Health Equity

Building Healthy Food Systems

Good food bolsters children’s health, well-being, learning abilities and school readiness. Yet there are some significant barriers in New Mexico:

• Many children and families of color and low-income families live in food deserts, where healthy food is simply unavailable.
• Farmers and entrepreneurs of color face historic and structural racism, which disconnects communities from their rich cultural food traditions and agricultural history. Racism also blocks access to capital and drives generational wealth gaps.

In New Mexico, farm-to-early care and education is an incredibly promising community-based solution – letting both children and local, sustainable food systems thrive.

This movement brings together diverse groups of community and government partners in education, health and agriculture to address systemic inequities, especially related to race and income. Together, our partners are building resilient, effective ways to get healthy food to children and families while strengthening economic opportunities, supporting health and improving the environment. Increasingly, state coalitions are embracing this win-win-win strategy to improve childhood nutrition, enrich early learning environments and help local agriculture flourish.

Read how our support is seeding the next generation of cultural farmers.