Record drought decimated the Midwestern food harvest last summer. Superstorm Sandy caught New York and New Jersey off-guard. Climate change isn’t just an abstract, future possibility. It’s our current reality, and we need to be prepared.
Here in the Bay Area, we’ve rejected the gloom and doom mentality. Instead, we’re taking proactive steps now to make our communities more resilient in the face of climate instability. San Francisco is often regarded as a food mecca, yet many in the city cannot eat healthy, local food purchased near home. Known as food deserts, instead of healthy local food, there are liquor stores and fast food.
In recent years, city leaders like Gavin Newsom and David Chiu led a steady drumbeat of policy change to advance San Francisco’s role in providing land and resources for urban agriculture. With this in mind, The San Francisco Foundation updated our Environment Program funding guidelines last summer to reflect a climate resilience framework, with a focus on food access for low-income people and communities of color. On the heels of this, The San Francisco Foundation applied for and received three-year matching funds from the Convergence Innovation Fund to launch the Healthy Food for All initiative.
Through this effort, we will partner with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which will offer up two 6,000-square-foot sites for food growing in the Bayview and the Excelsior. People’s Grocery will ensure a community-driven process to determine how to use the sites. Greenbelt Alliance, SAGE, and American Farmland Trust will then develop a regional business plan and investment strategy for local food that elevates the economic development opportunities for vulnerable communities. We will train and invest in neighborhood leaders. Over the years, we will tap into the expertise and know-how of 27 other current and former Innovation Fund grantees, craft policy solutions, and share what we learn on a national stage.
These days, First Lady Michelle Obama isn’t the only one talking about healthy, local food. Unfortunately, climate change makes the issue urgent. Now is the time to take bold risks to promote a more resilient region.
Through Healthy Food for All, underutilized sites will be transformed into food hubs for low-income communities and communities of color. This is what community resilience looks like.