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Episode 3: Food Sovereignty & the Role of Urban Agriculture

October 23, 2024

PROJECT: Good Food

Episode 3 – Food Sovereignty & the Role of Urban Agriculture

Recorded live at the San Diego Food System Alliance’s Annual Gathering held on October 17th, 2024, this episode takes a deep dive into what the term food sovereignty means within a defined geographical space, and how this relates to cooperative practices in urban agriculture as a necessary tool to counteract the effects of food apartheid.

Hosted by Anthony Avalos, the episode features special guests N. Diane Moss, Managing Director of Project New Village and Dr. Derrick Robinson, University of California Cooperative Extension Advisor, focusing on Urban Agriculture, Food Systems, and Environmental Issues and Co-Director of Cooperative Extension in San Diego County.

Now Available:

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Podcast Social Justice

Food Justice Soirée Oct. 24th

October 14, 2024

Our Food Justice Soirée is Back!

Join us on Thursday, Oct.24th from 6-8pm as we celebrate National Food Day with a fall friend-raiser event at the Mt. Hope Community Garden. This community favorite celebrates all who support food justice and good food access, and serves as a great reason to connect with neighbors in a beautiful nighttime garden setting.

This event will feature live music, East African cuisine courtesy of Sabor Piri Piri, drinks courtesy of Pure Brewing and Love, Tito’s (non-alcoholic beverages served as well), and a garden art showing featuring talented local artists.

Tickets are $25, include all food and beverages, and support a great cause! Please join us at this fantastic fall event!

Buy Tickets
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Event Social Justice

Celebrating Our Season of Recognition

October 6, 2024

Kicking Off Our Season of Recognition

On  October 6th, 2024 Project New Village held a gathering at the Mt. Hope Community Garden to commemorate the 107th birthday of Fannie Lou Hamer – a civil rights icon; a forerunner in the food sovereignty movement; and a role model for transformative leadership. It is her legacy that has inspired and informed Project New Village’s current efforts to create an Equitable Food-Oriented Development project in Southeastern San Diego. Modeled after Mrs. Hamer’s Freedom Farm project, The Good Food District is a place-making effort centered on urban agriculture and creating access to healthy locally-sourced good food throughout our neighborhoods.

From now through the end of this year we will be hosting events and gatherings in recognition of those inspired by Mrs. Hamer’s legacy, all building up to our 13th annual Fannie Lou Hamer Legacy Celebration on December 5th, 2024 where we will be awarding our Food Justice Awards to community members whose actions exemplify her spirit of activism. This is a special celebration year for us as not only is it our 30th anniversary as a food justice organization, but all proceeds for this event will go toward building costs for The Village, a multi-story mixed use community food hub in Mt. Hope. Predevelopment has already begun with construction slated for 2025, so our goal is to raise $50,000 by the end of this year towards this cause. Please join us in celebration and recognition – visit the link below for more information!

Season of Recognition
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Environmental Justice Event Food Sovereignty Social Justice

Episode 2: R. Daniel Hernandez, A Life of Activism

September 29, 2024

PROJECT: Good Food

Episode 2 – R. Daniel Hernandez, A Life of Activism

In this episode we discuss the legacy of community activism of the late R. Daniel Hernandez, who served on the Project New Village Board and worked with numerous other organizations throughout his illustrious career including the Chicano Federation, MANA de San Diego, San Ysidro Health, and many more.

We explore and celebrate his extraordinary life of activism with those closest with him: Leticia Ibarra Hernandez, his wife and Managing Director/Founder of Ayi A Yollotl Initiative; Alfredo Ybarra, his close friend and project collaborator; and Roberto R. Pozos, friend and lifelong brother, professional associate, and the artist who created, “Life of Activism” – a mural that vibrantly captures his journey and impact on our communities.

Additional Context

Our intention in exploring the impressive life of this great man is a call to action – we hope his deeds will inspire listeners to get involved in community activism. To learn more about his legacy, please visit https://www.ayiactivism.org.

Now Available:

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Podcast Social Justice

Episode 1: The Legacy of Robert Tambuzi

August 11, 2024

PROJECT: Good Food

Episode 1 – History / Robert Tambuzi

Hosted by Anthony Avalos and co-host N. Diane Moss, in this inaugural episode we look at the history of Project New Village and the formation of the Good Food District. We also dive into the impact and legacy of Robert Tambuzi, not only on the building of Project New Village but his community activism throughout Southeastern San Diego and beyond.

Featuring special guests Kamaal Martin and Eric Henson.

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Tambuzi

Additional Context

Robert Tambuzi succumbed to cancer in June 2022, but his presence  still reverberates in the work of Project New Village. In tribute to his lasting imprint on our organization, we would like to share a video that embodies his wisdom and bold spirit.

Filmed two years before his transition and ascension in 2020, this video was part of our Community Voices: Seeds of Change piece. For context, it was a tumultuous time as we faced a global pandemic along with national protests against police brutality towards the black community. His impassioned words convey the anger felt during this time, but also impart wisdom and a collective pathway forward in dealing with oppression and racial justice.

Now Available:

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Podcast Social Justice

The Impact of Local Farmers Markets on the Foodscape

August 7, 2024

The Impact of Local Farmers Markets on the Foodscape

KPBS Midday Edition, August 6, 2024

By Jade Hindmon, Elaine Alfaro, Ashley Rusch, Jacob Aere

In case you missed it, Midday Edition on KPBS ran a fantastic piece on local farmers markets, food growers, and how the food landscape has changed drastically since the introduction of farmers markets to the local communities.

