Food Justice

One of the great, often unspoken, forms of oppression that low- and moderate-income communities suffer through is the lack of access to healthy food.  While most residents and activists look at conditions such as public safety, housing availability, public education, environmental concerns and economic opportunities when taking on community development issues, seldom do we consider one of the most basic elements – how a community feeds itself – as a sign of neighborhood well being.

Food justice starts from the conviction that access to healthy food is a human rights issue and that the "lack of access to food in a community is an indicator of material deprivation". Food justice goes beyond advocacy and direct service. It calls for organized responses to food security problems, responses that are locally driven and owned.

Local Matters’ partnership with The Greener Grocer to send the Veggie Van out to neighborhoods in need is one local response to food justice in our community.  Local Matters is a not-for-profit located in Columbus, Ohio who believes that the choice to grow and to consume local food has the power to affect social, economic and environmental change in our community. Our mission is to improve the quality of life in our community by insuring that everyone has equal access to local, healthy and sustainably grown food.