Katie Valenzuela of Ubuntu Green and California Food Literacy delivered the keynote at the first evening of the three-Friday series Farm to EVERY Fork on October 4, 2013. This event was sponsored by Grace Presbyterian Church in Sacramento as part of their 30-year commitment to addressing the problems of food insecurity in Sacramento. Ms. Valenzuela detailed the nature, scope and impact of inadequate access to healthful food. Farm to EVERY Fork Oct 4, 11, 18, 2013 Grace Presbyterian Church 4300 Las Cruces Way (Arden Christian Church campus) Sacramento, CA www.grace-sacramento.org www.facebook.com/gracepresbyterianchurch.sacramento

1. Food Insecurity in Sacramento:
A Complex Problem in Need of Creative Solutions
Katie Valenzuela
Ubuntu Green

2. Background
• All data and graphs from “Hunger
Hits Home 2012: Understanding &
Combatting Hunger in Sacramento
County”
– Collaborative project of Community
Link Capital Region, Sacramento
Hunger Coalition, and Valley Vision
– Funded by USDA and Sierra Health
Foundation
– More than 500 residents surveyed

3. What is food insecurity?
Food insecurity exists when an individual or
family has limited or uncertain ability to acquire
nutritionally adequate and safe foods.

4. How many people are food
insecure?

5. Who is food insecure?
• 46% of households had children under the
age of 18 living in the home
• 22% of households had seniors over the age
of 60 living in the home
• 66% of households have someone with a
chronic health condition
• 33% of respondents have a disability that
impairs their functioning

9. What is the impact of food
insecurity?
• An estimated 50,000 Sacramento County residents
under-perform because of food insecurity
• 38% of respondents have felt angry or depressed
because of food insecurity
• 1 out of 5 respondents reported getting sicker as a
result of not being able to eat appropriate food
• For every $1 of CalFresh not spent, our region loses
out on $1.79 in local economic activity

10. What causes food insecurity?
• Cost of living
• Barriers to participation in assistance programs (and
the inadequate amount of assistance given)
• Location of food sources
• Awareness and understanding within the food
insecure population

11. What can we do?
• Advocate for living wage and affordable
housing/healthcare, among other things
• Educate clients on their rights to entitlement
programs, assist them in their advocacy
• Make healthy food more geographically and
financially accessible
• Help the community learn how to incorporate
healthy food into their diets

12. Ubuntu Green’s Mission
Founded in 2009, Ubuntu Green is a 501(c)3 nonprofit
organization committed to promoting healthy, sustainable
and equitable communities through advocacy, education,
community development and empowerment.

13. What is Ubuntu?

14. Home & Community
Garden Program
• Supported by The California Endowment and UC Davis
• Participants get seed/start donations, quarterly packets,
workshops, and more
• Currently working on “clusters” and Video Voice projects
120 builds completed since 2010

15. Build locations

16. Green Youth
Leadership Team (GSquad)
• G-Squad Activities:
– Maintain the Urban Garden
– Learn leadership, business and gardening skills
– Organize workshops and social events to get the community
and other youth engaged
…and anything else that will help improve the
health of our community!

17. CA Food Literacy Center’s
Mission
To inspire change today for a healthy, sustainable
tomorrow through enduring community food education.
Food Literacy [fu: d lit-er-uh-see] noun:
Understanding the impact of your food choices on your health, the
environment, and our community.

18. Teach, Feed, Train
• The California Food Literacy Center:
– teaches students about food,
– feeds kids new snacks so they can explore food, and
– trains food literacy advocates to be deployed across the
region.
• Before food literacy programming, 82% of K-1st
graders said healthy snacks don’t taste good. After 1
month, 92% of the kids said “yes.”
• Additionally, 75% of children K-5th grade say it
matters where their food comes from.

19. How Can You Help?
Donate
Volunteer
Stay Informed

20. Katie Valenzuela
Program & Communications Manager
Ubuntu Green
katie@ubuntugreen.org
(916) 879-8416
www.ubuntugreen.org
www.californiafoodliteracy.org