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THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT |
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Mesa Family Food Resources |
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Supported by First Things First, the Early Childhood Nutrition Initiative seeks to better connect families with young children to food, wellness, and family support services across Maricopa County.
The Feed Support Grow Mesa team created a quick video to highlight the food and nutrition resources on location at the West Mesa Family Resource Center operated by Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest (LSS-SW). This video was created in response to a family survey that showed a number of families did not know about free or low-cost food resources. The team hopes the video format will help increase the awareness of these resources and will be sharing it across their networks in both Spanish and English.
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Cynthia Melde, Director of Community Impact
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Double Up Food Bucks Arizona is turning five years old!
We put together a slideshow to celebrate how far we have come and how many people we have been able to serve.
Thank you to all of our AMAZING partners, we couldn't do it without you!
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Our 2021 Seeds to Grow Grant Recipient is Blooming Reed Farm of Paulden, Arizona!
Blooming Reed farmers Juan and Keeton Aguiar provide Arizonans with locally grown organic vegetables, nutritious herbs, and breathtakingly beautiful flowers with the goal of minimizing the disturbance to the soil. Sustainable agriculture can be very labor-intensive, but with the appropriate equipment, farmers can maximize profits by increasing crop yields, improving crop quality, and reducing expenses.
We’d like to give special thanks to Erich Shultz of Steadfast Farm for his technical support and expertise in choosing the appropriate agricultural equipment and tools for the location. He provides unwavering support to the regional farmers of our Arizona food system, and he played a big part in making this happen. We would also like to thank Whole Foods for their efforts and support in this initiative.
*On a personal note, they recently welcomed baby girl Indigo to the world, please join us in wishing them all the good vibes and minutes of sleep.
Seeds to Grow is an annual funding opportunity that supports the heart of our food system with seed funding for farm equipment and essentials for Arizona's small farmers.
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In the ongoing work of facilitator and organizer adrienne maree brown, she invites us to imagine. Time and again she writes that justice work is science fiction work because activists take on the task of building a future that does not exist yet.
Because if we can’t imagine that future – personally or collectively – how will we make it a reality?
Truthfully, it can be hard to picture a world without hunger or poverty. When I first tried to, I could only come up with the desire to dismantle existing systems of violence: capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy. And don’t get me wrong, we should all be and stay committed to dismantling those systems. But in that exercise, it was clear that I had little practice training my imaginative muscles.
So with deeper reflection, my dream for us is to live in a world that is treated with abundance, where land, power, and resources are returned to indigenous peoples’ stewardship, where accountability is so high that everyone answers to community needs, and where conflict is embraced with maturity, love, and mutual understanding. The only surviving structures are those that protect, uplift, and heal.
In the anti-hunger advocacy world, we know that people who are forced to face food insecurity cannot wait for the policy changes (or better yet, the revolution) that promise to end hunger one day. Hungry people need to be fed, and not just with any food. In line with naming the possibilities we dare to imagine, those foods need to be culturally appropriate and fully nourishing to the body and soul. Agency in food choice has to be restored. And there should be robust opportunities to consume locally sourced food as well as space to build a healthy relationship to food. I find tremendous hope in working from a place not of wishing that were true, but in every small way possible practicing it until it is true.
Let’s live and work wholeheartedly into the possibilities of our most radical dreams.
Check out adrienne maree brown’s books and her blog for more wisdom & inspiration.
Farmers Market Nutrition Programs Coordinator
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USDA Modernizes the Thrifty Food Plan,
Updates SNAP Benefits
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We’ve watched and applauded as several SNAP waivers have been released during the pandemic, including requirements for in-person interviews, re-certification deadlines, and newly eligible groups such as students. We know there are still many hurdles for individuals to get help putting food on the table, and too many households run out of SNAP benefits before the end of the month.
The 27% increase in SNAP benefits helps bolster this critical safety net program. And yet, we dream of and work towards a world where no one needs SNAP to put food on the table - where there is dignity and equity for all.
All families should have access to healthy foods and opportunities to develop healthy relationships with foods.
Farm to Fork Programs Manager
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Paying Attention to the Bi-partisan Infrastructure Package? |
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By now, you all have likely heard about the $1.2 trillion bi-partisan Infrastructure Package (a.k.a. the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) making its way through Congress. About $550 billion of the package includes new spending for the next five years while the remaining funds reauthorize existing federal spending priorities.
The bill invests in the nation’s physical infrastructure by putting dollars toward roads and bridges, transit, the power grid, safe drinking water, broadband access, environmental remediation, and greenhouse gas mitigation. Pinnacle was encouraged to see that the transportation component of the package also includes a strong people-centric focus on complete streets, biking and walking, and vulnerable road user safety-related policies and investments. The bill would increase funding to the Transportation Alternatives Program, the largest federal source of funding for active transportation and safe routes to school, by 70%.
The 2,000 plus page bill was approved by the Senate earlier this month with a historic 69-30 vote but awaits further negotiations and votes necessary to get House approval in the weeks to come. Members of Congress are also working on an even larger $3.5 “human infrastructure” budget reconciliation that includes funding for items such as health care, climate change, education, childcare, family leave, and housing. Politics are at play as members determine whether to pass the physical infrastructure package first or to hold out for months of negotiations to ensure forms of both packages make it across the finish line.
Click here to see the latest on what’s in the Infrastructure Package.
Healthy Communities Program Manager
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BLUE SKY ORGANIC FARMS GoFundMe
We’re helping Blue Sky get settled on a new piece of land so they can keep growing delicious vegetables for Arizona’s communities. Click here to read the latest update about how they are preparing for the fall planting season.
Will you help by sharing the fundraiser link with your network?
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AZFSN/AFBN Friday Policy Calls |
Sign up for newsletter notifications from the Arizona Food System Network at www.azfsn.org. Newsletters include meeting links to tune into the joint Arizona Food Systems Network and the Arizona Food Bank Network Advocacy calls.
The next call is Friday September 3, 2021 from 12-1 p.m. MST/AZ time,
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Double Up Food Bucks is a “buy-one get-one” program that helps SNAP customers stretch their food dollars and buy more fruits and vegetables at farmers markets, grocery stores and more!
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The Arizona Food Systems Network is a community of local, state and regional food systems advocates, practitioners and leaders who have a vested interest in collaborating to improve the food system for all Arizonans.
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Seeds to Grow supports the heart of our food system with seed funding for farm equipment and essentials for small farmers.
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Pots to Love program provides slow cookers, toaster ovens, and other kitchen necessities to seniors and young families who need the proper tools to prepare their meals.
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Click here to get information about your community FIRST
Invite your friends to subscribe!
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