Poverty and Food Insecurity
Featured
In part two of her blog series on public transit's impact on food availability, Director of Food Access Tera Ashley evaluates the affordability, variety, and quality of produce typically available in low-income, low-access areas. While many might draw conclusions that there is not demand for as much produce in these areas, anecdotal evidence indicates otherwise.
To combat food insecurity among low-income, low-access households without vehicle ownership, the availability of public transportation is paramount. The increased mobility that often comes with efficient, reliable public transportation may affect the accessibility of fresh fruits and vegetables in three ways: increased affordability, increased variety, and elevated quality. Director of Food Access Tera Ashley explores how food access and transportation are related in the first installment of this three-part series.
Development Manager Johnisha Levi wrote an article for Yes! Media on the American Rescue Plan’s potential to reduce child poverty in the United States. The plan seeks to uplift American families suffering from the economic impacts of COVID-19 with a series of cash transfers and expansion of benefits. While the focus of the bill is specifically COVID-19 relief, it has potential to have lasting impacts on childhood poverty and hunger in our country.
"What I love about these programs as we think about the spirit of service is these programs are built on the strengths of those who participate and not their deficits." - our founder Tallu Schuyler Quinn delivering her acceptance speech for the 2020 Alumna Spirit of Service Award at Harpeth Hall School. You can watch the full speech here, where we also offer our gratitude to Harpeth Hall for their recent donations helping us stock our pantry and provide nourishing meals in the community.
We know how important free and reduced-price meals are for Tennessee families—over 663,000 Tennessee kids rely on free lunch and breakfast during a typical school year. As the pandemic shutters businesses and causes unprecedented layoffs, families are more vulnerable to food insecurity than ever before. While support from incredible locally-run organizations like The Nashville Food Project, this does not replace the need for food assistance legislation from state governments—especially in times of crisis.
Nourishment, after all, is about so much more than feeding and eating. To nourish another centers on the emotional tie—the care, regard, and concern—you have for another. It is about maintaining a relationship by prioritizing and cherishing another, not imposing what you think you know, but rather about listening. And it is this relationship that informs what makes another person or a community healthy and strong.
In the community garden program, we're always looking for ways to evolve and learn from our work. And this year, we are already reflecting and learning from the adaptations we've had to make due to COVID-19.
At TNFP, we often talk about our value of Stewardship and the belief we believe that there is enough. I’ll say it again, there is enough.
My deepest hope in all of this is that I can honor the people who paid the price for my new creative outlet, to serve others with that sacrifice, and in some Karmic way I can make the best of what’s shared with us to do good in this world.
“I must remind you that starving a child is violence. Neglecting school children is violence. Punishing a mother and her family is violence. Discrimination against a working man is violence. Ghetto housing is violence. Ignoring medical need is violence. Contempt for poverty is violence.”
— Coretta Scott King
It is past time to sow seeds that yield justice and a more equitable future. The profound impact of racism on life and death demands a full response from every single part of American society. At The Nashville Food Project we know we do not have all the answers, but we believe we can be part of the solution. We have learned and continue to learn that anti-racism work cannot be treated as side work, but it is the work of community food justice.
On a recent Thursday, more than 45 people filed into The Nashville Food Project’s community dining room, shaking umbrellas and shedding coats to join us for a hot cup of scratch-made sweet potato chili, a panel, and community conversation on the complexities of food injustice and how hunger intersects with other systemic inequities.
The barriers our community face can seem overwhelming. Today's seniors are more likely to have chronic diseases such as diabetes, high cholesterol and obesity than ever before, leading to increasing healthcare costs which further burden seniors living on a fixed income…
Over the last few years, we have been learning about the incredible need for summer meals for youth in Nashville and wishing we could do more. Every school year, Metro Nashville Public Schools serves 8.4 million lunches and 4 million breakfasts. During the summer months, without these daily meals, many children and youth are at risk of hunger. According to Feeding America, this could be as many as 1 in 5 children under the age of 18. These numbers are staggering, and we are finally in a position to do something about it. We are thrilled to announce a new initiative for our meals program: Sweet Peas, summer eats for kids.
We certainly don’t need any reminders that it is a deeply difficult time for humanity and for our fragile earth. This time is fraught with tense borders, fractured politics, ideological bunkers, politicized echo chambers, egregious waste and pandemic loneliness…
As a group of people passionate about the work of growing, cooking, and sharing nourishing food, one our values here at The Nashville Food Project is that every person has the capacity to act as both guest and host…
Last month, Nashville schools announced a scale back of a program which for the past 4 years has provided free lunch to all Metro school students, regardless of income. We reached out the The Tennessee Justice Center to help us understand the changes and what is at stake.
A few weeks ago, our staff spent time reading and reflecting together on the life of Fannie Lou Hamer, a legendary civil rights activist and founder of the Freedom Farm Cooperative, an effort to combat hunger, poverty, and racism in the community…
Recent proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps) suggest a shake-up may be in store for one of our country’s most important safety net programs. This has a team talking about what we believe to be essential ingredients of effective food support.
The SNAP Challenge gives participants a view of what life can be like for millions of low-income Americans living on the average daily food stamp benefit of about $4 per person per day…
In part three of this series, Director of Food Access Tera Ashley evaluates how public transit systems may or may not meet the needs of its city's residents, and explores improvements to these systems that could also improve food accessibility for low-income, low-access residents.