Health in the Hood is the Righteous Crowd Org of the Week!

Health in the Hood

Working to Eliminate Food Insecurity in South Florida

This Wednesday night, July 29th, marks the beginning of Tisha B’av, literally the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av, a fast day commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples. Inspired by this fast day, we are featuring South Florida-based Health in the Hood whose mission is to eliminate food insecurity by building urban vegetable farms, distributing free produce, teaching health education and creating sustainable local food ecosystems. 

Thank you to our friends at Repair the World for recommending Health in the Hood.

Health in the Hood, founded in 2013 “works to convert naked lots in the inner-city communities of Miami into accessible vegetable gardens for the community’s residents.” Founder Asha Walker describes these low-income neighborhoods as “food deserts: geographic areas where access to affordable healthy food options are limited/nonexistent because grocery stores are not readily available.”

Asha told Righteous Crowd that pre-COVID, “Health in the Hood’s focus was building urban vegetable gardens and teaching health education in food desert communities. We work in under-served neighborhoods to grow fresh food, and teach families about healthy living and urban farming. We are still able to operate our vegetable gardens during the COVID-19 crisis, but we have expanded our focus to include emergency food relief.

She continued, “to combat hunger and economic losses due to COVID-19, Health in the Hood launched the Filling Fridges program. Since April, the pull up pantry has served 500 people per week. Filling Fridges has delivered over 10,000 prepared meals and distributed 1,400 $100 Publix (large grocery chain) gift cards.” 

And from our friends at Repair the World Miami:

Repair the World Miami has been proud to support the incredible work that Health in Hood brings to our local community. Their incredibly thoughtful model incorporates the voice and buy-in of the community itself, which is an important determinant of success. We have enjoyed mobilizing volunteers over the past two years to learn about food justice, and assist with maintaining the gardens. We look forward to our continued partnership with a view to their continued impact!

To learn more about Health in the Hood, click here.