What is Giving Compass?
We connect donors to learning resources and ways to support community-led solutions. Learn more about us.
Giving Compass' Take:
• This report details local community partnerships making sustainable efforts in food justice and community health between UC Berkeley and the surrounding area.
• How can donors help facilitate these partnerships?
• Learn more about what food justice really means.
This report is the culmination of more than three years of work in Richmond in partnership with local community leaders and organizations. It outlines strategies that can facilitate more engaged partnerships between UC Berkeley and surrounding Richmond community in order to realize transformational food system change.
With the announcements of the Berkeley Global Campus (BGC) in Richmond and Global Food Initiative (GFI) from the UC Office of the President, there is great promise to align those initiatives’ values of sustainability, equity, and global inclusion with the aspirations of local community in Richmond. The report, authored by Nadia Barhoum, provides a general overview of food systems and community health, followed by a description of the current landscape of existing food challenges and food equity efforts in Richmond and food-related work at UC Berkeley and within the Global Food Initiative.
Read the full report about food justice and community health by the Othering & Belonging Institute.
Although the US produces enough food to feed its population, there are 49 million Americans who are food insecure, meaning that they do not have “consistent, dependable access to enough food for active, healthy living”. The impact of food insecurity falls disproportionately on communities of color and single women—as of 2014, 26.1 percent of Black households, 22. 4 percent of Latino households, and 35.3 percent of households headed by single women faced food insecurity; in contrast, white households faced food insecurity at a rate of 10.5 percent. Visions of local and sustainable food systems point to how challenges related to food security, access, and equity can be alleviated and eventually eliminated altogether.