Mindful Metropolis June 2011 : Page 20

one on one VeggIe roAD TrIP Fresh moves mobile Produce market delivers fresh fruits and vegetables to Chicago’s food deserts inTERViEW by saWyER J. LaHR hile food trucks are serving up southern mac, cream pies and empanadas in downtown Chicago, the Fresh Moves Mobile Produce Market delivers fresh fruits and vegetables to food deserts in a decommissioned CTA bus. After being purchased for a dollar, the bus was retrofi tted with solar panels by Architec-ture for Humanity and runs on biodiesel fuel. Because no license perfectly fi ts Fresh Moves’ aims, Efrat Stein, director of communications for the City of Chicago, claims the city will continue to help Fresh Moves fi nd its place. A new city council and mayor will shape the future of food delivery vehicles. Launched last month, Fresh Moves deliv-ers to the Austin and Lawndale neighbor-hoods—two areas with the worst food access mapped out in Mari Gallagher’s often cited 2006 report on Chicago food deserts. Th ough more than 80,000 people have transitioned out of these deserts since the fi rst study, Gallagher’s most recent report records 550,382 Chicagoans still aff ected as of May 2010. Of those current-ly living without easy access to produce, 422,916 are Afri-can American. Food secu-rity and envi-ronmental sus-tainability are invariably tied, according to Dara W Cooper, senior project manager, of Food Desert Action, the not-for-profi t organiza-tion behind the Fresh Moves Mobile Mar-ket. Cooper is an advisory board member of the Healthy Food Hub, a Southside con-sumer-driven CSA that supports local and regional food systems, which distributes produce to subscribers during market days at the Betty Shabazz International Charter School. Mindful Metropolis recently spoke to Cooper about the Mobile Market, sus-tainability and food justice. Why did Fresh moves choose to mobilize a fresh produce market and deliver food in such an environmen-tally sustainable way? Th e founders [Steven Casey, Sheelah Muham-mad and Jeff Pinzino] were thinking about food access. When you look at the map, it’s also very specifi c to race, especially in Chicago. Th ey all knew very intimately and experienced communities that did not have access to fresh produce. Many of them come from community work and community research. Th ey saw the connection between not having produce and the health ef-fects on communities that don’t have fresh produce. Even more important to the sustainability question is the source. What is your source or your planned source? food sources. It’s not about either-or like this is something other than an urban farm. It’s not like you’re down with the urban farms or you’re down with the mobile market. Th e real-ity is that this [lack of food access] is a huge problem and there is more than enough room for people to work together to fi x it. So our goal is back to sustainability again. We need to be thinking about environmental sustainabil-ity as well as the sustainability of our food sys-tem. A lot of that has to do with local sourcing. When we think about how far our food has to travel to us, that also plays into environmental sustainability. We will have a mixed sourcing component. We have relationships with local farmers and urban farms in the area as well as market distributors to make sure we have a consistent mix of produce. do you have any specifi c farms or sources of produce? We are exploring Pembroke [Illinois] farmers. We’re having conversations about logics. Th e hard part is that some of the produce won’t be available until later. Th at’s why we can’t say we’re exclusively sourcing. We’re ac-tually in the process of creating con-tracts and discussions with the variety of sourcing options. are any of the contracts you’re look-ing to pursue with black farmers or Latino farmers? It’s important that we work with local Th e farmers in Pembroke are black farmers. When we talk about race in our food system, we’re constantly talking about consumers, all the people, all the players in our food chain. 20 june 2010

