Food To Power: Cultivating food access
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Consuming fresh produce is essential for anyone to sustain a healthy lifestyle, but access to fruits and vegetables that are rich in vitamins is a reality only for some.
Food To Power, located in Colorado Springs, has changed how people think about food. This multi-faceted program and facility provides a no-cost grocery program two times a week, food educational classes, food equity advocacy, youth internships that teach youth how to grow food, healthy meal preparation classes, a compost collection program and much more.
The Executive Director for Food To Power, Patience Kabwasa, believes everyone should have access to healthy food.
“Our biology demands fresh food. Fresh food is a human right. Like, you need vitamins and minerals in your body to show up on your A-game in all aspects of your life. We are cultivating a more just food system,” Kabwasa said. “[Food To Power has created] access to information, access to groceries, access for the ability to farm, access to learn about composting and to learn about soil.”
Located on Food To Power’s premises is an urban farm where you can find anything from tomatoes, peppers, onions, various leafy greens like lettuces and kale, an assortment of edible flowers, and other veggies.
Food To Power recently implemented a pop-up pilot access market that is SNAP supported so the food grown on the farm can be purchased with SNAP benefits. SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, helps low-income households in Colorado purchase food through monthly benefits.
Recently, the King Soopers located on South Academy Blvd in Colorado Springs has temporarily closed due to asbestos concerns. Kabwasa said the closure, though temporary, is a problem because it “magnifies the conversation of health equity.”
Kabwasa is familiar with the area and said that food access was already scarce in this region.
“Even if King Soopers opens tomorrow, it’s not enough. We need more than that,” Kabwasa said. “People need to be able to access food regularly. That’s what food security means, is you regularly know from day-to-day and meal-to-meal what you are going to eat. It’s not in question. It’s not up in the air based on what you can afford for that day.”
Regarding the food advocacy aspect of Food To Power, Kabwasa discussed the historical reference and connection Black Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) have with farming and taking care of the land. She shared the historical narrative of disparities that occur regarding who owns the land versus who works the land. Kabwasa said in the past, sharecropping and slavery benefited people who owned land and not people of color who took care of and grew the food on the land. Many of the people who help farm Food To Power’s farm are people of color. Because of this diverse group of individuals helping to grow food for the community, Kabwasa said it's “reclaiming and healing.”
“Being able to have access to a space where you can be in relationship with the land in a way that produces for you is part of healing that generation trauma,” said Kabwasa.
Kabwasa said Food To Power is proud to be a brave, safe, and inclusive space.
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“We have cultivated a very strong culture of care and that’s really important to us,” Kabwasa said. “We are a multi-cultural, multi-class organization, inclusion is not a map coordinate, it’s always a journey. Every time you invite someone else to the table, you are inviting them and their identities and their intersections.”
Kabwasa believes that the many programs and culture Food To Power holds have created a better tomorrow for many who need it.
“[Food to Power], it really does power my heart, it powers our staff, our board, people love to be in this space, its light and open and it just feels like it fosters connection,” said Kabwasa.
Lindsey Ford is a multimedia journalist at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach her at lindseyford@rmpbs.org.