Community Food Security Coalition is a California-based collection of organizations and groups that promotes food programs. They define community food security as a condition in which all community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance and social justice. 

Though, as we’ve learned, not all folks involved in urban farming have food security as their #1 objective, this is essentially the foundation of gardening as it relates to people and social justice.

EBPI’s partners in crime at the Urban Oasis Project (possible alternate names: Git ‘er Done Gardens, Unpaved, iFarm, Land Farmstrong), led by Carl Grether, will soon be converting an unused plot of land behind the Black Infant Health Program’s building in Berkeley. A lawn will be removed, a tree stump will be ground, soil will be restored, and good old fasioned community fun will be had. EBPI will be on hand, sporting cameras and mics and know-how, to document the process from planning to implementation to followup.

The BIHP was started seven years ago, through a $100,000 grant from the state, as a response to startling and concerning statistics about Black infant health in the area. According to this Daily Planet article from ‘06, “a city health disparity report released in 1999 found that 16 percent of children born to African American women suffered from low birth weight, compared to 4 percent for white women. The four-to-one ratio was the worst of 165 cities studied throughout the country.”

The Program exists to help pregnant Black women to better be able to take care of themselves and their babies. They assist with doctor referrals, transportation, breastfeeding counseling, nutrition education, counseling, social support, celebrations, and more. It is in many ways a perfect spot for a community garden, both physically and thematically - it’s an unused space connected to a social program that preaches nutrition, good health, and community.

Carl’s group figures to be a ‘character’ in our film. They are a group of Bay Area folks who have recently gotten together to, among other things, turn vacant lots and open spaces into community food gardens. Carl noticed that the BIHP, a block from his home, had this space, and took the steps to get their approval. The first of many projects for the group, it figures to be a kick-ass community-building shindig - a good down ‘n’ dirty time that will produce a positive, socially responsible result.

Because in the end, that’s what urban farming is all about.