Food Justice

THE PROBLEM: In our 2022 House Meetings, we asked about how our community has been impacted by the changing environment. Our members talked about the rising cost of food, worsening quality of produce, and the limited availability of foods they used to have access to. At our Community Problems Assembly later that year we had over 250 people vote to prioritize food insecurity as our newest campaign. 

Through our research in over 25 meetings so far, we have learned that 65,000 Richland County residents do not know where their next meal is coming from. As with most problems, this is a systemic level issue that has many root sources, including discriminatory grocery store placement far from low-income, black and brown neighborhoods, inaccessible public transportation alongside costly personal vehicle ownership, and people making low incomes combined with the rising costs of not just food but also housing and other basic living expenses. We met with the City of Columbia’s Food Policy Committee, who generated two solutions that can address parts of this massive problem. First, the use of publicly-owned properties in neighborhoods with low food access to provide more food options such as pop-up markets, produce stands, community gardens, and more. Second, the creation of a mobile market, which is a grocery store on wheels, bringing food into communities that otherwise do not have the access. 

ACTION: At our 2023 Nehemiah Action, Mayor Rickenmann and City Councilmembers Herbert and Duvall all supported these initiatives by agreeing to have an informational meeting with MORE Justice representatives to make a plan for the sustainability and success of these programs. Since then, MORE Justice has been working with the City's Community Development Subcommittee and Food Policy Committee to begin these conversations with the goal of having more concrete action steps moving forward.