21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Food Challenge Kickoff Event

We're excited that you're joining HGP in envisioning a thriving and inclusive community, workforce and local food system

The Homeless Garden Project (HGP) will hold a kickoff event to support the 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Food Challenge (the Challenge) on March 20 at 11:30 a.m. The free virtual event will feature keynote remarks from U.S. Representative Jimmy Panetta, performances from Senderos and a presentation from Challenge organizers Curtis Ogden and Karen Spiller. HGP, in their first year partnering with the Challenge, is inviting broad/local community engagement in the Challenge to embrace HGP's vision of a “thriving and inclusive community, workforce and local food system.” Attendees will learn how to participate in the Challenge and have an opportunity to reflect on equity in our local food system.

The Challenge, now in its 7th year, was started by Food Solutions New England to provide individuals, organizations and communities an opportunity to understand and help end racism in our food system. The Challenge is made up of daily, short email prompts delivered each morning from April 5-25. The emails allow individuals to participate in this transformative effort at their own pace.

The Challenge quickly expanded in 2020 to all 50 states and over 7,000 participants, raising awareness and deepening understanding of race and equity issues with a focus on the food system, addressing universally applicable issues of land access, food, health and hunger.

WHAT
We’re excited to partner with Food Solutions New England to offer this challenge.

You can learn in detail more about the challenge, what to expect when you participate, why it lasts 21-days, how it got started and more here: https://foodsolutionsne.org/21-day-racial-equity-habit-building-challenge/

WHY
- During most years, Homeless Garden Project works with up to 3,000 volunteers at our farm, stores and events. Community members are an important part of our mission and vision, and we’ve been looking for meaningful ways to continue to partner with you while we stay healthy and safe during COVID.
- 2020’s historic events showed us how racism still affects communities and individuals in profound ways. We saw the importance of learning to recognize institutional and systemic racism, so we can work together to create racial equity.
- HGP continues to focus our work on individuals experiencing homelessness. We believe this community work will strengthen everything we do.

HOW
- You can simply sign up with FSNE’s challenge and receive their email prompts for 21 days during the 2021 Food Challenge from April 5-25.
- You can also join with HGP to share your learning, insights and questions with local community members during the 21-day challenge. Part of the goal of the 21-day challenge is to inspire you to act in your local community on your own or with others. We hope our discussions and communications will generate a community inspired to make change together.