In Response to Chloe’s “Thoughts on “Food Justice- Beet Boxes Make Beautiful Music”

Many interventions such as “Phat Beets” serve to connect local farmers and low-income populations to increase healthier and more equitable food systems often do not incorporate the government. It is unfortunate that as the community participates more, the less demand of the government in making contributions to the society. Therefore, it is necessary for your BareAbundance program to empower the community to make changes in policy system and speak out their opinions rather than solely providing the needs of the community without incorporating the government for sustainable intervention.

Perhaps, you should look into Mandela’s model. The Mandela Marketplace is a non-profit organization that works in partnership with local residents, family farmers, and community-based businesses to improve health, create wealth, and build assets through cooperative food enterprises in low income communities. To address root causes of poverty racism and lack of access to resources to catalyze political voice¾ the Mandela Marketplace serves as a community resource to support community driven solutions to food insecurity in the inner city and support minority and under-resourced farmers. Strategies include impacting the social economy by empowering residents to make change, and the physical economy by improving the community environment through support for local business and civic engagement.

Here’s a link to Mandela’s Model: http://www.mandelamarketplace.org/