Walk for Good Food 2020 Blog Series: In celebration of the Walk for Good Food, Access will be posting interviews with the non-profit organizations that are receiving funding from this years Walk. Read below about why Good Food (food that is healthy, fair, affordable, and green) is important to their work. Eight organizations receive funding from the Walk, each with their own important role to play in creating a thriving food system for all. To walk with us or learn more visit accessofwestmichigan.org/walk.
Access of West Michigan (AWM): Tell us a little bit about your organization: your mission and the work that you do.
OKT: “Our Kitchen Table (OKT) is a grass-roots, nonprofit organization serving greater Grand Rapids, that promotes social justice and empowers our neighbors to improve their health and environment through information, community organizing and advocacy. OKT believes that building viable, neighborhood-based, resident-led advocacy is fundamental to achieving this mission. We primarily work in urban neighborhoods located within southeast Grand Rapids, Michigan.”
AWM: Why is Good Food (fair, affordable, healthy, and accessibly) important to your work?
OKT: “As an organization founded and rooted in environmental justice, OKT does all of its work through the lens of food justice, i.e., the benefits and risks of where, what, and how food is grown, produced, transported, distributed, accessed and eaten are shared fairly.”
AWM: What is your organization doing to support a Good Food System?
OKT: “All of OKT’s work is done to support a good food system – and eliminate food apartheid. In addition to the Program for Growth and Southeast Area Farmers’ Market, OKT addresses environmental and food justice policy via its web blog and Food Policy for Food Justice series and has shared the message with the greater local, regional and national community via its Women of Color Convenings, presentations and speaking engagements.”
AWM: What is one thing you’re looking forward to about this year’s Walk for Good Food?
OKT: OKT looks forward to the continuing impact of The Walk for Good Food’s food justice message and seeing more and more people understand that lack of access to healthy food is not about individual choices but about a failed food system that discriminates based on race and class.
AWM: Anything else important we should know?
OKT: OKT recently released “A Guide for Replication,” a 55-page booklet sharing information on growing food, eating healthier, environmental justice, and food justice.
To learn more about their work, visit their website: https://oktjustice.org/