Urban farming in Dallas

Dallas Selected for 'Local Foods, Local Places' Program
By Jocelyn Lockwood

Why not in Dallas?

Medicaid and groceries

According to a new study from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Urban Institute, Texas stands to lose $100 billion over the next decade if it sticks to Governor Perry's promise not to expand Medicaid with federal funds made available to the state.  Expanding Medicaid would cost the state something under $6 million, a comparatively meagre investment. 

Refusing the expansion makes no sense whatsoever in economic terms. 

All the talk about Medicaid got me to thinking.  Expanding the low-income health insurance product in Texas faces another fundamental challenge:  even if expanded, there aren't nearly enough doctors in the state who will accept Medicaid patients due to the low reimbursement rates defined by the program, among other reservations associated with treating the very poor. 

Given the stalemate, I'm wondering if Medicaid expansion funds could be used for other efforts to improve community health outcomes among the poor and marginalized?  Already, some states are using these funds to invest in decent, affordable housing for the homeless.  Housing has been identified as a determinant of health, and therefore worthy of use of these funds.  Reports on this innovative approach have been written by our friends at the Corporation for Supportive Housing (www.csh.org).

Today, I'm imagining using Medicaid funds to incentivize grocery stores to move into low-income, marginalized communities.  Why couldn't Medicaid funding be used to wipe out "food deserts" so prevalent in our inner cities in this nation? 

I haven't figured out the business model yet, but it would include several factors. 

• Advance funds to grocery store chains for development of the stores
• On-going reimbursement or "value added" supplemental income, if needed, that could be indexed to the pounds of produce sold in the stores. 
• Company marketing would produce ad campaigns for fresh foods to drive these on-going income supplements. 

Ultimately, the benefit and cost savings would be realized via better public health outcomes in neighborhoods that today are "hot spots" for chronic disease sets like hypertension, diabetes and obesity. 

Just thinking out loud while billions of Texas funds remain on the shelf  in D. C.!

Summer hunger and nutrition

Watch this report on CitySquare's "Food on the Move" program this summer in Austin, Texas.

 We're also delivering meals in Dallas and Houston. In addition to the meals, we provide organized physical fitness activities for low-income children.

 

Just in from our AmeriCorps team in Houston. . .

[This report just in from Dr. Keven Vicknair, Director of our AmeriCorps team at CitySquare.  CitySquare directs almost 300 AmeriCorps members who work in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin this summer at children's programs and delivering summer lunches to thousands of low-income kids.  I find this report both amazing and yet, not at all atypical for some of the neighborhoods where we live and work.]

AmeriCorps members are gathered right now, eating lunch and talking about their day with one another.

As I walked through, I heard two members tell a story of their experience putting out door hangers at one of their stops.

The manager had told them not to talk to anyone on site. As the team of two young people made their way through the complex, they came across a group of young men blocking the path and talking about shooting someone the night before.

The team had to make a choice to turn back to go the long way around the property or to casually pass.

They choose to casually pass and the group stopped talking, let them pass, and then resumed their discussion of the person they shot the previous evening.

So... as you go about your day, please know you will at least not have to experience anything like the fear these two 20 years old members did today as they tried to make sure kids have a decent meal for lunch.

Keven

Welcome to the Opportunity Center, neighbor!!!

This week on Tuesday morning, volunteers from Pepsi, Albertsons, and Feed the Children joined CitySquare to distribute several tons of nutritious food products to several hundred families.

The effort's two-fold mission was to assist working families with their food needs and to introduce our neighbors to the location of our new Opportunity Center on Malcolm X Boulevard.

The effort was a huge success!

At the busiest time of the morning, cars stretched from our front gate all the way down Malcolm X to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard!

It was a great morning among friends!

Hunger spreading in USA

I've been a huge fan of Bill Moyers for years.  I recently read the following interview regarding the challenges associated with hunger in America today.  

Going to Bed Hungry

April 5, 2013

by Theresa Riley

The United States is the world’s wealthiest nation, yet we still have families and children who don’t have enough to eat. We caught up with Joel Berg of NYC’s Coalition Against Hunger to learn what it means to be food insecure and what we can do to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry.

