What we do

Over several years, we have held several community and town hall meetings to discuss the issues folks see in their communities. 1 Freedom is committed to making each campaign, community-led and focused, to ensure that actual social change occurs.

According to National Geographic, the South Bronx has the highest rate of food insecurity of any neighborhood in the United States. COVID-19 magnified the gaps in food accessibility that exists in the South Bronx and throughout New York City. 1 Freedom’s programs are focused on meeting the community where they are and moving from food apartheids to food sovereignty.

  • Mutual Aid

  • Green Community Gardens and Rooftop Hydroponic Gardens

  • Youth and Community Organizing Committees

 

IMG_7541.JPG

Mutual Aid/Build Roots: Community Solidarity Fridges/Green Community Gardens and Rooftop Hydroponic Gardens

·      We are currently running four “Solidarity Fridges” in the Bronx and Upper Manhattan. These fridges offer mutual aid to community members in targeted communities most impacted by food injustice and food apartheids in New York City. In 7 months, we have received tens of thousands of pounds of food donations and fed over 4,000 people. We know that these fridges are just a first step in fixing the injustices in the food systems in New York City.

In the next few weeks we are gearing up to launch two campaigns – Green Community Gardens and Rooftop Hydroponic Gardens. Although there are 91 GreenThumb Gardens in the South Bronx alone, that is not enough to feed the over 570,000 residents of the South Bronx. The South Bronx leads in the highest rates of obesity and nutrition-related chronic disease. Both campaigns would connect community members back to the land, disrupt the existing food systems, and create the beginning steps for food sovereignty in the South Bronx.

IMG_9751.jpg

Youth and Community Organizing Committees

Causing a disruption in the NYC food system is not simply the work of one group of people, but instead of multiple generations of neighborhoods organizing and mobilizing for change. As activists learn about food systems, they begin to apply a social justice and human rights lens to their world. Our activists form community organizing committees to create solutions to issues that impact them and their community. Youth in the Concourse Section of the Bronx are organizing the community to make a dangerous street intersection safe by demanding a traffic light it installed. As youth learn about youth-led social justice movements in history and presently, they are become activated demand justice in their own lives and communities.

Freedom Cooking: In order for our community to eat better, there needs to be more spaces where they can learn how to prepare the same foods they are producing in their local community and/or rooftop garden. Our “Freedom Cooking” classes teach youth how to cook locally sourced, seasonal foods using ingredients they can find in the own pantries and spice closets at home. These cooking classes provide a space for young people to cook meals and to bring their creations back home to their friends and family.

Social Lens Project: Partnering with local, Bronx-native film makers, we teach youth about the science of film making. We also use this program to host movie nights debuting movies made by local filmmakers and even our own youth activists.