The 32,000 residents of West Oakland, CA, have only one grocery but have 40 liquor stores. Seventy percent of the residents live below the poverty line and have virtually no access to affordable, healthy food. People’s Grocery, a West Oakland-based non-profit group, has started an organic, urban agriculture revolution and the youth from that neighborhood are leading the way.

People’s Grocery is building a self-reliant food system in West Oakland through community-based and youth-focused social enterprises, urban agricultural projects and educational services. Lead by Malaika Edwards and Brahm Ahmadi, the program serves the local community, improves the local economy, and offers valuable learning experiences to the youth of West Oakland. There are currently 7 teenagers working in the program.

The Mobile Market, a brightly colored, biodiesel powered van, delivers the fresh produce that is grown in the urban gardens to the residents of the community. Creating easy access to healthy, nutritious food and educating the community about the importance of eating a healthy diet are the two objectives of the Mobile Market. The van is also equipped with solar panels that power a "phat sound system" that bumps good music as it drives through the neighborhood to let residents know the van is coming.

I had the good fortune of visiting one of their gardens on November 5th while in San Francisco for the Co-op America Green Business Conference. A group of us from the conference loaded a bus and headed across the Bay Bridge to meet these urban gardening revolutionaries. Malaika, a former political activist, is down to earth and is passionate about food justice issues on a local and global level. Brahm Ahmadi, a former gang member and co-founder of the Mobile Market, loves talking about how the program has changed the lives, for the better, of many of the youth who have been involved. He said that the primary issue that their program addresses is the lack of access to retail grocery stores that sell affordable, healthy foods. They deal with this problem by bringing the food to the people.

Sure, residents could eat at the local fast food restaurants, but many people, especially the kids, are beginning to understand what a diet loaded with saturated fats and preservatives can do to the body. "I could eat McDonald’s every day," said Cindy Villanueva, one of the teens who works in the garden. "They teach us what fast food will do to us. We’re shortening our lives and we don’t even know it." Public awareness is a vital service that the Mobile Market provides to the West Oakland community.

The garden that we visited has raised beds where they grow herbs, vegetables, legumes, and flowers. The California Poppy was especially beautiful in the late afternoon sun. Four compost bins and two worm bins line the north edge of the garden and provide incredibly healthy compost that helps produce delicious tomatoes, chard, peas, broccoli, carrots, cabbage, and potatoes. Set between two large Victorian homes, the garden offers neighbors a rare view of urban greenspace and attracts birds and butterflies to their block.

People’s Grocery has set urban agriculture goals for 2005 that include: deepening their focus on food production, increasing production by 30%, starting a green house project, and expanding the number of gardens. They have also set some micro-enterprise goals such as: adding another Mobile Market day, creating a snack shop at the local YMCA, starting a bulk buying program, carrying Mama Tierra’s Medicinals and becoming a Worker-Owned Cooperative.

For more information about People’s Grocery, please visit their web site at www.peoplesgrocery.org

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