ROC and ROC Projects in the News

Opinion: California Must Step Up to Address Racism as a Public Health Crisis

Governor Gavin Newsom and other California lawmakers took an important step toward improved public safety and racial justice this fall by passing the CRISES Act to fund community-based emergency response programs.

Police violence disproportionately victimizes people experiencing mental health or substance use crises. Solutions such as the CRISES Act provide funding to community groups to respond to emergencies in ways that provide better care and reduce harm. Newsom vetoed the bill in 2020 even after police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd and nationwide protests brought widespread recognition to the often-fraught role of police as first responders.

Photo by James Rice/iStock

You can read the full story on California Health Report.

California, keep funding every part of public health

State leaders should keep their promise and continue to support organizations that play a critical role in public health.

When Cultiva La Salud partnered with Saint Agnes Medical Center to deliver vaccines to farm laborers in rural Fresno County – where essential workers were placing their lives on the line to feed us despite growing infections and deaths – no one told them a nonprofit shouldn’t be promoting health in their community.

When the Ukiah Valley Conference Center volunteered to host an emergency vaccine clinic after a freezer failure at Adventist Health Ukiah Valley, which meant vaccine doses needed to be administered immediately, no one said a conference center isn’t public health.

Image source: CalMatters

You can read the full story on CalMatters.

Commentary: Secretary Vilsack, don’t invest in a broken system

By Greg Gunthorp.

I own a small on-farm USDA inspected red meat and poultry slaughter and processing plant. Each year, we raise, process and market as much as a million pounds of pastured pork and poultry.

As a small processor, a current and past member of USDA advisory committees, and as an industry advocate, I want the U.S.  Department of Agriculture to stand firm to its commitment to strengthen local and regional food systems and support U.S. farmers and ranchers. Existing small scale processors are essential to this goal, but need urgent support.

You can read the full story on Capital Press.

Good Day Sacramento news coverage of Meat Processing Expansion

You can watch the full story on Good Day Sacramento.

Guest column: Resilience for farmworkers and farms key to Ventura County’s future

The warming climate is bad news for all of us. In Ventura County, however, few are as vulnerable to its dangers as farmers and farmworkers.

The reason is pretty simple. With few exceptions, farming takes place outdoors. And although there are many agricultural jobs inside packing and processing facilities, greenhouses and industrial settings, most agricultural labor is likewise performed outside, in our rich landscape of fields and orchards.

You can read the full story in the VC Star.

California must reform meat supply chain if Sacramento wants to stay Farm to Fork capital

Amid Sacramento’s annual Farm to Fork celebration, a glaring contradiction remains: The pandemic and this summer’s ransomware attack on JBS (the world’s largest meat processor) disrupted the four industrial processors centered in the Midwest and South. Together they supply the vast majority of California’s meat.

You can read the full story in the Sacramento Bee.

Op-Ed: California Health Equity Fund Will Improve Health and Resilience Through Healthy Food Systems

Access to healthy food systems impacts every aspect of our lives.

When hungry stomachs diminish students’ ability to focus, learn, and retain information, their education suffers. In adults, lack of access to nutritious foods leads to overall poor health and chronic illnesses such as heart disease, hypertension and type 2 diabetes – negatively impacting their ability to work and provide for their families.

This year we witnessed how COVID-19 has preyed on Californians living with chronic illnesses, especially people of color who often live in “food deserts” where healthy food is less available.

Roots of Change and others are working to remedy food injustices such as these, but the stark realities exposed by COVID-19 demonstrate more help is needed, and needed now. The Health Equity and Racial Justice Fund and Governor Newsom can make a difference.

The Senate and Assembly Budget Committee has recommended an unprecedented $100 million annual investment that would support community-based organizations, clinics and tribal organizations to address the root causes of health inequities. Our vision is that organizations awarded these funds will use state and local data to identify the most pressing needs in their community and develop strategies to address them.

The proposal builds on Assemblymembers Gipson and Carillo’s bill, AB 1038, calling for the establishment of a California Health Equity Fund which has passed in the Assembly with strong bipartisan support. The Governor must now agree to support the bill and budget proposal.