One on One: Veggie Road Trip

Sawyer J. Lahr

Veggie Road Trip Fresh moves mobile Produce market delivers fresh fruits and vegetables to Chicago’s food deserts While food trucks are serving up southern mac, cream pies and empanadas in downtown Chicago, the Fresh Moves Mobile Produce Market delivers fresh fruits and vegetables to food deserts in a decommissioned CTA bus. After being purchased for a dollar, the bus was retrofi tted with solar panels by Architecture for Humanity and runs on biodiesel fuel. Because no license perfectly fi ts Fresh Moves’ aims, Efrat Stein, director of communications for the City of Chicago, claims the city will continue to help Fresh Moves fi nd its place. A new city council and mayor will shape the future of food delivery vehicles. Launched last month, Fresh Moves delivers to the Austin and Lawndale neighborhoods— two areas with the worst food access mapped out in Mari Gallagher’s often cited 2006 report on Chicago food deserts. Though more than 80,000 people have transitioned out of these deserts since the fi rst study, Gallagher’s most recent report records 550,382 Chicagoans still aff ected as of May 2010. Of those currently living without easy access to produce, 422,916 are African American. Food security and environmental sustainability are invariably tied, according to Dara Cooper, senior project manager, of Food Desert Action, the not-for-profit organization behind the Fresh Moves Mobile Market. Cooper is an advisory board member of the Healthy Food Hub, a Southside consumer- driven CSA that supports local and regional food systems, which distributes produce to subscribers during market days at the Betty Shabazz International Charter School. Mindful Metropolis recently spoke to Cooper about the Mobile Market, sustainability and food justice. Why Did Fresh Moves Choose To Mobilize A Fresh Produce Market And Deliver Food In Such An Environmentally Sustainable Way? The founders [Steven Casey, Sheelah Muhammad and Jeff Pinzino] were thinking about food access. When you look at the map, it’s also very specific to race, especially in Chicago. They all knew very intimately and experienced communities that did not have access to fresh produce. Many of them come from community work and community research. They saw the connection between not having produce and the health effects on communities that don’t have fresh produce. Even More Important To The Sustainability Question Is The Source. What Is Your Source Or Your Planned Source? It’s important that we work with local food sources. It’s not about either-or like this is something other than an urban farm. It’s not like you’re down with the urban farms or you’re down with the mobile market. The reality is that this [lack of food access] is a huge problem and there is more than enough room for people to work together to fix it. So our goal is back to sustainability again. We need to be thinking about environmental sustainability as well as the sustainability of our food system. A lot of that has to do with local sourcing. When we think about how far our food has to travel to us, that also plays into environmental sustainability. We will have a mixed sourcing component. We have relationships with local farmers and urban farms in the area as well as market distributors to make sure we have a consistent mix of produce. Do you have any specific farms or sources of produce? We are exploring Pembroke [Illinois] farmers. We’re having conversations about logics. The hard part is that some of the produce won’t be available until later. That’s why we can’t say we’re exclusively sourcing. We’re actually in the process of creating contracts and discussions with the variety of sourcing options. Are any of the contracts you’re looking to pursue with black farmers or Latino farmers? The farmers in Pembroke are black farmers. When we talk about race in our food system, we’re constantly talking about consumers, all the people, all the players in our food chain. Applied Research Center just came out with a great study looking at race and class in our food system. I think it’s important to have a race analysis all the way through as we think about communities of color who don’t have access to produce. Also thinking about who’s farming, where the resources are coming from and working conditions. Is there a cost for customers or is the market charitable? It’s not charitable. There’s definitely a social justice component to it. There is something called the Community Reinvestment Act that was instituted in the ’70s. Some activist found that banks were literally drawing red lines around certain districts in Chicago and were discriminating against these communities. When you look at a map of where grocery stores are and where grocery stores are not, you’ll see the same patterns. Some people think about this in terms of grocery store redlining because there are clearly some neighborhoods where they’re not going. And that’s where we want to go. So we’re selling the produce, but we’re not looking to exploit the community of its resources. We are raising funds and making sure that we’re sustainable so that we don’t have to charge all the overage in profit. We want to be able to offer it as successful as possible, as affordable as possible. So there’s some service in that, but it’s important to frame it in a social justice context. It’s not about charity. It’s about providing access to communities that have been marginalized. What went into the green features? We brought the concept to them (CTA) and they were very supportive and said “How can we help?” We found out that Whitney Young [High School] has a biodiesel club. We’ve Been working with them, and they are going to donate some biodiesel. We’re still working on sourcing for the long-term. For An Organization Like Yours, Costs Need To Stay Low. Do You Think That Choosing Biodiesel As A Source Of Power And The Solar Panels Were Chosen Because Of Costs And Sustainability? Certainly biodiesel fuel is something to consider because fuel costs are rising tremendously, which will go into our costs and overhead. We want to make sure it’s sustainable and affordable. In reference to solar panels, we absolutely want to be as green as possible, but we also have limited funds. We realize the long-term sustainable goals and sustainable impact of it [Fresh Moves]. We’ve been great at partnering with people who have donated and have stepped up to make this happen, to reduce our overhead cost as much as possible. How will it be publicized? How will people find out about the market? We have a community outreach manager who is building all sorts of grass roots relationships with universities, colleges and community-based organizations. She’s been working in the community for years. In terms of our programming too, we ideally want to do some nutrition education and exchanges. There’s a lot of knowledge in community, so we want to tap into the knowledge, as well as provide a space to share their practices in terms of healthy eating, and food preparation tips. We have a chef lined up who’s volunteered to let us record him doing some cooking demonstrations. We’ve partnered with Kendall College who has a culinary program. So a lot of partners have come on board to make this happen. We want to do recipe cards and tips—bring fun back to good quality food. So, You're Inspiring People To Use Food And Recipes They've Inherited From Their Family And Learning How To Take Those Recipes And Make Them Healthier Or Adopting Healthier Recipes And Meals Altogether? I’ve been doing food justice work for a few years and community development work for over ten years. I just love talking about food in the community. It’s something that people get so excited and so passionate about, and everybody has an opinion or deep passionate thought about something related to food. I think it’s going to be great in so many ways in terms of providing nutrition education and community-building in general, having discussions and sharing how we create healthy food. For updates on scheduled stops, volunteer opportunities and events, visit freshmoves.org and sign-up for the newsletter.

Previous Page Next Page

Publication List
Using a screen reader? Click Here