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"We say that the survival program of the Black Panther Party is like the survival kit of a sailor stranded on a raft. It helps him to sustain himself until he can get completely out of that situation. So the survival programs are not answers or solutions, but they will help us to organize the community around a true analysis and understanding of their situation."
Vision for a United Movement
In a rarely heard speech after the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1955, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a history lesson about how the races were kept divided in the south after the Civil War. Despite the fact that both white and black plantation and mill workers were hungry and struggling to survive on low wages, with the implementation of Jim Crow in 1890, Dr. King argued, the united movement to end poverty and hunger was never realized.
Jim Crow Laws mandating the segregation of public schools, public transportation, restrooms, restaurants and drinking fountains for whites and blacks remained in effect *de jure* until 1964. Conditions for African Americans including access to employment, education, and other community based services and resources were consistently inferior and underfunded both during Jim Crow, and in the years after as compared to what was available to white Americans.
The Birth of the Free Breakfast For School Children Program
In 1966 the Black Panther Party began responding to the lack of services available to African Americans by creating a number of 'Service to the People' or 'Survival Programs' "meant to meet the needs of the community until we can all move to change the social conditions that make it impossible for the people to afford the things they need and desire." The most well known of these programs was the 'Free Breakfast For School Children Program', launched in Oakland, CA in 1969. By the end of 1969 hundreds of free breakfast programs had been established, feeding over 10,000 students. Top ranking government officials were forced to admit, "The Panthers are feeding more kids than we are."
While President Harry Truman established the National School Lunch Act in 1946 to offer free or reduced cost lunches at school, it wasn’t until 1975 that the government formally added the School Breakfast Program to its offerings.
Today in Dubuque
Today many families in Dubuque benefit from the institutionalization of the free and reduced-price lunch program. According to recent data from the Bureau of Nutrition & Health, Dubuque Community School District reported 4,003 students were eligible for free/reduced meals in October 2015 including all students attending 6 downtown schools, including Audubon, Lincoln, and Prescott Elementary (where over 30% of children are non-white, and over 65% of students meet the poverty requirements for free and reduced price lunch). During the school year, families participating in the program save between $79-82 a month per child.
Recently upon review of Summer 2015 reports from Dubuque Schools and the Boys & Girls Club, The United Way and Bureau of Education identified a large gap of meals being served to children during the summer and reached out to a select group of organizations and individuals to help fill that gap. Joey Taylor, President/CEO of United Way of Dubuque Area Tri-States wrote:
"One of our goals here at United Way is to assist the Bureau in their efforts of reaching and feeding more children during the summer months. This may mean expansion of existing programs at current sites, it may mean gaining access to USDA funds in places where children are already congregating for summer program and can be fed or it also may be enhancing other family meal congregation sites and leveraging your organization's existing resources to feed the parents while USDA funds might be used to reach the children."
Today in Dubuque, poverty continues to disproportionately effect people of color, but perhaps, at least in part due to the grassroots efforts of the Black Panther Party, supportive resources are available today to ensure that no child goes hungry as a result.
If you are interested in learning more about groups currently involved in summer feeding programs, or funds available to support a new or expanded efforts, please contact admin@unitedway.org. Or, if you are interested in incorporating fresh, local foods into meals for children, contact us at Dubuque County ISU Extension & Outreach.
Did you know? The core elements of farm-to-school (local procurement, school gardens, food and farm related education) provide unique cross sectoral outcomes and linkages in public health, community economic development, education and environmental quality including an increased willingness in children to try new healthy foods; and increased diversification and economic opportunities for farmers.
Did you know? Currently in Iowa according to the 2012 Census, there are 129,209 white farm operators, and 45 African American farm operators. 155 farm operators reported being more than one race.
Next month is Women's History Month!
Currently women are the principal farm operators for 7,108 farms in Iowa (out of 88,637).
Carolyn Scherf
Local Food Coordinator
Dubuque County ISU Extension & Outreach
563 583 6496
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TOMORROW: FARM TO SCHOOL WEBINAR
Planning for Farm to School Success
Don’t miss the upcoming webinars in the Planning for Farm to School Success webinar series! You can find the entire menu of topics on the Farm to School website. Missed a webinar? Don't worry! All webinars are recorded and posted online.
Farm to School Menu Planning: February 18, 1:00PM Central
Bring local products to life on your school menus! Chef Kent Getzin, Director of Food Services in Wenatchee, WA will share a variety of ways to incorporate local products into your school recipes, salad bars, and cycle menus so they become permanent items in your kitchen inventory. Prepare for the presentation by drooling over the local food featured in The Lunch Room: Wenatchee's Farm to School Movement.
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New Study Finds $3 Billion Boon to Iowa’s Economy if Supermarkets, Restaurants and Schools Bought More Locally Grown Food
Between 2007 and 2012 the United States lost 56,000 middle-sided farms, including 6,000 in Iowa (10% of the total farms lost). That's the bad news. The good news is, according to the report, “Growing Economies: Connecting Local Farmers and Large-Scale Food Buyers to Create Jobs and Revitalize America’s Heartland†institutions in Iowa can help restore rural economic opportunity by choosing to buy local.
Using data collected by The Leopold Center with the help of Local Food Coordinators across the state, a new report from the Union for Concerned Scientists suggests that increasing demand for fresh, sustainable-grown local food by just 25% in Iowa's 22,000 institutions and intermediary markets would offer $800 Million in new economic opportunities for farmers as well as creating of 24,640 full-time farm jobs.
Do the restaurants, institutions, and supermarkets you visit buy local?
