Healthy Food, Healthy Future



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Healthy Food, Healthy Future

Connecting Communities in Southeast Arizona for Well-being

February 16 & 17, 2010 Dragoon, Arizona

At the Triangle T Guest Ranch & Retreat Center

9:00 am Tuesday February 16th

Welcome and Overview of Process

Kelly Watters, Community Organizer for conference hired by the Community Food Bank (Tucson, AZ), thanked planners, contributors & participants (Susan Kunz, Mariposa Community Health Center, Nogales, AZ; Valerie McCaffrey, Sierra Vista Farmers’ Market and Baja Arizona Sustainable Agriculture, Benson, AZ; Sister Mary Kirkhoff, Douglas Farmers’ Market, Medical Missionary Sisters and Douglas Special Action Group, McNeal, AZ; Russel Miller, Chiricahua Community Health Center, El Frida, AZ; and Cesar Lopez, Barrio Sustainability Project, Tucson, AZ; and Mody Frascella, Rural Accent, Bowie, AZ.) Then she told a brief story of how we got to be here. WHY Hunger recognizes people in their Harry Chapin Self-Reliance Awards. Two staff from the Community Food Bank were recognized, went to an awards ceremony in New York where WHY Hunger is based and learned of WHY Hunger’s work in food deserts. There they solidified their partnership with the Community Food Resource Center (CFRC) of the Community Food Bank (Tucson, AZ) and went on to be a partner with WHY in a Kresge funded planning project along with Delta State and Delta region of Mississippi to put on a future search event around reversing food deserts.

Kelly Introduced Varga Garland, Director of CFRC (Tucson, AZ), who explained the importance of arts and visual communications help to communicate important issues surrounding access to healthy foods. In the same way visual artists are documenting the Healthy Food, Healthy Future gathering. She referred to a CD of music, Food is Good and a copy of a DVD, Local Foods, Healthy Communities (link to video). Varga introduced Alison Cohen.

Alison, Cohen, one of the two facilitators, Program Director, WHY Hunger? (World Hunger Year), New York, NY talked about how WHY Hunger got started by folk singer Harry Chapin 35 years ago. WHY Hunger runs National Hunger Clearing House and Hotline 1-866-3 HUNGRY, an online Food Security Learning Center, the Harry Chapin Self Reliance Awards and the Grassroots Action Network. Alison introduced Brooke.

Brooke Smith, Director, Grassroots Action Network (GAN), WHY Hunger, GAN serves to connect grassroots efforts nationally that are working on root causes of hunger and poverty in their own communities through a resource directory, mentoring network and capacity building. Brooke talked about the documentation that would be taking place over the two days. Photographer RAEchel Running set up a back drop outside and would be asking participants, identified prior to conference, to have their portrait taken. Gary Williams was at the retreat the first day to document video and audio proceedings.

Agenda: Jan Henderson, facilitator, hired by WHY Hunger, went over our tasks for the first day Past: where we’ve been, Present: Where We Are, Future: What We Want (day one) and Action: How We Get There (day two).

Addendum: AZ Agenda.doc

Future Search Conference Overview[1].doc

Focus on Past:

Enfocando en el Pasado

Telling our Stories,

Making History Visible

Contando Nuestro Historias, Haciendo que la Historia Sea Visible

Participants were asked to reflect on Personal, Regional and World Events to document the story of health and food in the region. Individually, participants on scrap paper wrote their own events and then were asked to share their histories by writing them on the timeline. The timeline began with Pre-1500s, 1500-1800s, 1800-1900s, to 1950-2010.

Addendum: Timeline.doc

Focus on Present Part I

Healthy Foods, Healthy Future Mind Map

The group moved to a blank page with Healthy Food, Healthy Future in a circle in the middle. The next task would be to name trends that affect healthy food. Guides are that 1) person who names trend decides where it goes; 2) opposing trends are okay; 3) Give examples

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Addendum: Mindmap.doc

Focus on the Present Part II

Stakeholder groups: Educators, Distributors, Advocates, Farmers and Producers, Eaters were organized ahead of time by the planning group.