Theresa Riley: What does it mean to be “food insecure”? How many American children now live in “food insecure” households?

Joel Berg

Joel Berg: Food insecure means families don’t have enough money to regularly obtain all the food they need. It means they are rationing food and skipping meals. It means parents are going without food to feed their children. It means kids are missing breakfasts. And, ironically, because healthy food is usually more expensive than junk food, and because healthier options often don’t even exist in low-income neighborhoods, it means that food insecurity and obesity are flip sides of the same malnutrition coin, so food insecurity may actually increase a family’s chance of facing obesity and diabetes. Fifty million Americans, including nearly 17 million children, now live in food insecure homes.

Read the entire interview here. 

Obesity and Poverty: Access, Volume and Cost

Food Desert Atlas

Now you can identify "food deserts" by address!   To check out this useful tool, click here.

Ironically, inadequate access to food drives the growing problem we have with obesity.

Gangster gardeners. . .your weapon of choice

Food needs grow. . .

Last week, Dr. Keven Vicknair, Director of CitySquare's "Food on the Move" initiative that seeks to address the food and nutritional needs of low-income, working families, sent me the following report on activity in our Food Pantry through the end of July 2012.  One conclusion that seems clear is the fact that the economy hurts the poor most of all.

Here's what she reports:

From January to July of 2012, the Food Pantry provided food to 12,901 individuals, of whom 4,478 (34.7%) have never before required our services and 2,283 (17.7%) who have returned after not needing us for at least six months.

This lets me know that the economy is not only pushing new people below the poverty threshold, but is in fact returning many people to the poverty rolls who had started to be self-sufficient but once again find themselves struggling.

 

SNAP now works at Dallas Farmers' Market

CitySquare has led the way in opening the Dallas Farmers' Market to low-income customers by helping negotiate the use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits (SNAP, fomerly known as "food stamps") to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from local producers.

The new policy delivers a true win-win to the market and those who trade there.

Farmers now have a larger market for their produce. Customers now have a grocery venue that supplies fresh, healthy food. Profits and health status both improve!

Rev. Gerald Britt, VP of Public Policy, and his associate, Keilah Jacques worked hard to see this new policy implemented!

Here's a video report from Channel 8!

Historic day: No foolin'! 20,000 pounds of groceries serve well over 400 shoppers!

Last Wednesday at the CitySquare Resource Center on Haskell Avenue in inner city East Dallas, our team distributed 20,000 pounds of very healthy grocery products to over 400 neighbors who came to shop. 

When I saw the crowds lined up down Haskell almost all the way to Elm Street, I knew we were experiencing the largest food distribution day in our history.  I just didn't know how big the day would be. 

Our staff worked until 8:00 p.m. to make sure all were served. 

Hunger in a city like Dallas, Texas?

ACU Honors College students and "food deserts"

CitySquare enjoys a growing relationship with Abilene Christian University. Over the weekend a group of students from the University's Honors College arrived in Dallas.  Their learning assignment:  develop a better understanding of "food deserts" and poverty in the city's southern sector. 

One of the students, Greg Jeffers, posted what follows to his blog last evening after a full day in the field.  His insights reflect an understanding and, even more importantly, a commitment to addressing the forces that keep so many of our neighbors pressed down. 

(Day 2) Justice and Food: Spring Break with the Honors College
Posted by Greg Jeffers in My Life, Travel

Greetings all!

Today was the second day of my journey with the ACU Honors College as we investigate questions of food distribution and justice. Today was packed full of exciting things.

We went to church this morning at a predominately African American church in south Dallas called St. Paul Baptist Church. This is one of the churches that actively partners with CitySquare. We were enthusiastically welcomed and were announced from the pulpit. Dr. Harbour was even asked to share a few words. It was definitely an experience. The primary focus of the service was on joy and trusting the Lord, even in difficult circumstances as well as on sacrificing what one has for the good of others. That message, in this neighborhood, took on an entirely different character from a similar message in, say, chapel at ACU.

