100 signatures reached
To: Jane Castor, Mayor of the City of Tampa and City Councilman Orlando Guides (District 5)
#GardenTrustforUs Eliminating Tampa Food Deserts Through Community Gardens
The community of Tampa is requesting that the City of Tampa Economic & Urban Development Department create a Special District* Garden Trust with an annual budget of $35,000 to build and maintain large community gardens in Historic Communities of Color with limited access to healthy foods
Why is this important?
The West Tampa area is a historically African American community and is in serious need of healthy food access. The recent transformations taken place over the last 3 years have placed residents in a food desert situation. Most residents do not have access to healthy food options.
According to the US Dept. of Agriculture, there are 2.3 million people who live more than 1 mile away from a grocery store and do not have access to a vehicle. Here in Tampa, the communities of West and East Tampa neighborhoods have limited access to grocery stores with affordable healthy food options. At present, there's an average of 3 miles between the closest grocery store offering fresh produce in the East & West Tampa areas, creating barriers to healthy food access for a large portion of the community members who lack reliable transportation.
If the City of Tampa can allocate $4 million over the past two years to the maintenance of three public golf courses, surely they can allocate funds to provide our community's most underserved constituents access to healthy food cultivation practices, education, and consumption.
A collective of community members and local organizations such as the Tampa Heritage Initiative have collaborated to build a plan to implement community garden development, education programs and food delivery within underserved areas. With the funds allocated to the Garden Trust, the City of Tampa will be providing sustainable healthy food access and practices to historically underserved communities. In this, creating part-time employment, local business partnerships and teaching opportunities for members of the Tampa Bay community.
Join us in calling on Mayor Jane Castor and Councilman Guides to establish a Special District Garden Trust for the purpose of eliminating food deserts in the underserved communities of West and East Tampa.
**Special districts provide specialized services to persons living within the designated geographic area and may contract to provide services outside the area. Special districts often cross the lines of towns, villages, and hamlets but less frequently cross city or county lines.
--Resources--
https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/42711/12716_ap036_1_.pdf?v=41055
https://www.tampagov.net/sites/default/files/budget/files/FY2020-budget1.pdf
How it will be delivered
In-person to the office of Jane Castor, City of Tampa Mayor.