Why is Food Justice important?
After witnessing the powerful impacts of leading Food (and Environmental) Justice organizations from around the U.S., such as Just Food in New York, NY, Growing Power in Milwaukee, MI, and Mandela Marketplace and Peoples Grocery in West Oakland , Ca, Jason A. Harvey, executive director, was compelled to start a grassroots organization to galvanize residents around Food Justice in the neighborhoods he grew up in. Food Justice approaches have proven to overcome the tremendous health, economic, and environmental challenges faced by lack of infrastructure investment at the community level. Jason Harvey, an African American born and raised in East Oakland, founded OFC in 2005 to address the tragic health disparities that had directly impacted him in Oakland, CA, witnessing numerous community members, to include his mother and brother, die from preventable diseases, such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease.
According to the city’s retail specialists, Oakland is one of the most under-retailed large cities in the country. Many new grocery stores have come to the city in recent years, but two areas of the city—East Oakland and West Oakland—are underserved by full-service grocery stores. An assessment by Social Compact in 2005 found that these neighborhoods had a substantial amount of retail leakage (resident spending outside of the neighborhood): $23 million in West Oakland, and $338 million in East Oakland.
Although there are few mainstream chain grocery stores in the Fruitvale and San Antonio neighborhoods in Central/East Oakland, these neighborhoods do have many smaller Asian and Mexican groceries that sell inexpensive produce. The HOPE Collaborative conducted an analysis of retail food access in the Flatlands located south and west of the 580 Freeway compared to the hills and found enormous disparities: one supermarket for every 93,126 people living in the Flatlands and one supermarket for every 13,778 people residing in the Hills.
Food Justice is important because it assures that the benefits and risks of where, what and how food is grown, produced, transported, distributed, accessed and eaten are shared fairly between all communities. Since its founding in 2005, we have established programs that support school and community gardens, community-based farmers markets, and youth entrepreneurship projects. This health-focused economic development is intended to combat high rates of chronic community challenges- preventable diseases (such as diabetes, asthma, cancer and obesity), mental disorders, homicides and high unemployment rates.
The current unemployment in East Oakland, CA is projected at 27.9%, almost twice the rate of employment for the whole City, which is 16%. The unemployment rate among youth is 50%. Through our work, we improve access to health-promoting resources such as healthy food and green space, while empowering youth to develop as skilled leaders and change agents capable of creating healthy environments for their communities. OFC works primarily with African American and Latino youth, ages 18-24, who are disproportionately at risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, domestic violence and high unemployment rates. Through our Food Justice Education model, youth learn to cultivate nutrition education skills and learn the importance of promoting neighborhood-level access to healthy foods. In addition, they are able to build skills associated with micro-enterprise and healthy food distribution. OFC trains these youth as peer nutrition educators educators, urban farmers and social entrepreneurs.
OFC employs a “Food Justice Education” model that integrates food, community, culture and economic development, with personal and community health. We address the root causes of health inequalities among low-income communities of color in East Oakland to and work towards lasting systemic change. OFC has steadily emerged as a “community-driven-movement-building response” to the growing demands for access to healthier food and economic development. The organization was founded and is led by East Oakland residents, and its programs directly address issues of importance to its constituents.
Our broader focus is to nurture and support the co-creation of a community-driven food system. These efforts have led to the development of 20+ gardens built in partnership with schools, community groups and individuals and the development and operation of a weekly farmers market distributing thousands of pounds of fresh, affordable foods to East Oakland residents. To date, OFC has reached over 3,000 youth, and over 35,000 east Oakland residents through gardening, food preparation, and ecological restoration activities. For us, Food Justice represents a historical transformation of the current food system, including but not limited to eliminating health disparities and social inequities, and youth leaders of color are at the center of this amazing shift.