Current programs the Fund may be used to support include the California Nutrition Incentive Program (CNIP) which provides CalFresh families with matching dollars to “make fresh affordable,” and the Healthy Corner Stores Refrigeration Grant Program that provides bodegas and corners stores in low-income communities with refrigeration units and technical assistance so they can sell fresh produce.

The Fund could also be used to support the Medi-Cal Food Prescription Pilot Program, another proposal pending in the Legislature. Through this program, Medi-Cal beneficiaries would receive healthy food “prescriptions” if their health providers determined their underlying health conditions could be helped by a healthier diet. Prescriptions could include produce, healthy food vouchers, food boxes, groceries or prepared meals.

Another use of the California Health Equity Fund could be supporting the School Food Hub Pilot program, a proposal to create “food hubs” throughout the state that help identify, market, and distribute locally-sourced, healthy foods to California school districts, not only helping to ensure better nutrition for students, but also supporting local farmers and rural communities who have been hard hit by COVID-19.

Healthy food access on a daily basis can prevent disease and better defend our communities against viruses like COVID-19. Through the California Health Equity Fund, we can address this current health crisis, help avoid billions in future health care costs, and strengthen our communities so they are better prepared to face challenges brought on by pandemics, climate change, and natural disasters.

California is the greatest source of healthy food the planet has ever seen. There is no excuse for so many communities to go without. Particularly when we can harness that abundance to improve public health. AB 1038 will invest in communities hardest hit by the pandemic, help them recover from the physical and economic loss caused by the virus, build healthier communities, and ensure Californians are more resilient in the advent of future crises. We call on Governor Newsom to support the proposed funding for the Health Equity and Racial Justice Fund and to pass and sign AB 1038.

Roots of Change is a co-sponsor of AB 1038. The nonprofit organization works together with universities, governments, businesses and like-minded organizations to ensure that every aspect of the food supply chain—from when it’s grown to when it’s eaten—will be healthy and accessible for all eaters, safe and fair to workers and profitable for companies.

(Image source: thegrowingcouncil.org)

COVID-19 Sparks a Rebirth of the Local Farm Movement

When the coronavirus pandemic hit, the future of the Cannard Family Farm—whose organic vegetables supplied a single Berkeley restaurant—was looking stark.

Ross Cannard is the son of an iconic leader in the local organic movement in California. “Iconoclastic,” Ross says with a chuckle. Bob Cannard built his 30-year career by rejecting organic certification in favor of his own “better than organic” breed of “natural process agriculture,” enriching the soil on his Green String Farm with crushed rock and compost.

He and his son have long sold the fruits of their labor to the famous restaurant Chez Panisse, where, since 1971, chef Alice Waters has pioneered an elegant cuisine based entirely on fresh, local foods straight from the farm.

You can read the full story in yes! Magazine.

California could make food more affordable and help farmers; here’s how

In the coming days, our Legislature has the opportunity to pass a budget that would reduce hunger, improve health and support California agriculture. Assembly member Phil Ting and state Sen. Scott Wiener, both Democrats from San Francisco, each have put forward budget proposals that would dedicate state funds — in a year in which we have an ample budget surplus — to making healthy food more affordable for low-income Californians while also supporting California farmers.

This is in stark contrast to what’s happening in Washington.

You can read the full story in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Interview with Michael R. Dimock by Capital Public Radio

Farmers Can Put Themselves On The Map If They Complete The U.S. Agriculture Census By February 5

The USDA Census of Agriculture is a giant data-gathering effort that happens once every five years. It collects information about who’s growing what, how much and where. The census also tracks the age and gender of farmers, and whether they are veterans. (Farmers, ranchers and livestock managers can submit the questionnaire by mail or online.)

Michael Dimock is president of Roots of Change, a group that’s backed efforts to boost access to local produce for low-income Californians. In Dimock’s view, it’s critical for smaller farmers, like those who sell at farmers markets, to be counted by the census.

“The agriculture census is critically important because it helps the USDA and Congress determine how resources given to the agency are utilized and distributed,” he says.

Dimock says the census data will have a ripple effect on what programs the USDA will fund, what loans it will give and what research it will support.

Photo credit: Loren Kerns, flickr

You can read the full story on Capital Public Radio.