Heal Our Hood

Heal Our Hood is promoting urban gardening and building relationships with local farmers as a means to respond to the little discussed health crisis of food deserts in Washington, D.C. We have community gardens in Wards 7 and 8, both areas with the highest morbidity and mortality rates in the city. We attend community events and promote awareness around health, fitness, and food, and have successfully recruited volunteers for our gardens. We hope that gardening will give people power over their food sources, stimulating them to transform their ideology into one that includes a healthy diet and lifestyle. Next season, we plan to create a program for local schools and community centers that will encourage children's participation. We also would like to faciliate monthly programs/workshops that provide the basics about food deserts, health, nutrition, fitness, and gardening. Our overall objective is to transform food deserts into healthy food meccas, where gardens and full-service grocery stores are more abundant than fringe outlets.