This program focuses on food insecurity within marginalized communities. The ability to access nutritious food in the United States is directly linked to privilege, wealth, and systemic racism. Furthermore, food insecurity is not limited to remote locations within the United States; it is an issue that is prevalent throughout the entire nation. In many cities, “food deserts” geographically contextualize unequal access to nutritious food. These are areas where the walking distance to a supermarket or grocery store is more than 0.5 miles, over 40% of households don’t have access to a vehicle, and the median household income is less than 185% of the federal poverty level for a family of four. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, enough food is produced to feed the entire population. However, poverty, discrimination, and social exclusion prevent food from being accessible to many communities. With an abundance of nutritious food, this is a manufactured and solvable problem as we examine how food is distributed and accessed.

While Memphis, Tennessee will be the main case study for our program, we will draw comparisons to cities such as Washington D.C., and we invite students to apply the lessons from this program to their hometowns. Our program will be completely virtual, yet we still aim to cover a diverse range of disciplines regarding food insecurity, such as health care, community projects, activism, organizing, and public policy. Furthermore, our modes of engagement will vary. While there will be some zoom meetings, we will also do live streams, writing and mindfulness sessions, virtual tours of Memphis, movie nights, a cooking seminar, and other activities. 

We will work together as a group on an advocacy project to spread awareness to other students and community members. While we — as co-leaders — already have preliminary ideas for what the advocacy project could look like, it’s mostly up to both leaders and participants to develop and act on the project during the spring semester. Examples of projects we could pursue are teach-ins with campus groups and guest speakers, supporting and spreading awareness about mutual aid, and creating sharable resources and awareness pamphlets. As we develop our advocacy project, we will hold regular planning meetings before and after our week of engagement, unpacking what we’re actively learning, and thinking critically about the best way to approach and spread awareness about food insecurity.

*Please note, exact program dates will be announced as they are confirmed. All prospective program particpants should attend a scheduled information session for program information. If you have immediate questions please contact altbreak@american.edu