Good LA LaunchDate posted: April 9, 2011 |
April 2011: East LA Market Makeovers @ GOOD LA Launch, Atwater Crossing, Atwater Village, CA
On Saturday, April 9, 2011 at the launch of GOOD LA, students from the East Los Angeles Renaissance Academy (ELARA) at Esteban Torres High School took the stage with Public Matters’ Mike Blockstein to talk about their efforts to transform the East LA food landscape through Market Makeovers. Students shared personal consequences of an unhealthy diet and chronic lack of access to affordable, quality produce and presented the three “HAVE YOU NOTICED?” videos they created to increase public awareness about this issue.
Many thanks to the incredible folks at GOOD Magazine for spreading the word about the work in East LA!
Providing jobs while teaching kids about nutritionDate posted: June 30, 2009 |
The Accelerated School (TAS) students were paid for their work during the summer session to improve healthy food access in their community. In the past two years, they’ve created short videos for the “Where Do I Get My Five?” DVD and marketmakeovers.org, a comprehensive online resource scheduled to launch August 2009, and transformed two local markets.
[vimeo 2948517]
The South L.A. Shopping Challenge
So You Think You Can Cook is a reality show competition set in the very real world of the South L.A. food desert. An average family of four in this area has $10 or less to spend on a meal. In this episode, two VERY competitive teams race to buy the healthiest, yummiest food from the corner store on their $10 budget.
Working on behalf of community issues has economic as well as social value. For several students, “Where Do I Get My Five?” and marketmakeovers.org was also their first job and their first paycheck.
South LA Needs Better Grocery Stores – Public Matters and Healthy Eating Active Communities Initiative partner to empower changeDate posted: |
South Los Angeles has few big markets, small stores stock old produce, and numerous safety and transportation issues hurt access to healthy foods. The area has some of the highest rates of obesity in California.
In 2007 the Healthy Eating Active Communities (HEAC) Initiative originally commissioned Public Matters to work with high school students from The Accelerated School (TAS) to create short videos about the reasons underlying poor access to fresh produce and nutritious foods in South L.A. Public Matters expanded the scope of the project to include youth civic engagement projects and a partnership with the City Council office.
For the second Market Makever, HEAC Change Agents Britanni Dighero and Josue Moreno receive their next assignment: a market makeover on Los Compadres, a market across the street from their school.
View MMTV Mission #2: Los Compadres Market
Check out the Grand Re-Opening in December 2008
Turning your gas 'n sip into a place to buy fruits and vegetablesDate posted: |
Healthy Eating Active Communities Initiative student Magali Bravo initiated the conversion of the first South L.A. store, owned by her godfather, to stock healthier food choices. This “market makeover” serves as a model for other local stores and helped lay the foundation for Public Matters and South L.A. HEAC’s work on marketmakeovers.org.
[vimeo 760868]
On her way to school everyday, HEAC student Magali Bravo sees few healthy choices, store after store. This video shows that with a little elbow grease and a lot of determination, a neighborhood can grow their healthy food options – one corner store at a time.
South L.A. – The Food Desert. You can convince your local market to carry fresh food.Date posted: |
South L.A. is a “food desert.” There are few supermarkets and those carry low quality produce.
[vimeo 1016506]
This video is the true-to-life tale of an epic journey, two hours – by bus. It chronicles the extraordinary efforts undertaken by HEAC student Lae Schmidt to get quality fruits and vegetables missing from her neighborhood.
In many communities, the main outlets for buying food, corner and liquor stores, offer little to no fresh food. Building relationships and transforming local stores are key to increasing healthy food access and improving health conditions in South L.A.
