Creating Sustainable Food Systems for Underserved Communities

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George Washington University has created a partnership with Wholesome Wave. Wholesome wave is “a nonprofit focused on creating sustainable, equitable food systems”. George Washington University currently has a group of students, faculty, staff, and volunteers called the Urban Food Task Force who work together to promote healthy food education, and to expand community knowledge about safe and sustainable food growth and production (if you want to find out more about this task force, you can visit http://www.gwu.edu/food-task-force). The task force, along with other organizations such as the Milken Institute School of Public Health, the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and the Rodham Institute have created a goal to “advance research in nutrition policy, health care costs, and food systems through the analysis and evaluation of shared data between the two organizations and to seek opportunities to advance knowledge through research and education as food and nutrition”.

The goal is to really promote healthy foods, for example, on their annual Apple Day, when teachers are given apples to give to their students. They also aim to promote healthy local and regional foods and are looking for ways to make these foods available to everyone, regardless of income. Working with local farmers markets, this program is able to give more fruits and vegetables per dollar to customers belonging to certain clubs, such as the “Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program”.

I feel like dietitians in Ohio especially need to learn from this program. Local farmers are more than happy to participate in programs like this because they sell more food and get money back through tax breaks, and community members are able to have access to fresh local food at a bargain. However, very few programs are set up for this type of program and directors of farmers markets frequently do not have the time to deal with the set up. This is where dietitians can come in and assist to make sure everyone is getting healthy food in their community who desires it.


Creating Sustainable Food Systems for Underserved Communities. (2014, June 16). Retrieved October 19, 2015, from http://www.todaysdietitian.com/news/070214_news.shtml

-JT

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