RootDown LA

It’s about the return to REAL FOOD!

It’s about healthy kids and communities and busting myths that healthy food is nasty,  too expensive, or too time consuming to prepare.

It’s creating nutrition, cooking, and food systems lessons that are relevant and actionable for today’s urban populations – building DEMAND for healthy food.

And, as of 2010, it’s also now about completing a full cycle of food systems change – creating our own SUPPLY of healthy food.

Our Youth Leader trainings now include horticultural and entrepreneurial components that result in the creation of community food forests.

Bottom line?

It’s about combating epidemic rates of obesity and diabetes,
by getting people to Eat Their Veggies – for real!

And it’s about time.

Our Mission Root Down confronts obesity and related health issues in South Los Angeles by first convincing high school youth to eat their veggies, then engaging them in the educational experiences and skills training necessary to help build healthier food communities. We build demand for healthy food in urban areas so that those farmers and food producers who can supply it will have new and stronger markets. And, in 2010, in partnership with WECAN’s Urban Food Forest, we’ve started creating our own supply of healthy food in South Los Angeles. And next?  We expand programming to other urban California communities. Root Down believes the following:

• The majority of Americans have become disconnected from this simple truth – our health is directly affected by the foods we eat.  Healthy soil = healthy food = healthy bodies and minds to build healthy communities.
• Building demand for healthy food encourages a critically needed increased supply of healthy food in urban areas.
• Creating even small food gardens in our communities can help bridge the gap where our nation’s centralized food system is not reliably getting healthy, fresh food to us.
• When kids feel connected to a community where healthy, great tasting food is valued and readily available, they adopt preferences for this food and decrease their likelihood of developing obesity and related illnesses.

Root Down employs the following methods to achieve its goals:

• Experiential education and skills training for youth to teach nutrition, cooking, and food systems advocacy lessons that enable people to identify, source, prepare, and build preferences for healthier foods.
• New entrepreneurial and horticultural trainings that allow youth to create supplies of fresh produce to distribute in their neighborhoods.
• Creating supportive partnerships with other community agencies that share a similar vision to build healthier food communities from within.
• Mentorship connecting youth participants with experiential opportunities that increase their engagement and employability within a healthy food community.

In this, our third school year: • We’ve hired a new Project Manager, Ali Bhai, and Ledette Gambini to develop a youth entrepreneurial and horticultural training program in conjunction with partner org., WECAN’s Urban Food Forest!  Our first crops are in!  We will introduce our local food enterprise to the community in December. • Our Youth Coordinator, Warren Calvo Leon has engaged a group of Youth Leaders to take a leadership role in understanding and teaching others how our food system and choices contribute to obesity and how food choices can affect our individual community and environmental health. • Out Youth Leaders are out getting hundreds of people to eat their veggies!  In just under an hour, they can throw down a simple and affordable veggie-heavy spread that leaves people asking – where can I get more of this food?! • We’re taking our Youth Trainings into MORE schools this year – Jefferson High and the Social Justice Learning Institute at Morngingside High – where we get kids who claim to hate veggies, begging for more broccoli and beets.

The food culture is shifting. Join us!   or WE CAN COME COOK WITH YOU TOO!