In these groups, stakeholders identify two to three key trends or issues that are important to their group reflect on what they are doing or not doing in Southeast Arizona about trends affecting healthy food.

Sorries—what you’re not doing, what you’re sorry about

Prouds—what you are doing now you are proud of

“I am proud that we are now three generations in farming and passing on the knowledge”

“I am sorry I let cross-border issues be a damper to addressing issues in Ambos Nogales”

“I am sorry I ignored a community need, thinking that someone else would take care of it”

“I am proud of being able to inspire youth to grow food in the desert”

“I am sorry I adopted an individualistic frame of mind instead of community”

“I am proud that Douglas home health is teaching food skills”

“I am proud helped start the Douglas Farmers’ Market”

“I am proud to have implemented healthy food policy in Douglas School District— eliminating vending machines and sodas”

“I am proud of producing high quality vegetables”

“I am sorry I have not reached out to the local youth”

“I am sorry I didn’t get involved before”

“I am sorry that the emergency food system provides unhealthy food”

Create Ideal Future Scenarios

Groups were randomly formed by playing a life boat game. After being prompted to close our eyes and envision a future, these groups worked together to create a vision for healthy food and a healthy future as if the future is already happening.

• Mural with colorful clouds and sun, image of how communities are organized and live, group enacted Healthy Tuesday Community Celebration complete with the meal’s elaborate menu

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• A Children’s book, A Day with Esperanza, dedicated to the Communities of Southern Arizona, by a group of Forward Thinking People

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• Mural of Road Map to the Future with Silent rolling cards reading: eliminate border, fair and affordable produce, gardens in yard, use solar/wind energy, community kitchens, exchange of cross-cultural information, produce in food boxes, public production land that facilitates learning.

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• Skit of a BorderLinks trip leader and student. They visit the border and see new interactions and exchanges of people, services, goods and food!

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• Mom and Dad and extended family sit at a table and share a meal, grandmother is there, Tio Juan, the little children and a neighbor visits and joins the meal.

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• One group enacted how a community resolves conflict by gathering elders in the community to an advisory group and solicits their advice and knowledge to solve community problems. A stone is passed which entitles member to speak.

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End Day One

Wednesday February 17th

8:30 am

Finding Common Ground

In groups of three or four people we discussed what we felt were values and principles we shared. We shared them with the larger group and organized them into similar groups. Results were: Main themes We are the Seed/Somos La Semilla and Addressing Root Causes.

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Education

Seed-to-seed curriculum,

Agricultural education,

Garden-based education at schools

Addendum: see Conference Follow-up English.pdf for full list and those not taken by group

Identify Potential Projects

We returned to groups of three or four and brainstormed possible project that reflect the common ground principles and values.

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Somos Las Semilla projects and working groups

Participants gathered in groups to begin to plan projects in these areas:

Educational Curriculum

Seed-to-Seed Promotora Program

Community Kitchens

Fresh Food for All—Farm & Garden Tour

Local Currency & Land Access

Ongoing Collaboration & Support of Somos La Semilla

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Addendum: working groups and emails

HIKU Marybeth Webster

Tasting Aaah

We Are Kin to All that Is

Take Eat In Grateful Wonder

Late Winter,

warmed by sun,

hopeful abundant Spring, approaching.

Precious hydroponic waters,

coursing through nutritious, tasty vegetables,

now, being freshly harvested.

Reason for celebration!

Joyously sharing with our community family.

By Karen Geores and Clarence Hooker       

Link to GAN photos

Link to RAEchel Flickr Photos

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Fresh Food for All

Create local abundance

Year-round food production

Cross-Border Cooperation & ideas

Border permeability

Creating a Network

Collaborative network of farmers & community

Corporations, consumers & producers dialog often

Regional structure to pool resources, share experiences

Interdependent communities

Relationship to environment

Availability of resources for food production

Wise water use

Conserve soil, water & seed resources

Care for and sustain the environment

Policies

Take into consideration local producers and consumers

Respect dignity of all living things

Lead by example at home

Predicar por ejemplo en el hogar

Youth Participation

Children will grow and eat nutritious food

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