Our rooftop and aeroponics garden projects provide opportunities for residents to grow fresh fruits and vegetables in a community aptly described as a “food desert” and lacking full-service grocery stores. However, understanding that policy change can be a slow process, LA CAN members have literally taken community health into their own hands through nutrition education and community gardening. Our work is a holistic approach to the health problems that afflict the health of low-income and homeless residents because of a lack of sufficient access to health care, nutritious food, and quality, safe housing conditions.Īs part of Hunger Action Los Angeles and the California Hunger Action Coalition, LA CAN works on the local, county and statewide levels to create, support and protect policies that alleviate hunger, including the defense of CalFresh (Food Stamps) from annual budget cut attacks and efforts to increase and streamline access to fresh, nutritious food through farmers markets and simplified benefit application processes. LA CAN promotes healthy food access, nutrition education, anti-hunger policy advocacy, and community gardening. Sharpening our abilities to use food as an organizing tool and educate our community about the benefits of good food.Amplifying our community voices and stories to inform and inspire lawmakers to establish food policies that positively impact our personal health and wellness of our mind, body, and soul.Facilitating participatory education workshops about various types of gardening, the role of ‘food as medicine’ and how and why making good food choices matter through our very popular Rooftop and Community Gardens.Being a trusted destination with unprecedented access to the option for choosing good food through our Skid Row Marketplace.Recognizing that it is possible to eat foods that optimize our health and well-being without compromising the land on which food is grown or jeopardizing the ability for it to be used for future generations, our Food & Wellness Collaborative focuses on four key areas that aim to minimize the consequences coming from poverty, low food security and poor nutrition: We anchor our work to advance food justice in a long history of helping to lead a groundbreaking cooperative response to extreme hunger and food insecurity in our community. LA CAN has been at the forefront of social justice change in our Skid Row and other under-served communities across South Los Angeles for the past 20 years.

Los angeles healthy food