Call on USDA to Revise Farmers to Families Food Box Program and Prioritize Community Needs
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The signatories of this Call to Action - comprising Chicago's food, agriculture, public health, and residential communities - call on the USDA and members of Congress to commit to long-term funding support prioritizing community needs to distribute high quality, healthy food to families and individuals rather than making awards based primarily on the lowest cost bid. The USDA Farm to Families Box Program’s next iteration should invest in building capacity of nearby producers, wholesalers, processors, and distributors who are for profit, non-profit, and community-led to sustain these efforts after the COVID crisis has passed. By shifting the focus from emergency food allocation to building more resilient food systems, we ensure our communities are more equipped to handle the next crisis.
The Chicago region has witnessed our farmers, food distributors, food banks, mutual aid networks, and community members work tirelessly since April 2020 to ensure equitable food access for all. The USDA Farmers to Families Box Program seemed to be a viable way to support both producers and communities through the COVID-19 pandemic, but in the end, did not prioritize the nutritional needs of families and disregarded small farmers, nonprofits and mutual aid networks as viable food distributors.
We strongly urge the USDA prioritize the needs of community members and organizers by immediately doing the following:
Continue providing funding for the USDA Farmers to Families Box Program and introduce other flexible models for meeting fresh food access needs including prepared meals. Regardless of status, income, race, or zip code, families deserve to provide input on what they would like to see in the boxes. Expanding the models in food distribution from boxes allows for communities to decide which method best suits their needs rather than imposing a one-size-fits-all approach. Local examples include the Fresh Moves Mobile Market, Link Up Illinois, Link Produce Box, and the Chicago Mutual Aid Solidarity Network.
Engage all types of community organizations committed to distributing food to residents rather than prioritizing the lowest bidding food contractor. Contractors capable of delivering immense quantities of food are not necessarily equipped to ensure the food will actually reach residents most needing food access. There needs to be engagement with and direct resource support for residents, community organizers, mutual aid networks, community centers, non profits, and local contractors. With participation from all of these stakeholders, this program will run more smoothly and safely, result in less wasted food, and consistently serve more families.
Allocate funding for necessary time, equipment, and storage to safely distribute food to residents. There are countless community led efforts engaged in food distribution and rescue who need financial support to safely and equitably move boxes and food to directly to the people needing food access. The USDA Farm to Families Box Program should prioritize contractor bids outlining who they are partnering with and how they will compensate them to ensure the food will reach recipients.
Meet the nutritional needs of residents through purchasing culturally appropriate food grown by BIPOC and local farmers. Matt Herrick, USDA spokesperson, was quoted in the New York Times on January 31, “the reality is that there are inherent legacy barriers and practices that have prevented Black farmers, and other socially disadvantaged producers, from getting access to programs at the Department of Agriculture … We’re going to do everything we can — the secretary is committed to that — to removing those barriers.” A reimagined Farmers to Families Food Box program is an opportunity to begin removing those barriers by investing in BIPOC owned operations through providing consistent revenue to these farms.
Provide longer term contracts and adequate planning time to enable contractors and community partners to build relationships and plan functioning systems. With each round of funding, organizations distributing food were forced to scramble to rapidly build a relationship from scratch with newly awarded contractors (some even out of state) to continue servicing their residents. Each time contracts shifted, previously successful box delivery systems were severed and community members were suddenly shut out from receiving food. Due to the ever-shifting contractors (almost monthly), several community based organizations have completely opted out of this program and invested energy into finding more long term solutions.
The “truck to trunk” method originally described was not sustained after the first two rounds of funding in the Chicago area. Many food pantries, non-profits, mutual aid societies and other community groups do not have the resources to process entire truckloads of product at once. So they needed to find other ways to get food boxes from distribution centers into family homes. Awarding funding to contractors based on lowest cost bids with the space and equipment to handle a shipment of thousands of food boxes is not enough to ensure that the food will actually reach the families that need it. We need full participation from community organizations, volunteers, and residents to efficiently and effectively distribute all of the allocated food.
COVID-19 and hunger disproportionately affect Black and Brown communities. Our partners representing these communities have communicated they are facing unprecedented levels of unemployment. Equitable and responsible support for the program requires careful consideration to set aside resources specifically for Black and Brown communities. Programs not intentionally designed with these communities in mind will consistently fall short of what is needed.
We applaud the remarkable resilience, innovation, and perseverance shown by public, non-profit, and community-based organizations that have gone the extra mile to feed our families. Their dedication should be reciprocated by our government officials by responding to the following demands.
We urge the Biden administration, the USDA, and Congress to continue supporting the vital and necessary access to fresh healthy and local foods while prioritizing the needs of those receiving the food and the hard working partners bringing the food to their homes.
Signed,
- Chicago Food Policy Action Council
- Common Threads
- Illinois Stewardship Alliance
- Humboldt Park Solidarity Network
- Bronzeville Kenwood Mutual Aid (BKMA)
- Portage Park Mutual Aid
- Basil’s Harvest
- Equity Cares
- La Casa Norte
- Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation
- Avondale Mutual Aid
- Real Foods Collective
- Feeding Chicago Families
- Mayfair Mutual Aid
- Chicago Lights Urban Farm
- Los Angeles Food Policy Council
- Little Village Environmental Justice Organization
- Lincoln Square Ravenswood Solidarity Network
- Westside Mutual Aid
- Northside Action for Justice
- Wicker Park-Bucktown Mutual Aid
- Beyond Hunger
- Ukranian Village Mutual Aid
- Dekalb County Community Gardens
- Illinois Public Health Institute
- Experimental Station
- Logan Square Mutual Aid
- Inner City Muslim Action Network (IMAN)
- Logan Square Chamber of Commerce
- Slow Food Chicago
- Kane County Agriculture Committee
- The Puerto Rican Cultural Center
- Bright Beat
- Top Box Foods
- Advocates for Urban Agriculture
- Centro de Trabajadores Unidos
- Uptown and Buena Park Solidarity Network
- The Love Fridge
- Hermosa Mutual Aid
- Urban Growers Collective
- Food Forward
- Northwest Side Solidarity Network
- Puerto Rican Cultural Center
- 19th Ward Mutual Aid
- A Just Harvest
- Real Food Media
- Warehouse Workers for Justice
- Star Farm Chicago