On February 9, an SCU research team presented preliminary research results to Sacred Heart Community Services food pantry staff, based on surveys and interviews that identified key themes for education materials and campaigns for pantry volunteers and clients. The feedback received during this workshop is being incorporated into a food justice curriculum and a replicable resource guide designed by the team, which other pantries and service organizations can consult to establish a food justice approach to food waste reduction. The SHCS Food Pantry serves 25,000 members each year. This workshop was co-organized by the Initiative’s Christopher Bacon and student researchers Isabelle Solórzano, Paulina Ursua Garcia, and Wanyu Xiang in coordination with Sacred Heart Essential Services Director Sofia Rocha. Paulina and Chris co-facilitated the workshop.

See the presentation slides

See photo of the event here Photo: Paulina Ursua Garcia.

Isabelle Solórzano (‘24, Environmental Science, Biology minor) recently secured a competitive NASA DEVELOP internship, and will soon start working with NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View. She will join a project researching the impacts of wetland declinations and deforestation on urban heat in Cali, Colombia. They will leverage Earth observations from Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 and partnerships with Fundación Dinamizadores Ambientales and Departamento Administrativo de Gestión del Medio Ambiente to understand the urban heat island effect on Cali communities. Their analysis will combine remote sensing and community partnerships under an environmental justice framework. The team will also develop a tutorial on the methodologies to be transferred to the partners to increase their capacity to use NASA Earth observations and understand the heat disparity in local communities.

Isabelle’s interest in Latin America environmental change issues may have started with many trips back to visit family in Nicaragua and her work for the Environmental Justice and Common Good Initative’s Food and Climate Justice Program and in the Agroecology, Climate Resilience and Food Justice (ACRAF) Lab.  In the ACRAF Lab, she helped develop educational workshops, analyze the climate impacts of food consumption, co-author reports, and kick-start a vermiculture pilot program on a project partnering Sacred Heart Community Service. In addition to Professor Chris Bacon, mentors that have supported Isabelle’s work include Professor Jake Dialesandro, who taught her remote sensing, as well as Professor C.J. Gabbe, and Becca Nelson. Congratulations again, Isabelle. We look forward to seeing where this project takes you – the sky’s the limit.

SCU’s Environmental Justice and Common Good Initiative (EJ & CGI) Food and Climate Justice Program lead, Chris Bacon (Associate Professor and Chair Environmental Studies and Sciences Department) Collaborated Veggielution to develop a $217,000 project funded by the County of Santa Clara. Veggielution is the lead agency for this project that aims to create a more diverse, equitable, and resilient regional food economy, and foster food justice through education and action to address inequities in East San Jose.  As the key partner in this project, the SCU team will manage a $67,000 subaward, as Bacon will work with student researchers, EJ & CGI’s research coordinator, and Veggielution staff to conduct a feasibility study and policy analysis about the potential to link small-scale food entrepreneurs to values-based purchasing efforts, such as the Good Food Purchasing Program, which is partnering with Santa Clara County Hospitals to offer more nutritions, lower-carbon, and sustainable meals. The SCU team will also co-produce an agroecology, urban agriculture and food policy summer short-course and help design a food systems dashboard with collaboration from C.J. Gabbe (ESS). To collect the data student researchers will help conduct interviews, surveys, and focus groups as well as compile, analyze, and display demographic and food systems data.   Veggielution recently hired SCU food justice lab alumnus, Antonio Amore Rojas (ESS and Management ‘23),  to work as the cooperative manager for a new enterprise they will be developing as part of this project. 

Caption: Veggielution’s Farm Stand offers farm fresh vegetables that are harvested every week by staff members and volunteers. Residents interested in volunteering to pick crops can sign up online at veggielution.org/farming. Photo Courtesy of Veggielution