School, Community, and Home Gardens and Farms

A Pathway for Changing the Local Food System to Prevent and Reduce Obesity and Build Community

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No single effort to curb obesity will be sustainable or effective on a broad scale if the larger food system is not addressed.

Many organizations working at local and community levels are making inroads in specific locations; however, these efforts are

undermined by the gaps in access to and the affordability of healthy foods.

To adequately address the obesity epidemic among American children, we need to employ strategies as comprehensive and ambitious as the pioneering environmental legislation of the 1970s and the current antismoking campaign.

~Urban Design Lab at Columbia University’s Earth Institute and the Collaborative Initiatives at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Obesity: Big, Complex Problem

3Obesity and the Food System

Recycling

Growing

Processing

Wholesaling

Retailing

Eating

PoliciesPeople

Practices

Examples of how the Food System Relates to Obesity:

Farm Policy: Subsidizing farms to produce as much as possible of a few basic commodities (corn and soybeans)

→ overproduction, lower crop prices, fewer small and medium-scale farms, less growing of more healthy fruits and vegetables

→ derivatives of commodities (corn syrup, soybean oil) are cheap ingredients for processed foods, leading to an abundance of such foods

Food Access: Poor neighborhoods have limited places for residents to go for fresh fruit and vegetables.

→ Supermarkets bypass poor neighborhoods and smaller independent grocers have largely disappeared

→ Residents left with convenience stores with low quality processed food

$1 buys three to four times more calories in the form of processed food than in fresh, healthy food.

~Wallace Center

4Addressing the Food System to Prevent and Decrease Obesity

Increasing production of nutrient rich items

Increasing regional production

Increasing access to fresh food in rural and low-

income areas

5Food System Indicators to Prevent and Decrease Obesity

Production –

Food production healthfulness

Availability –

Fast food, groceries/supermarkets, farmers markets/CSAs, community/home gardens, emergency food, farm-to-

institution programs, school food programs, food marketing in schools

Affordability –

Food insecurity, SNAP (food stamps), WIC vouchers, food expenditures

Consumption –

Fruit and vegetable consumption, fast food consumption, unhealthy food retail, soda consumption, healthy eating education

Diet-related Disease –

Overweight and obesity, other diet-related diseases

Urban Design Lab at Columbia University’s Earth Institute and the Collaborative Initiatives at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

6Why Gardens?

Promote healthier eating, physical activity, and access to fresh produce

Enhance civic engagement and a sense of community

Empower communities to create and sustain access and affordability

Every $1 invested in a community garden yields ~ $6 worth of vegetables

7Community and School Gardens within the Food System

Recycling

Growing

Processing

Wholesaling

Retailing

Eating

PoliciesPeople

Practices

8What grows from community gardens?

Better health-

Nutrition

-

Physical activity opportunities (light to moderate) for a lifetime

Improve local economy-

Property values increase increase tax revenue

Community cohesion-

Reduction in crime

9Silicon Valley HealthCorps (SVHC)

Growing

organic fruits and vegetables in school, community and backyard gardens

Eating

healthy food by teaching children and families about nutrition and creating local access

Retailing

and donating locally grown food to provide greater access and affordability

10SVHC Resources

$1.02 million over three years

46 AmeriCorps Members

10 Expert Partners

Communities, Schools and Families Ready to Engage

11SVHC Goals

Produce and distribute 180,000 pounds of locally grown, organic produce

Teach 16,000 youth and adults how to grow their own food and the importance of eating fruits and vegetables

Recruit and train 4000 volunteers to work on expanding and enhancing school and community gardens

12Partners and Approaches

Collective Roots –

garden based education in San Mateo CountyCAFF –

farm field trips and farmer visits for youthConexions –

school gardens as living labs to learn healthy eating habitsGuadalupe River Park &Garden –

school field trips, adult garden education, community gardenMaster Gardeners –

gardening education/TAFull Circle Farms –

educational farmHEAL Project –

garden based education in Half Moon Bay public schoolsLa Mesa Verde Project –

backyard garden installation and education in low income neighborhoodsSCU Urban Agriculture Program –

gardens at schools and community centers in San JoseVeggielution –

community farm at Emma Prusch Park

13SVHC Preliminary Year 1 Results3,400 community members have volunteered 15,400 hours6,098 youth and adults received education through 120 field trips and 130 workshops 1,400 youth received weekly, an on-going garden or farm based curriculum8 agencies received 414,512 sq. ft. of garden maintenance Members helped to produce 32,225 pounds of fruits and vegetables11 new school and community farms and gardens were developed100 backyard gardens were installed at the homes of low-income families in San Jose52% of children participating in garden based education increased daily fruit and vegetable consumption by at least one serving

14Related Initiatives

County-wide Assessment of Healthy Food Resources in Santa Clara County Food System Collaborative dedicated to building on the goals and objectives of the SVHC project to address issues of food access, healthy eating, and sustainable agricultureLocal Food Policy efforts in collaboration with county and granteesHealthy Food Resource RFP to be released by September 20

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