Category "Environmental Justice"

PROJECT: Good Food podcast, EP.4

December 20, 2024

PROJECT: Good Food

Episode 4 – Defining the Good Food District

This episode takes a deep dive into the definition of the Good Food District – what it represents, understanding the regional impacts, and the importance of placemaking within the context of building food sovereignty in food insecure neighborhoods.

Hosted by Anthony Avalos, this episode features the illustrious N. Diane Moss and an in-depth interview with the ever impressive Sona Desai, the Co-Executive Director at the San Diego Food System Alliance and currently leads the Local Food Economy Lab. For over 25 years, Sona has been part of the movement to build a more sustainable and equitable food system, and is deeply committed to supporting small-scale farmers, especially Black and Brown farmers.

Now Available:

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Our Winter Solstice Celebration Dec.21st

December 12, 2024

Join us for a Winter Solstice Urban Odyssey on Market Street!

Instead of our normal Community Work Day on the third Saturday of the month, we have a VERY special event planned for our community on December 21st! Please join us for our Winter Solstice Celebration, what we’re calling an Urban Odyssey on Market Street as we invite attendees to visit our new Community Wellness Garden (4800 Block of Market St. 92102).

We’ll begin at 9am at the Mt. Hope Community Garden, then guests can either walk or ride on our provided shuttle to the new garden space where we’ll have an ancestral acknowledgement, some wellness and hands-on activities, plus snacks and refreshments. Then we’ll journey back to the Mt. Hope Community Garden where Tree San Diego will be distributing 100 FREE TREES to community members! Let’s celebrate the solstice and commemorate this momentous occasion together at our new community growing space!

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Environmental Justice Event Food Sovereignty

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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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

Community Climate Action

February 4, 2024

Amy Lint, Climate Solution Strategist, Project New Village

Environment and climate change directly affects us, by the air we breathe, the food we buy, how we live and get to work each day. With community organizations like ours, the city of San Diego now has a Climate Action Plan which outlines steps toward a more sustainable place to live, work and play.

You might wonder how you can contribute to this climate friendly vision? One of the strategies is Clean Communities. Now that we have received a green bin at our place of residence, food scraps and organic material can be recycled!

Recycling food scraps and other plant material plays an important part in keeping harmful methane gases out of our atmosphere. At Mt. Hope Community Garden, we take food scraps and carefully manage them to make heated piles of compost. The food scraps and plant materials break down and turn into rich nutrient compost material. Once the organic materials have gone through the heated process, we now have rich soil amendment for growing our food plants.

Learn more about how to recycle food scraps at home, how to compost, or ask questions every 3rd Saturday at Mt. Hope Community Garden. Join in on hands-on composting demonstrations. We look forward to seeing you there!

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Environmental Justice