-----------------------------------------------

After lunch we went to the headquarters of CitySquare. That’s where we met with Larry James, the CEO of CitySquare. CitySquare owns the building in which its offices are housed. It is a sixteen story building smack in the middle of downtown Dallas. The basement through the second floor is primarily for storage and rented space. The third floor houses CitySquare’s offices. The fourth through the fifteenth floor houses two-hundred apartments which CitySquare uses primarily to provide permanent housing to the homeless. The sixteenth floor has six condos which CitySquare is working on selling.

Mr. James and some of his staff instructed us about food deserts in general and in South Dallas particularly. There was far more information than I can repeat here, but let’s suffice it to say that the problem goes well beyond lack of nutritious food—it goes into health concerns, financial concerns, business concerns, and political concerns. Ultimately, of course, as Dr. Johnson pointed out later in the day, it delves into the way we understand who people are. If people do not have adequate food, then they are sicker. If they are sick, then they cannot work. If they cannot work, they cannot earn money to buy food. If a neighborhood starts to go under, then those who can do so, move. Those who can’t are forced to stay, and the neighborhood gets poorer. As businesses leave, people are left with little means of employment. The problems snow-ball. Our main focus is, of course, access to food, but all of these other things are questions as well.

We then went on a tour of Dallas with Mr. James. He drove us around for two hours as he displayed a masterful knowledge of Dallas and the problems facing its citizens. He would point to various locations or groups of houses and discuss what work was ongoing to restore things. What became readily apparent is that CitySquare is engaged in a Resurrection work. They are heavily invested in the restoration of the broken places. There are a thousand ways they are involved. They do development, health clinics, homeless housing, food distribution, financial training, health education, and so much more. It was actually sort of dizzying to keep up with Mr. James’ easy explanation of what all CitySquare is up to in the city. Something Mr. James stressed, however, is that there is so much more to be done.

To read entire post click here.

A "food desert"

Watch for CitySquare Board Member, Dr. Mark DeHaven in this informative and concerning report on access to healthy food in South Dallas.

Meeting the First Lady!

Last Friday, I had the amazing honor of meeting and greeting the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama.

Mrs. Obama visited Dallas to celebrate the great progress of so many Texas schools in preparing and serving more healthy foods to public school students and to promote and extend her "Let's Move" initiative as a remedy for youth obesity. You may link to a video report about her visit by The Dallas Morning News below.

City Council Member, Pauline Medrano (actually my council member) took the photo of our brief chat about CitySquare's Food on the Move program that delivered thousands of meals to low-income children last summer in partnership with PepsiCo and our AmeriCorps team. 

No surprise, I found the First Lady to be down-to-earth, interested in our work and delightful! 

What a great moment. 

To watch the DMN video click here.

Big win for low income families, public health and Dallas Farmers Market

Read the good news here!

Thanks to Rev. Gerald Britt, his public policy team and our many community partners!

Healthy food choices make our community stronger.

Food Deserts

Dr. Mark DeHaven is a member of CitySquare Board of Directors!

Mayor proclaims Dallas "No Kid Hungry City"

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings Proclaims Dallas as
“No Kid Hungry City”
Nov. 9, 2011 / GDJR NEWS WIRE

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings spoke Wednesday to the North Texas Hunger Summit declaring that Dallas would become a “No Kid Hungry City” and a Food Planning Association would accomplish this goal.

The summit was hosted by 30th District Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson who moved to action after viewing a local non-profit video on hunger.

The video created by FEED 3, a local educational nonprofit focused on addressing hunger and poverty in North Texas, revealed that over 380,000 North Texas children are challenged with hunger. The summit held at the Dallas Farmers Market, included governmental agencies, non-profits, local community food pantries, and business leaders.

Congresswoman Johnson shared passionately her desire to end hunger in the 30th District where some of the most impoverished counties of Texas exist. Determined to follow through on her commitment, Johnson's staff worked over the past nine months with local non profits to assist in launching a Food Planning Association. Local organizations such as CitySquare, a leading nonprofit that addresses hunger with families and children, FEED 3, North Texas Food Bank, DISD, USDA, Greater Dallas Justice Revival, Texas Baptist, and local food pantries are key partners in forming the local food planning association.

Read the entire report here

Join CitySquare for Food Stamped!