Children "Eat Up" the Idea of Fresh Produce in Their Schools and Communities
The Farmers’ Market Fruit and Salad Bar is one of three programs created by Occidental College’s Community Food Security Project (CFSP) in Los Angeles to give predominantly low-income children and families access to healthy foods. CFSP also operates the Farm Fresh Access program during after-school hours and Project Grow for residents of domestic violence shelters. "A fundamental problem in low-income communities is lack of access to farm-fresh foods," said Robert Gottlieb, director of the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute, the umbrella organization of CFSP. "People in these neighborhoods don’t have supermarkets near them, and if they do, the food is usually high-priced and low-quality." Gottlieb cited a study by the South Los Angeles Community Coalition, which found that 52 of the 53 restaurants within a 2-square-mile radius in South Central Los Angeles were fast-food restaurants. "It’s not just a question of whether low-income children are getting enough to eat, but if what they are eating is healthy for them," Gottlieb said.
In December 1997, CFSP received a $129,000 grant from TCWF to increase access to healthy foods in underserved neighborhoods. In March 2000, CFSP received a second grant of $200,000 to expand its outreach. The Farmers’ Market Fruit and Salad Bar started as a pilot program in 1997 at McKinley School in Santa Monica. The program, which includes nutrition education and field trips to farmers’ markets, quickly won over students who liked both the taste of the fresh produce and the variety of choices. Parents also praised its health benefits. By the end of this past school year, Santa Monica’s school district had instituted the salad bars in all of its schools. Gottlieb is hoping for a similar outcome with the Los Angeles Unified School District, where two schools in South Central Los Angeles and one in Chinatown are testing the idea. All three schools are in high-poverty areas, with 90 to 95 percent of the students receiving free or reduced lunches. "We’re finding enormous interest among parents and children," Gottlieb said. "On some days, 90 percent of the students are choosing the salad bar over the hot lunch." Another CFSP effort, Farm Fresh Access, provides nutritious snacks for after-school programs and distributes "market baskets"—full of fresh produce at low costs—through child care centers. CFSP also extended its reach to domestic violence shelters through Project Grow, which allows shelter residents to enjoy both the physical and mental health benefits of growing vegetable gardens and fruit trees. CFSP programs have gained statewide and national attention. California school administrators, parents, nutritionists and farmers are starting Farmers’ Market Fruit and Salad Bars in their communities after having attended CFSP workshops in Northern and Southern California, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has endorsed the program’s replication nationwide. The State of California also funded nine Project Grow sites throughout the state after domestic violence workers and government leaders attended CFSP workshops one year ago. "In all of these activities, our role has been to provide the concept, conduct workshops and then help people pull their programs together with hands-on assistance," Gottlieb said. "We want to provide the tools that will make these efforts successful."
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Summer 2000
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