URGENT Call to Mayor Lightfoot: Prioritize racial justice in food, health, and quality of life
The signatories of this Call to Action - comprising Chicago's food, agriculture, public health, and environmental communities - call on Mayor Lori Lightfoot to commit to long-term funding that prioritizes basic human needs in response to this moment of justified outrage.
The Chicago Food Policy Action Council (CFPAC), our partners, and community members are stricken with grief and anger. We have been fighting to address the disproportionate impact COVID-19 and the food system are having on the health and welfare of black and brown communities, especially the frontline farmers and food workers who have been sustaining us through this crisis. While we seek to build racial equity in the food system, the recent murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer demonstrates the roots of structural racism in our policing system. Our vision of building a community-driven food system-- where all have the right to produce and access food, regardless of race, class, or social identity-- cannot be realized when our criminal justice system continues to target and punish individuals based on racial prejudice.
We stand in solidarity with all who are peacefully protesting in response to the wrongful homicides of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and the many other individuals who have lost their lives due to police violence and racial profiling. We want to amplify the calls from movement leaders at Black Lives Matter Chicago and other aligned groups for criminal justice reform. We are additionally concerned that as Chicago area public transit systems face sporadic shut downs, grocery stores close their doors due to property damage, and the emergency food system experiences disruptions, black and brown neighborhoods are being left without adequate access to food and other basic human needs during this time of crisis. We applaud the efforts of public, non-profit, and community-based organizations who are working to ensure residents have access to food, and these efforts need more support. Now is the time for our public officials to show up for affected neighborhoods by prioritizing the redirection of resources to meet communities’ human, social, and economic development needs.
We demand our public officials prioritize the needs of communities by immediately doing the following:
Assess the increased need for food access within communities whose grocery stores have temporarily or indefinitely closed, and increase dedicated resources for publicly funded food distribution programs like Chicago Public Schools’ Grab and Go sites.
Expand funding for home delivery food programs for all in need, especially children, immunocompromised individuals, and seniors, recognizing families may now have further challenges traveling to food pick-up sites.
Provide further support to both the City markets and community organizations operating farmers markets, especially those which are located in neighborhoods that have limited access to other sources of fresh food. Support farmers markets with the additional costs of providing personal protective equipment and implementing other enhanced social distancing protocols. In addition, help widely market and promote the LINK Up program, which allows SNAP users to double their benefits at the market. Maximize the potential for farmers markets as both a critical food access point and an economic development opportunity for cottage and emergent BIPOC food and craft businesses.
While we discourage any continued use of blockades, curfews, and other travel restrictions across the City, we call on the City to provide reliable and free transportation for essential workers to get to and from work without fear of police intimidation, if these activities continue.
Contribute both short and long-term financial resources towards multiple community-based food strategies (home-delivered meals, produce and grocery box programs) that offer a comprehensive and resilient distribution network. Resources should be prioritized for producers and businesses owned and operated by black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), especially those operating in the communities hardest hit by COVID-19 and recent grocery store closures. For example, collaborations like Urban Growers Collective and ChiFresh Kitchens emergency meal program and the Farms, Food, Familia Project both support BIPOC urban farmers, BIPOC-owned chefs, and BIPOC communities. Cities across the country have been supporting similar efforts, like Boston, MA, which has already committed $450,000 for local restaurants to prepare emergency meals with locally grown food.
Decrease barriers to community residents growing their own food and uplift projects that are producing fresh, healthy, and culturally appropriate fruits, vegetables, and grains for their neighbors. In particular, actively connect aspiring gardeners and farmers to land and ensure community gardens and urban farms have free or affordable access to water throughout the growing season. Work with the Chicago Department of Planning and Development to ensure community agency in the long term use and ownership/stewardship of productive lands to include food production, edible forestry and meditation spaces as "peace zones."
Prioritize financial support to locally owned groceries and food businesses, especially those that are BIPOC owned, in communities where recent upheaval has resulted in property damage.
