|
|
“Momma I'm sorry I hit the trap
because I ain’t tryna starve
I’m tryna eat
Now I’m dodging tinted cars
and ducking police
I’m only 14 I shouldn't be living like this
Daddy left when I was three
now I'm out taking a risk
Got locked up
that's my only guaranteed meal
I was glad when they was taking
my wrists
On the way home from school
spent my last dollar
on a pack of noodles and chips”
—Almighty Ra
|
 Almighty Ra
|
|
|
More than 1,000 people have tuned in to the Baltimore Children’s Cabinet town hall livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube last Friday, for a youth-led panel discussion on food insecurity. Spoken word artist Almighty Ra, 20 and newly certified as a home health aide, kicked things off with his own story that set the theme for the evening: Food Won’t Fix Hunger. He spoke of jobs—“it's a lack of opportunity”—and the systemic barriers to getting those jobs—Lil Johnny white so he gonna get the job first. What’s the difference between you and me? And you got the nerve to talk about unity…”
See his full performance here.
Ra’s peers—Kelly, Trent, Na’im, Ka’Mya and Young Elder—picked up his thread, leading a discussion that touched on transportation, the lack of grocery stores and the extremes their families and friends go to, and the compromises they make, to put food on the table. In short: the barriers Baltimore youth face—and Black and Brown youth, especially—growing up in poverty.
|
|
|
________________________
“The reason we’re so strict and strong on this topic is because the youth are hungry. People focus on the kids and the older people, but nobody’s focusing on the youth, focusing on the teens,” said Young Elder, a Coppin State University freshman, as she opened up the evening’s discussion.
|
|
|
“Food insecurity among our youth in Baltimore City, this is a huge topic that a lot of people don’t like to talk about,” added Kelly Castillo, a panelist and student at Western High School.
And in the discussion chat... “Baltimore’s message is that our youth don’t belong in the kitchen empowering their community through food, but belong back out on the streets fending for themselves,” wrote Food Project director Michelle Suazo.
|
|
|
________________________
Friday’s event, co-sponsored by HeartSmiles, was the second in a series of town halls the Children’s Cabinet is hosting to highlight its seven priorities. The town halls come on the heels of a community survey to inform the Children’s Cabinet 2021 Action Plan. And these same youth—Young Elder, Na’im, Ka’Mya—delivered 286 of the 1,361 completed surveys, more than 20%.
“Youth need to be involved in this because who knows what we want more than we do?” said Ka’Mya Tynes, a sophomore at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. “We have so many people speaking for us instead of us speaking for ourselves. And it doesn’t give us a chance to stand up for ourselves…to advocate for ourselves…to instill equity in our systems. Our policymakers are focused on equality instead of equity. They’re giving everybody the same thing and everybody doesn’t need the same thing.”
________________________
|
|
|
The food insecurity work of the Children’s Cabinet is grounded in a single statistic: More than one-third of Baltimore youth lack food. And it’s a data point that doesn’t budge between youth and adulthood. The youth members of the cabinet’s food insecurity work group, along with a growing community of youth advocates and youth-led nonprofits, are working to put a spotlight on and change that.
The youth participating in Friday’s town hall offered solutions that spanned community gardens, living-wage jobs for youth, breaking down stigma and more and better education for youth about diabetes and obesity. They also discussed local programs that are addressing food insecurity among youth.
 “Get on it with The Granny Project,” Ka’Mya says. “It teaches kids to cook. It teaches kids responsibility and it teaches them how to take care of themselves. And that’s something that we need because a lot of our parents…are working so hard to make sure that we have food to eat that they can’t make sure that we learn these important life lessons.”
Learn more about The Granny Project here.
 Learn more about Black Yield Institute here.
|
|
 Learn more about The Food Project here and Seedy Nutty here.
________________________
|
|
|
Baltimore’s young people have also been core to the city’s COVID-19 Emergency Food Response. In the spring, youth participating in the Squeegee Alternative Plan led by the Mayor’s Office of Children & Family Success staffed large-scale weekly meal distribution efforts with our partner World Central Kitchen. During summer, nearly two dozen youth worked fulltime giving out meals at rec centers and community sites. And this fall, when rec centers shifted their focus to virtual learning and the closure of one rec center meal site left a food gap in South Baltimore’s Sharp-Leadenhall community, a handful of partner organizations and youth that squeegee stood up a meal site at the Solo Gibbs rec center. Each week, Ronald Robinson and Ahmad Austin are joined by peers to provide 200 meals to youth and 70 produce boxes to families.
|
|
|
@bmorechildren | #loveoverfear
|
|
Copyright © 2020 City of Baltimore All Rights Reserved. |
|
|
|
