Get rid of the ‘food desert’ label
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Our good friend and partner John Bare, vice president of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and executive-in-residence at Georgia Tech’s Institute for Leadership and Entrepreneurship, would like to see discussions around the term “food desert” dry up.
Bare says in an Op-Ed he recently wrote for CNN that being labeled a food desert makes a neighborhood undesirable, rather than a target of opportunity. He also says the discussion gets mean-spirited when critics assert that it’s the people—not the neighborhoods—who are broken.
Here are some highlights from Bare’s story:
In poor neighborhoods where there’s more violence and limited opportunities, some assume that residents brought the difficult circumstances on themselves, that families like living on the dole. Sometimes it’s whispered. Sometimes it’s shouted. Either way, it’s the same conclusion: Those people got what they deserved.
What we need is the recognition that food represents heritage, love, faith, healing and family pride. Food builds community and helps reduce social isolation.
What we need is experimentation with new ownership, supply chain and distribution models to disrupt the existing food systems.
What we need is a Food Oasis Movement.
There’s an easy way to test the usefulness of the food desert label. Show up at a neighborhood meeting with research on how residents are living in a food desert. Guess what? They already know.
So take another tactic. Ask residents how they want to transform their neighborhood into a Food Oasis.
I’ve done it, and residents have lots of ideas. They want to turn vacant lots into gardens, learn canning techniques so summer vegetables will be available year round and teach young people the joy of making casseroles.
Sorting through all of the answers, it boils down to three things: Eat. Cook. Grow.
So take another tactic. Ask residents how they want to transform their neighborhood into a Food Oasis.
Read John Bare’s Op-Ed and watch some video at CNN.com.