Project New Village was featured to give insight on how farmers markets are evolving to accommodate food scarce regions and make local produce accessible to all community members. This episode which aired on Tuesday, August 6th was insightful and informative, and very much worth the listen for anyone wishing to understand the meaning and impacts of food apartheid.

Listen Now - KPBS Midday Edition / The Impact of Local Farmers Markets on the Foodscape
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Social Justice

Health & Healing Summerfest

July 25, 2024

Health & Healing Summerfest is Back!

When: Saturday, August 24th, 9am to 1pm

Where: Educational Cultural Complex, 4343 Ocean View Blvd., SD 92113

Join us for a free summer event that connects community members to traditional and sustainable pathways for wellness. Featuring local vendors, agrarian activities, health information and screening, mindful movement activities, guest speakers, healthy food and refreshments, music, and a free swag bag full of goodies and community resources for all attendees!

Held on the south lawn and patio area of the Educational Cultural Complex (ECC) campus in Mountain View, this shaded outdoor venue offers the perfect setting for an event that connects health practitioners and local wellness businesses to community. With plenty of fun interactive activities, informational displays, music, dancing and more, the Health & Healing Summerfest is a family-friendly summer event not to be missed. Best of all, this year’s event is absolutely free!

The event is free and open to all, but the goodies are limited.

The event is open to everyone in the community, but our giveaway swag bags full of goodies and the free lunch from Fresheria we’ll be providing is limited, so reserve your spot by registering in advance!

Summerfest Registration Form
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Environmental Justice

Health Benefits of Growing Your Own Food

July 7, 2024

Health Benefits of Growing Your Own Food

Izzy Rosado, Program Assistant, Project New Village

Our Grower’s Collective members are continuing to spend valuable time among their gardens, providing fresh, hyper-local produce to our Mobile Farmer’s Market. This network of Southeastern growers connects with one another to share best regenerative growing practices. Any growing experience is welcome; we especially encourage first-time gardeners interested in transforming their backyards into food-growing spaces. Project New Village can provide both technical and financial assistance. 

Visit the market at any of our locations to check out macadamia nuts from Big Rock Ranch, fresh honey from Bee the Blessing, garlic from Sungrown Cumberland Estate, artichokes from Solwazi’s Farmacy, and more! Be sure to ask what produce was grown right here in the Southeastern communities and we’d like to thank you for helping to support our local growers!

In alignment with our upcoming Health and Healing event, we’d like to share a few of the health benefits that go along with growing your own food. The fundamental pillars of health can be broadly described in three categories – physical, mental/emotional, and social health. 

Physical:

  • Gardening activity provides great low-impact  exercise
  • Growing food encourages a healthier diet of fresh produce

Mental/Emotional:

  • Time spent in garden is considered therapeutic and grounding
  • Mental stimulation from learning new growing strategies and techniques
  • Increased self-esteem from seeing fruits of your labor

Social:

  • Building social capital by connecting with other gardeners and food growers
  • Enjoyment found from sharing produce with your community
  • Participating in community growing networks and fostering relationships with like-minded individuals

To get involved with the Grower’s Collective, please join our monthly meetings held every second Saturday at the Mt. Hope Community Garden from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. Our next meeting will be August 10th; reach out to izzyrosado@projectnewvillage.org if you would like any further information. Thank you!

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Environmental Justice

N. Diane Moss Receives ‘Leaders in Belonging’ Award From Prebys Foundation

March 1, 2024

Prebys Foundation, the largest private foundation in the San Diego region, announced the recipients of its new Leaders in Belonging initiative. The effort provides unrestricted awards of $100,000 each to five community advocates working to advance inclusion, justice, and sustainability in the greater San Diego region. This annual award is designed to provide leaders with vital support that will allow them to continue their work and help them build movements for change.

N. Diane Moss, Managing Director of Project New Village is one of the five awardees. The award fund will be used to support organizational capacity building to create and operationalize “The Village”, which is our equitable food oriented development project. The Village will serve as a resiliency center for Southeastern San Diego. It will contain a neighborhood grocery store, healthier food eateries, a commercial kitchen, community garden and more.

As we make way for the future, we invite you to join our efforts to embrace food sovereignty and food justice in our neighborhoods!  Much gratitude to the Prebys Foundation!

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Social Justice

Expanding the Growers Collective

February 21, 2024

Izzy Rosado, Program Assistant, Project New Village

The Grower’s Collective is a network of neighbors that are passionate about gardening and growing food for our Southeastern communities. The goal of this project is to create health and wellness in the region, to form a community of practice through urban agriculture. 

How exactly do we do this? Project New Village hosts meetings for growers to share information and resources – demonstrating the power in learning from one another. To support our hyper-local food production, we purchase produce from neighborhood growers and provide financial and technical support to those that want to expand their growing efforts (or start growing!).

Karen Wynn found that her macadamia nut trees were producing more than she could harvest. In turn, dozens of pounds would go wasted every season. Now, we are purchasing these macadamia nuts to be sold on the Mobile Farmer’s Market truck, where customers get to put a name to a locally grown food source.

Another proud moment for the grower’s collective includes the expansion of WenMor Urban Farm, where PNV provided support for a tree planting event. Ian Moreland and Nichelle Wentz put 26+ bareroot trees in their backyard to start a food forest in the heart 

of Southeastern San Diego. 

If you would like to learn more on joining our Good Food District map, everyone is welcome to attend our meetings on the 2nd Saturday of the month at the Mt. Hope Community Garden from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

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Food Sovereignty