evident that organizations that provide funding, and other forms of support, care about improving health outcomes in food deserts. Their investments in the communities of need are representations of their desire to effect change. However, stakeholders have their own ideas about how to effect change and make demands of the communities in which they work without 2 FACILITATING CHANGE IN THE FOOD JUSTICE MOVEMENT 4
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