Food System Change Initiative

8th Grade Students at East Palo Alto Charter School are changing their food system!

Collective Roots is committed to creating food system change in underserved communities. The following are current projects in this initiative:

• Establish EPA Community Farmers’ Market in Spring of 2008
• Engage youth in advocating for the food access, security and nutrition needs in their community.
• Backyard/Community Garden Network
• Support the development of backyard garden network in EPA, supported by new website with social documentation features, community garden forums, blogs, and other social networking features.
• Support the development of a community garden and land trust.
• Food System Change / Action Research / Mapping Project Implementation of Community Food Mapping Project (community based action research supported by EPA students and Stanford University students
• School & Community Nutrition Initiative
• Improving school lunches, offering year round salad bar, slow food options, locally grown (farm to table), organic food, etc. EPACS new high school is implementing organic food option, and we want to expand this to K-8.
• The new site design (including agriculture section) at EPACS will provide adequate quantities of produce to supplement a salad bar.
• Work with Revolution Foods, a company that wants to bring healthier food to the entire Ravenswood School District
• Increase nutrition education components in the establishment of a mobile garden nutrition and demonstration, using the bicycle blender as well as other green technologies in the outdoor food preparation activities on school and community sites such as the proposed EPA Farmers’ Market.