\n
\nBaltimore’s can-do approach to food justice<\/a><\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/a>
\n…43 percent of the
\nresidents in the city’s predominantly black neighborhoods had little
\naccess to healthy foods, compared to 4 percent in predominantly white
\nneighborhoods. Meanwhile, more than two-thirds of the city’s adults and
\nalmost 40 percent of high school students are overweight or obese.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThat’s the problem.<\/p>\n
\nThere are solutions:<\/p>\n
\nSpeaking on a panel at the recent Community Food Security Coalition
\nConference in Oakland, Calif., Abby Cocke, of Baltimore’s Office of
\nSustainability, and Laura Fox, of the city health department’s Virtual
\nSupermarket Program, outlined two approaches to address the city’s food
\ndeserts. Both were presenting programs that have launched since Grist
\nlast reported on Baltimore’s efforts to address food justice. And both
\nprograms come under the auspices of The Baltimore Food Policy Initiative,
\na rare intergovernmental collaboration between the city’s Department of
\nPlanning, Office of Sustainability, and Health Department. They also
\nshow how an active, involved city government and a willingness to try
\nnew ideas can change the urban food landscape for the better.<\/p>\n\nAccording to Cocke, Baltimore’s Planning Department has a new mindset. She
\ncalls it a “place-based” model. “In the past,” she says, “growth was seen
\nas the only way to improve the city, but we’re starting to look at ways
\nto make our neighborhoods stronger, healthier, and more vibrant places
\nat the low density that they’re at now.”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe article outlines the specific solutions,
\nsuch as:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nThanks to Baltimore’s Office of Sustainability, however, the city is
\nactively encouraging the creation of small entrepreneurial farms on
\nvacant lots to bring more healthy fresh food to city residents.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\nAnd this:<\/p>\n
\nBaltimore’s Virtual Supermarket program — a creative public-private
\npartnership that utilizes the city’s libraries to bring fresh groceries
\nto remote neighborhoods….\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe key was realizing growth as in build more houses is not the solution.<\/p>\n
\nMaybe building more parking lots and hanging more signs aren’t the most
\nimportant things for municipal prosperity:<\/p>\n\nLast March, Baltimore also became one of the first cities in America to
\nhire a full time Food Policy Director. Holly Freishtat works out of the
\nOffice of Sustainability in the Department of Planning. As Fox sees it,
\nembedding healthy food policy into the planning department makes complete
\nsense. After seeing some city residents endure an ongoing ordeal simply
\nto get fresh food on their tables, she says, “Where you live affects
\nyour whole being.”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\nValdosta and Lowndes County have about 1\/6 the population of Baltimore
\non 6 times the land area, so solutions probably could be simpler,
\nmaybe expanding from
\n
\nValdosta Farm Days<\/a>
\nand
\n
\nHahira Farm Days.<\/a>
\nLocal problems are somewhat different,
\nbut the key is the same: growth isn’t everything.<\/p>\n\n-jsq<\/p>\n
\nPS: Owed to Ben Veith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Growth isn’t everything, and vacant lots can be leveraged to deal with food disparity and obesity, Baltimore is demonstrating. Vanessa Barrington wrote for Grist 21 November 2011, Baltimore’s can-do approach to food justice …43 percent of the residents in the city’s predominantly black neighborhoods had little access to healthy foods, compared to 4 percent in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,202,48,40,14,321,41,21,22],"tags":[8750,3381,8704,2710,8701,788,8791,876,7,632,3382,8725,6],"class_list":["post-1256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-agriculture","category-code-enforcement","category-community","category-economy","category-food-and-drink","category-health-care","category-planning","category-politics","tag-agriculture","tag-baltimore","tag-economy","tag-food","tag-georgia","tag-growth","tag-hahira","tag-health","tag-lowndes-county","tag-maryland","tag-obesity","tag-sustainability","tag-valdosta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1256\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}