Read the full report here
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GroupGAP
Webinar
Thursday, Feb 18
2:30 - 4PM
USDA's New Cooperative Approach to Farmer Food Safety Certification
Register Now
GroupGAP is a new service (available Spring 2016) from USDA to audit farmers to Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). Small farmers are feeling the pressure to get third-party certified as more buyers are requiring GAP certification, and as the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) puts them under new regulatory oversight.
Hear the experience of a few of the trailblazers - pilot Groups who have already received GroupGAP certification. Why did they seek this certification? How much did it cost? Will they keep up their certification next year? What supports are available? What makes group a good candidate for GroupGAP? What were challenges and successes?
Answers to these questions and more!
PLEASE NOTE
This session is NOT intended to give you all the details on the GroupGAP requirements from USDA. We suggests that you review the excellent USDA webinar that fills you in on that before this session. This webinar will illustrate, with a few case studies, what the GroupGAP certification experience is like, to give you a sense for the kinds of groups who have found it to be useful.
USDA GroupGAP webinar recording >>>
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AGROFORESTRY
Workshop for Graziers & Landowners
Integrating Profitable Tree Crops into Pastureland
Rotational Grazing
Thursday, March 17 | 5:30 - 8PM
at the Hurtsville Interpretive Center, Maquoketa Iowa
Free Event! RSVP with Lori Schnoor - NRCS
Agriculture & Conservation are often seen in opposition to one another, with agriculture converting natural ecosystems to fields dedicated solely to crops or livestock, and conservation seeking to preserve natural ecosystems from human development. Agroforestry attempts to break down this dichotomy, combining agriculture and forestry to create economically productive systems that also provide important eco-services, such as carbon sequestration and erosion prevention.
Tree crop and livestock farmer Grant Schultz will share his experience establishing a diversified orchard at his farm, Versaland in Iowa City, IA where he grows a variety of nuts and fruits crops and practices multi-species grazing. #Permaculture
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MENTORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
According to The National Young Farmer's Coalition's 2011 report: Building a Future With Farmers, apprenticeship programs are the most valuable programs for young and beginning farmers, ranked #1 by 74% of the 1,300 farmers surveyed. According to the report:
"Apprenticeships give people with little to no experience in agriculture the opportunity to learn the ropes on a working farm... Working for one or two years as an apprentice can prepare young farmers to work as regular farm employees or farm managers. The farmer-apprenticeship relationship is often one that lasts beyond the season, and the mentor-mentee bond may be the most valuable takeaway."
Are you interested in mentoring a beginning farmer?
The Mentorship Program for Future Livestock Farmers a program through Southwest Badger RC&D is now seeking mentors for future grassland farmers in Southwest Wisconsin and the surrounding area. Mentors will be paid and trained how to be better mentors and stewards of the land. This program is open to both men and women. For more information visit: www.swbadger.org/mentors or contact Robert Bauer 314-662-3281 // robert.bauer@swbadger.org
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Robert Pierce of Growing Power Madison delivered the Keynote at this month's Tri State Local Food Summit
Local Food Events
January - February 2016
Thank you to all who came over the last few weeks to learn more about local foods!
The Public Forum on Food System Transformation held at the Multicultural Family Center in the Ruby Sutton Building was well attended on January 12th. Over 60 community members braved the cold to share their ideas on what kinds of local food tactics they felt would be most beneficial to the Dubuque community.
Input from the Agricultural Urbanism Toolkit sessions will be compiled by partners at the ISU Design Lab and included in the Community Food Assessment, to be considered in the selection of up to 5 local food tactics for implementation in the following years.
Elanor Starmer coordinator of the federal USDA Know Your Farmer Know Your Food Initiative met with numerous stakeholder groups during her visit to Dubuque last month, including local farmers, food and social entrepreneurs, and leaders in education and economic development as well as delivering a public address at Sinsinawa Mound.
To learn more about resources available to growers, schools, and community organizations visit the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Portal HERE
The Tri-State Local Food Summit held at Sinsinawa Mound invited over 140 people to hear from 8 regional speakers about addressing social inequities through the use of local foods. Over 20 local exhibitors representing a diverse range of practitioners, from farmers to retailers to non-profit and service agencies joined in to learn and celebrate social and ecological justice in the heartland!
Stay informed about upcoming local foods events organized by Dubuque County ISU Extension and Outreach by following us ON FACEBOOK!
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HELP WANTED
"We often miss opportunity because it's dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas Edison
ANNIE'S ACRES SEEKING SEASONAL HELP
Annie's Acres, in Bellevue, IA (Just a few miles south of LaMotte in Jackson County) is seeking motivated laborers this year to assist with local strawberry harvest. Especially for the first three weeks of June.
If interested in more information, and other farmer mentorship opportunities contact David Kendell at 563 872 5652 or email akendell@windstream.net
FoodCorps Service Member Applications Being Accepted
“FoodCorps really was my stepping stone into the real food world. I learned truths of our brokenfood system, and gained networks, tools, and knowledge to put my energy and background towards something meaningful to myself and others.â€
Have you been looking for ways to put your energy towards something meaningful? To address your community’s health in concrete ways? To address issues of food justice by getting your hands dirty? Visit with active FoodCorps members this February 6th at the Tri-State Local Food Summit or find more information & application HERE (Applications open through March 31)
DUBUQUE COMMUNITY GARDEN COALITION SEEKING VOLUNTEERS
Dubuque is home to 8 community gardens, plus a number of firehouse and school gardens, each with their own unique goals, ongoing programs & projects. Are you interested in volunteering for work days, or helping to coordinate or otherwise assist with Community Garden development? If so, contact us at Dubuque Extension to join the Community Garden Volunteer Corps. We will keep you posted with opportunities to get involved as they arise throughout the season.
email cscherf@iastate.edu
563 583 6496
For more information & Resources for Community Gardens visit DBQCommunityGardens.com or follow us On Facebook
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