Cafe Society will be meeting at Ron’s Barber Shop on Friday, July 15
Dara Cooper, Senior Project Manager at Fresh Moves, will be our guest speaker.
Fresh Moves: a vehicle for change
From Fresh Moves: An old CTA bus becomes a vehicle for change by Micah Materre
“An experiment is underway on Chicago’s West side that pits fried food and soft drinks against fresh fruits and vegetables. For years, junk food and fast food were the only convenient choices in some Chicago neighborhoods… Acting on a study that found limited access to fresh fruit and vegetables on Chicago’s West and South sides was directly tied to life threatening health problems like diabetes, heart disease, and obesity, Casey talked the city into donating an old CTA bus to their cause. That bus is now a mobile produce market serving food deserts in Austin and Lawndale on the West side.”
Questions for Consideration
Why is it necessary to confront the food desert problem in Chicago? How does Fresh Moves address the inequality in food access? What kind of long term solutions are needed that a mobile produce market cannot solve?
Want to learn more?
- Fresh Moves Mobile Grocery Store An Innovative Solution To Food Deserts
- Next stop, the food desert: Fresh produce gets on the bus
- New Chicago design projects
- Fresh Moves bus making stops in Austin
- With grocery bus, West Siders jump on health bandwagon
Dara Cooper is an activist, organizer and whole food lover who has been active in human rights struggles for about half of her life. Dara has worked for the past decade on economic development, HIV/AIDS resource access in South Africa and Ethiopia, the exoneration of U.S. political prisoners and exiles, and mentoring young people working on healthy food access at the Congressional Hunger Center. She has been fortunate to travel the country (and world) meeting with incredible organizations working on innovative projects to alleviate hunger, destructive foods, and/or struggling to create a more just food system and world.
Dara is an advisory board member for the Healthy Food Hub (a reverse CSA supporting Black farmers in Pembroke and local food access), Rising in Solidarity with Ayiti (Haiti solidarity) and a member of Ella’s Daughters (an organization of activists inspired by the legacy of Ella Baker). As the Senior Project Manager for Fresh Moves, she is very excited to be apart of an innovative project and important movement addressing equity and food access.