A new grant program is working to promote food access on Chicago’s South and West sides by funding farmers of color.
TheFresh Food from Farmers of Color Fund(FFFC) is a collaboration between the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) and Experimental Station, a nonprofit community infrastructure organization in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood on the South Side of the city.
650,000美元的赠款将支持芝加哥地区的黑人，土著和农民（BIPOC），以增加粮食生产和分配。
Black and Brown communities on Chicago’s South and West sides不成比例地缺乏访问权限西北和芝加哥大学的研究人员称，新鲜和负担得起的食物。
Black and Latinx adults were on average25 percent less likelyto report easy access to fresh fruits and vegetables compared to their white counterparts, according to the Chicago Health Atlas. Black communities have特别低的访问权限到任何类型的杂货店。
根据芝加哥俱乐部的说法，Covid-19拥有暴露和加剧theunderlying health issuesincluding diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure attributable to the city’s persistent食物种族隔离。
食物种族隔离is a term that describes the主动排除of low-income neighborhoods and communities of color from adequate access to healthy food. The term implicates系统性种族主义通过高档化和歧视性住房政策，超市稀缺性的比例过高。
Black food activists and farmers are already working to confront the city’s rampant food inequity through organizations such asGrowing Home,城市种植者集体,Forty Acres Fresh Market, and the大芝加哥食品寄宿处.
And since 2006, Experimental Station has been dedicated to helping residents gain better access to fresh food on Chicago’s South Side. It is home to the第61街农贸市场, a weekly market providing locally grown produce andLINK match programs.
FFFC hopes to contribute to this existing work by helping BIPOC farmers expand production capacity. “If you are able to support increasing farmer production, you can expand food access,” says Michelle Merritt, Program Director for FFFC at Experimental Station, tells Food Tank.
The goal of the grant program is to administer funds to farmers so that they can sustainably increase their yields. Grantees will then supply South and West side markets as well as Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) Food & Nutrition Centers with produce. FFFC also plans to connect residents and WIC Food and Nutrition Center clients to hubs of locally-grown produce in their communities.
“What COVID-19 has done, for better or for worse, is challenge all levels of philanthropy, government, and non-profit support,” Merritt tells Food Tank.
She says that the pandemic has thrown the city’s food system inequities into sharper relief. This urgency has encouraged the government to acknowledge the historic challenges that Chicago’s Black and Brown communities face. But rather than leaving the plan of action up to the state government, the fund’s broad range of support allows community members to make the main decisions.
与合作伙伴关系Grow Greater Englewoodand the伊利诺伊州的管理联盟, Experimental Station is creating a review committee of food system advocates around Chicago.
梅里特说：“ [idhs]并没有弄清楚我们的参数。”“他们直接向实验站寻求支持和帮助。这就是大多数基于社区的组织想要的。”
Photo courtesy of Zoe Schaeffer, Unsplash
