At 14 years old, Tiara began her work in environmental justice at the Eco-Ambassador Program. Upon learning about food and sustainable land use, Tiara thought about the food desert in her own community of Calumet City, Illinois, where thriving businesses are constantly replaced with liquor stores. Pete’s, Aldi, and Food4Less are currently the only major fresh food marts on the far edges of Calumet City.
If you live, work, worship or attend school in Chicago’s Austin and West Side communities, you’re invited to a special, free Food & Film Showcase this Friday evening, Oct. 7, at By The Hand Club for Kids, 415 N. Laramie, in Chicago. A fascinating panel discussion will feature community activists including Fred Hampton Jr., son of Black Panthers Chairman Fred Hampton. And even if you’re not local, good food fans everywhere are welcome to watch the films and live discussion virtually.
Much has been written about the lack of access to fresh and healthy foods in the West and South Sides of Chicago. Many of us read about it. Many of us live it. Some brilliant people are actively working to revise that story. People like Liz Abunaw, owner and operator of Forty Acres Fresh Market, which serves the city of Chicago and western suburbs along Interstate 290 up to Westchester, Ill. . . .
Abunaw is not alone in her efforts to enrich the local food supply. Austin Eats Initiative is a collaboration of organizations that promotes grocery access, culinary entrepreneurship, food education, community gardens, and urban farms in the Austin community, which is Chicago’s second-largest neighborhood by population and size. . . . On Thursday, Oct. 21, the group is staging a screening and discussion of the documentary film, “Can You Dig This.” You have two ways of seeing the film and participating in the discussion: in person or virtually.
