History
El quien pone, saca
What you put in, you take out
General Narrative
Project Feed the Hood is a part of a long history of food justice efforts in New Mexico, this is our story of growth.
We were all sharing the same misery.
Joaquin Lujan, Movement Elder & Founding Organizer
1970s:
A state-wide struggle to hold onto land being extracted from historic communities, during this time many were fighting to maintain the right to grow their own food, on their shared land with clean water. This struggle is still present today.
Can a garden grow, centered in social justice?
Travis Mckenzie, Founding Organizer
2008:
The beginning of urban efforts to bring communities together using a universally shared need of food. Spearheaded by volunteer efforts, traditional and regenerative agriculture connections; founders of Project Feed the Hood began the journey of finding a space to grow this vision.
How do we use public space to build community power?
Rodrigo Rodriguez, Founding Organizer
2009:
They worked with the City Councilor Rey Garduno to solidify an agreement with City Aviation to grow on an empty plot (3500 Ross Ave SE). Within this agreement founders were limited to a 4th of the 1 acre plot for growing use.
Additionally, through connections they worked in collaboration to start Lobo Gardens on the University of New Mexico’s Main Campus, which now has accredited garden classes each semester.
Oni Sapa, the idea of collective plots
Joaquin Lujan, Movement Elder & Founding organizer
2010:
Community broke ground on the community garden site, cleaning up over 40 wheelbarrows of trash and unusable materials. Veterans Memorial volunteers built the cedar wood raised beds that are used by community members to this day. Restorative soil practices began with donated manure and larger workforce efforts were sustained through Saturday workshops and volunteer events.
This was also the year founders sparked the Albuquerque School Garden Movement which began with a small raised bed garden at Van Buren Middle School and grew into a variety of outdoor gardens at Whittier Elementary, Kirtland Elementary, Helan Edward Gonzales Elementary, Las Madres La Muechas, Highlands High School and South Valley Academy. Over the years Project Feed the Hood has worked in collaboration to steward over 70 school garden spaces in and around the Albuquerque Area.
It doesn’t end in the garden.
Rodrigo Rodriguez, Founding organizer
2011:
Southwest Organizing Project began funding small two thousand dollar stipends for organizers to work in schools on the Southside of Albuquerque and conduct workshops on the community garden site.
During this period funding for greening initiatives were non-existent, Founders advocated and applied funding sources in innovative ways for material infrastructure. Outside of the small stipends these efforts were done through perseverance and volunteer efforts.
Can we engage the community without incentive?
Rodrigo Rodriguez, Founding organizer
2012 – 2014:
Founders advocated within the Southwest Organizing Project and were able to open a part-time position for a Food Justice Organizer in addition to the small contract stipends for weekend workshops. This was also when the first Amircorp intern joined the movement through the University of New Mexico Civic Engagement Program. This allowed youth work to expand to community gardens, school field trips and for work to begin with the youth justice system.
Founders experimented with the viability of a for-profit farm education site on a South Valley property, Feed the Hood Farms. This project ended after 2 years.
How can we use gardening as an organizing tool?
Stefany Olivias, Founding Organizer
2015 – 2017:
Southwest Organizing Project began hiring Food Corp. Members to work with Project Feed the Hood and the Food Justice Campaign. This allowed the expansion of youth education into schools. Generally focused around political education; the history of New Mexico’s successive colonization and how it relates to food access systemically. Through this work we were able to make the connection of worldwide land struggles, water rights and the cultural impacts of the food industry.
In addition to education, organizers collaborated to create policy changes for more food access across the state. Successes like the Healthy Hungry- Free Students Bill of Rights Act, pushing the allocation of more funds into Double-up Food Bucks, expansion of SNAP benefits and the eventual start of Food & Farms day during the New Mexico legislative season.
Some people died and some survived to see the changes we have today.
Joaquin Lujan, Movement Elder & Founding organizer
2018:
Southwest Organizing Project created a full-time Food Justice Organizer position.
2019:
City Aviation allowed the expansion of the community garden to the entire one acre plot. Southwest Organizing Project allotted funding for a part-time position to compensate for the increased workload and large scale community work days began the soil remediation process. Funding was raised to get water access for the site specifically, allowing for immediate planting. Previous water was sourced from neighbors and hauling water in.
The initial design followed an amoeba growing method (a grouped together interplanting process) that proved inadequate for arid climates and production growth.
What does it mean to feed the hood?
Mateo Carrasco, Food Justice Organizer
2020:
An additional part-time position was created to manage the site, which saw it transitioning half of the site into rows for production agriculture and the cultivation of the agroecology center to model an edible and biodiverse landscape. This allowed the Food Justice Organizer to focus on program development within classrooms, support the opening of a FREE full service Food Hub, expand community greenspace access and advocate for city funding in disinvested areas.
Creation of the Donaldo Yañez Summer Internship, named in memory of Donaldo Yañez-Reyes who was one of the first garden youth and worked as a YES! Intern at SWOP before his tragic passing in 2017. A two month paid internship for youth to learn the basics of traditional farming and community organizing.
This is more than I ever imagined it would be.
Anonymous community member
Today Project Feed the Hood has two full-time and two part-time positions sustaining the site and broader educational work in an effort to create food sovereignty.