Actively leverage the City’s Good Food Purchasing Policy (GFPP) to support the City’s departments and sister agencies in buying from BIPOC owned businesses whose operations have experienced challenges during the pandemic and/or civil unrest.
Create a position in the Mayor’s Office dedicated to food system issues as Baltimore, MD, New York, NY, Madison, WI, and many other cities have done to hold the City accountable to a comprehensive food plan. This will provide much needed coordination among the many departments and agencies who are involved in the food system, from providing and/or procuring food, regulating, permitting, and/or investing in food businesses, making land use decisions, managing food waste, controlling water access, and building healthy communities.
We urge the City to make a long-term investment in racial equity in response to the recent outcry for racial justice by ensuring that vital human needs are being met in Chicago’s communities of color. Now more than ever, we must address the disinvestment in and disenfranchisement of black and brown communities by prioritizing access to and production of culturally appropriate, healthy, and sustainably grown food.
Signed,
Organizations
Chicago Food Policy Action Council
Advocates for Urban Agriculture
Artisan Grain Collaborative
Austin Community Food Co-op
Big Green
Bright Beat
Bowhaus Micro Farm
Chicago Asian American for
Environmental Justice
Chicago Bridge Project
Chicago Urban Art Retreat Center: North Lawndale
Chicago Lights
Chicago Resource Center
Common Threads
Delta Institute
DePaul Urban Gardeners
Dill Pickle Food Co-op
Eden Place Farm
Equity and Transformation (E.A.T.)
Experimental Station
Faith in Place
Farm Plug Ind.
Finding Justice A Flower and Vegetable Garden
Food & Water Action
Food Matters, LLC
Gardeneers
Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance
Grow Greater Englewood
Hanul Family Alliance
Hi Tech Consulting
Hinata Farms
Illinois Stewardship Alliance
IMAN (Inner-City Muslim Action Network)
LinkUp
Local Foods Market + Distribution
Marillac St Vincent Family Services
Nature's Farm Camp
Pilot Light
Plant Chicago
Plates On Purpose
Policy Research Collaborative
Real Food at Northwestern University
Slaughter Free Chicago
Slow Food Chicago
Slow Food Youth Network Chicago
Star Farm Chicago
Sugar Beet Food Co-op
The Birch Arbor Gardens
The Co-op Education Center
The Hatchery Chicago
The Love Fridge
The Lumpkin Family Foundation
The People of Chicago
The Strategic Collaboration Group
UIC Student Nutrition Association
Urban Growers Collective
Windy City Harvest
Individuals
Alana Chandler
Alex Frantz
Allison Sturm
Barbara Pillow Sidibeh
Brandon Lov
Bridget Jones
Cassie Petit
Charles l Bartels
Chelsea Williams
Cheryl Watson
Danny Block
Dena Fromberg
Eddie Lee Lakes III
Eleanore Bryne
Erika Dudley
Erin Koroll
Frances Rafferty
Gerald Harper
Ian McCarthy
Ivy Leung
J. Smyk
Jam Doughty
Jeannine Wise
Jenn Eisner
Jessica Mueller
Joe F. Bozeman III
Joe Madison
Jordan Francisco
Karen French
Kassandra Hale
Kent Lambert
Kim Chayeb
Kyle Gearon
Lauren Harriett
Laurita A. Doane
Leslie Smebak
Lisa Heineman
Lindsey Paz
Lorena Rosiles
Lucia Angel
Magdalena Nava
Mandy Penksa
Maria Bandera
Maria Bautista, MD
Maria Quizhpi
Matthew Rudolph, MD
Melissa Penas
NiCole Ward
Paulina Vaca
Rochelle Johnson
Rosanne Perez
Roslyn Kauffman
Sam Koentopp
Sean Shatto
Shulamis Rouzaud
Sydnye Cohen
Taylor Jackson
Tessie McDermott
Weslynne Ashton
Willow Waling