Health and Social Impacts of Urban Food Gardens, Nov 17

Monday, November 17, 2014

Recent attention has focused on community gardens and urban agriculture as emerging strategies for multiple health and social justice benefits, ranging from increasing healthy food access to mental health advantages to neighborhood cohesion. Urban agricultural programs can have health-related impacts on both individual and community levels. Panelists will discuss evidence on these kinds of health and social impacts, and the role and potential for urban community gardens to empower individuals and communities toward greater health. They will also consider policy approaches or other actions needed to support and expand these efforts, or to overcome barriers in achieving positive outcomes from urban community agriculture. Following a discussion with the panelists and moderator, all attendees in the forum will be invited to participate in a “café”-style participatory dialog in small groups, about health-related impacts of urban farms, and to collectively identify research issues, policy changes and other actions that are needed to increase the social benefits of urban farms more widely.

Moderated by Jennifer Sowerwine, Research Associate, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, UC Berkeley

Jill Litt, Associate Professor, Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Colorado

Doria Robinson, Executive Director, Urban Tilth

Gavin Raders, Executive Director, Planting Justice

Please join us for a reception following the event.

Free and open to the public. This event is part of the BFI Food Exchange Series.