Turning Food Deserts into Oases

Food initiatives have become innovative vehicles for community engagement, entrepreneurial growth, healthy eating and relief from food insecurity in cities like Revere, Lowell, Worcester, and Springfield.

Ted Siefer has a nice piece in the July issue of Commonwealth Magazine about the burgeoning food movement in Massachusetts' gateway cities and the good work of some of our grant partners including Mill City Grows, the Healthy Incentives Program and the MA. Food System Collaborative.

"The demand for locally-sourced food, for exotic culinary options, and for small-batch artisanship over mass production is well known among the upscale and hipster sets in the Boston area. But these trends are creating unique opportunities in Gateway Cities—and one could argue the stakes are considerably higher in communities where fresh lettuce, to say nothing of an organic farm-to-table meal, can be hard to come by."

It's worth a read.