Name: Bayo maathey
Social Justice Group: Access to Healthy Foods
Date of Fieldwork: February 17, 2022
Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):lauren Ornelas – The Food Empowerment Project – Founder
Type of Fieldwork: Interview
What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork?[:: :
The Food Empowerment Project’s Lauren Ornelas met with us. She launched the Food Empowerment Project in 2007, at a time when this topic was largely ignored. We learned that industrial farming is destroying our seas and how fast food restaurants prey on people who are unable to shop at traditional grocery stores. We also heard about how the government uses bodegas and delis to deceive people into believing that low-income areas aren’t really low-income. We also discovered that grocery stores in more affluent communities are open later and have more products.
Due to everything they do, the Food Empowerment Project is crucial to our issue. Whether it’s protesting factory farming and commercial fishing or the way fast food outlets prey on low-income areas, there’s always something to do. I believe that what they do is really important and that they should continue to undertake this job both locally and across the United States.
