“Fresh Food is a Basic Human Right”
How an innovative nonprofit fights for justice in the heart of Kentucky’s food deserts
In our sea of processed food and soaring chronic disease rates, it can be hard to believe that the tides will ever change. Yet change is coming, evident by the brave individuals and organizations across the country fighting for a healthier tomorrow. These are our lighthouses, shining their bright light to guide us through the daunting maze of food system reform.
One of these lighthouses is New Roots, a community-run nonprofit working to bring fresh food to those who need it the most.
New Roots operates out of Kentucky’s largest city, Louisville, which is plagued with food deserts. Over 120,000 Lousivillians suffer from food insecurity, meaning they lack access to adequate healthy food. Grocery stores across the city have been closing at startling rates, leaving residents with little choice but to rely on convenience stores and fast food to survive.
New Roots knew something had to change, and so they developed innovative pop-up markets to bring local produce into communities starved for fresh food.
“There is nothing more important than food,” New Roots Founder and Executive Director Karyn Moskowitz said. “We pop up in neighborhoods with no grocery stores nearby and no farmers markets. You’re never going to see this type of fresh produce in the neighborhood, so it’s pretty mind-blowing.”
The Fresh Stop Markets feature a bounty of fruits and vegetables grown by local family farmers. Tables overflow with a brilliant array of produce, from carrots and strawberries to kale and bok choy. Volunteer chefs conduct cooking demos while participants mingle and explore the various offerings.
“It’s like a cross between a family reunion and a fruit and vegetable flash mob,” Moskowitz said.
New Roots, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, leverages the power of cooperative economics to make Fresh Stop Markets a reality. Shareholders pool their resources (cash and SNAP benefits) on an income-based sliding scale, so everyone gets the same amount of food regardless of what they can pay. New Roots then negotiates wholesale prices with farmers in advance, thus eliminating their risk of selling in low-income areas.
“New Roots helps us reach folks in our community we wouldn’t be able to reach otherwise, places with limited access and where traditional farmers markets haven’t thrived,” said Bree Pearsall of Rootbound Farm, one of New Roots’ major partners. “New Roots serves as the ambassadors to these communities and allows us to focus on our passion: getting great food off the farm and onto folks’ tables.”
Access to fresh food is essential for healthy communities. Food insecurity has strong links to the diet-related chronic diseases overwhelming our healthcare system — from diabetes and heart disease to cancer and stroke. According to a 2011 Louisville Metro Health Equity Report, the diabetes mortality rates in Louisville’s food deserts are two to three times higher than the total Louisville Metro rate.
New Roots works to combat these health disparities by providing people with access to fresh food and teaching them how to prepare it. The nonprofit sends shareholders home with a guide of recipes and tips, while partnering with other organizations to offer cooking classes.
“We have seen healthy food literally change people’s lives,” said Eneitra Beattie, New Roots 2018–2019 AmeriCorps VISTA member. “People come who were taking lots of pills, and now they’re down to one or two all because they’re eating better. For us, food truly is medicine.“
Though New Roots has a tiny staff, it boasts hundreds of volunteer leaders that operate nine biweekly Fresh Stop Markets across the region. Beattie says the team is driven by one core belief: Fresh food is a basic human right.
“That statement says everything,” she said. “Why should people not be able to access fresh food just because of where they live?”
This year, New Roots is working with 22 farming partners to bring produce to over 600 families. Seventy percent of shareholders have limited resources, so New Roots must rely on donations to cover the remaining costs.
Community leader Barbra Justice experiences first-hand the difference New Roots makes in the city. She lives in subsidized senior housing in Old Louisville with no supermarket nearby.
“Not having a grocery store is a real hardship for people like us because most of us don’t have cars,” said Justice, founding member of the Old Louisville Fresh Stop Market and current site leader. “When you can go blocks and blocks and there’s no place to buy food other than a gas station, how is that just? How is that fair?”
When Justice has any extra food from the Fresh Stop Market, she leaves it in her building’s food pantry — and it is gone in a flash. Her market also donates to a food bank next door, and people line up in the hopes of receiving produce.
“I’m told that there’s a big long line on Thursdays because people know they’re giving away vegetables,” Justice said. “People here are hungry, and they’re really hungry for fresh food.”
So while public health experts debate how to fix our food system, New Roots will continue fighting in the trenches — “popping up” in Louisville’s food deserts to bring farm fresh produce to those who need it the most.
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