THE CAUSE: Fighting Racial Disparities in Food Security by supporting Black Yield Institute
THE CHALLENGE: This is a collective effort challenge over the course of two weeks! ✊🏿✊🏻✊🏾✊🏼✊🏽 Post all of your active minutes over the course of the challenge. You can post/submit multiple times for this challenge. For every 8️⃣7️⃣ minutes of activity, $3 will be donated on your behalf to combat racial disparities in food security in Baltimore. Post a screenshot of your stats from your tracking device’s app in the discussion section of our Facebook December 2021 event page or submit your results manually on our website. Submissions will be accepted until 12/18/2021 at 11:59 PM.
Want to go the extra mile? Your charitable donation will help fight racial disparities in food access while also helping us continue to create programming that cultivates conversations around the complex social justice issues we face in the US. You can donate here https://www.benefitchallenges.org/take-action
THE WHY: 87% of people experiencing food insecurity in Baltimore are of African descent, yet the total percentage of people of African descent in Baltimore is ~64% (Black Yield Institute, 2021). 😔 Food insecurity refers to a person or family’s limited or uncertain access to adequate food. There is a stark racial disparity of access to quality food relative to the distribution of race in Baltimore’s general population. According to Feed America (2021), Black families were 3x more likely than whites to face food insecurity last year.
1 in 4 Baltimore residents live in a food desert. Residents of these neighborhoods may live close to a corner store 🏪 that sells snack foods 🍪🍫🍕🌭🥤, however fresh produce 🍐🥦🍏🥑🍓🥕🫐🥒🍑🍅🥬 and other healthy foods are more difficult to find. This results in increased likelihood of nutrient-poor diets which leads to greater risk for and more difficulty managing diet-related diseases (Food Insecurity, 2016). This in turn fuels racial disparities in health care, etc. 🏥
We need to address the underlying factors contributing to social inequalities in food access. As Nina Sevlla of The National Resource Defense Council (2021) said “a better, more equitable, food system should address root causes, redistribute power, and be guided by people with lived experience in food apartheids. Food security is more than proximity to a grocery store; it should be about food sovereignty—the right of all people to have a say in how their food is grown and the right to fresh, affordable, and culturally appropriate food.” So, put on your Fitbit, Garmin, AppleWatch…whatever you’ve got and let’s move to increase food security for all.
Feed America, 2021, www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/african-american Accessed 24 Nov 2021.
“Food Insecurity: A Public Health Issue.” Public Health Reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974) vol. 131,5 (2016): 655-657. doi:10.1177/0033354916664154
“Our Position.” Black Yield Institute, 2021, blackyieldinstitute.org/our-position/. Access 24 Nov 2021.
Ridge, Jenae. “Food Apartheid | Why we should change the way we talk about food deserts.” The Green Urban Lunch Box, 16 June 2020, https://thegreenurbanlunchbox.com/food-apartheid-why-we-should-change-the-way-we-talk-about-food-deserts/
Sevilla, Nina. “Food Apartheid: Racialized Access to Healthy Affordable Food.” National Resource Defence Council, 02 Apr 2021, nrdc.org/experts/nina-sevilla/food-apartheid-racialized-access-healthy-affordable-food