United We EAT

United We EAT aims to combat food insecurity by providing fresh produce to families living in food apartheid–communities that lack access to healthy, affordable food due to systemic disinvestment. The program's primary objective is to enhance food security by establishing a community-led garden and farm in Joliet. This initiative, led by EAT Joliet members, seeks to build local food production capacity in an equitable manner.

The regional local food system is quite varied in the Chicagoland area. It is no coincidence that the people most adversely affected by the racial wealth gap are also those who experience unequal access to affordable, healthy food and are disproportionately impacted by dire health conditions. In Joliet specifically, there is a difference in the production and distribution of healthy food on the West versus East Side. There has been a loss of grocery stores across the city, particularly on the East Side. While there is a Walmart and Tony’s on the West Side, people on the East Side rely on gas stations and Dollar Generals for most of their food. Some food pantries have popped up to fill the need. Still, these are primarily transient and not a long-term solution to the severe structural barriers to low-income residents accessing healthy and affordable food.

Over the past two years, United We EAT has supported EAT Joliet in stewarding a community garden in Riverwalk Homes, a low-income housing complex near Joliet’s East Side, to address these barriers. Through this program, EAT worked with residents to cultivate the garden, harvest fresh produce, and offer personal development training to help empower community members as they grew their own food. Today, EAT is looking to purchase nearby land and build a more permanent and stable community garden and farm program that addresses the food apartheid in Joliet and improves the production and distribution of locally grown food to those most marginalized by the system.