Built: Health isn’t all it’s built up to be, in terms of hospitals, labs, etc. It’s actually everything that we’ve built around us. Far from the walls of a hospital building, the prospects for an individual’s good health and well-being are enmeshed with a community’s existing conditions, and especially with the community’s sense of trust in… Continue reading →

Lots of Options: Lots of vacant, privately-held land in Phoenix isn’t being developed right now. Enter PHX Renews, the effort focused on partnering with communities and negotiating with landowners for community use of those parcels until such time as its owners wish to build. Following in the footsteps of grassroots efforts like Valley of the Sunflowers and The… Continue reading →

…But The Farm Bill Does Not: Fruits and veggies may be on the plates of our students, but they're pretty much nowhere on the list of agricultural subsidies for U.S. farmers. When it comes to understanding the difference between what the USDA thinks we should eat and what the U.S. Farm Bill subsidizes, look no further than two layouts for the White House Kitchen Garden.

Backward is the New Forward: The urban, local agriculture movement has grown enough in Maricopa County and around the U.S. to warrant a counter-movement of detractors (documented by Atlantic Cities) raising the question of where this is leading and whether we’re headed in the right direction. As the article notes, defending the Goliath of mass food production systems while denigrating… Continue reading →

2011 Grant and Medical Assistance Archives: Grant Archives St. Luke’s Health Initiatives’ 2011 grants are: Arizona Interfaith Alliance for Worker Justice, receiving $30,000 to create a community workshop and leadership development initiative. Asian Pacific Community in Action, receiving $20,000 to build civic participation and community engagement within the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Asian Pacific Community in Action, receiving $22,600… Continue reading →

Where Have the Years Gone?: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) turns two this month, and where did the time go? While many people focused on making things happen, a lot of others put their time towards a series of mad scrambles in divergent directions, mostly driven by ‘what’s-in-it-for-me’ thinking. Political wrangling, legal challenges, media grandstanding, turf defending, and garden-variety change… Continue reading →

A Subversive Plot: Food system cracks have been showing themselves for some time, making safe and sustainable solutions like the humble kitchen garden plot a health priority. The gardening that supplied 26 percent of U.S. produce during World War II has lately become a challenging and nearly-forgotten skill at best, and a crime at worst (a Detroit-area woman… Continue reading →

The Incredible Shrinking City: Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo keep shrinking, leaving leaders no choice but to re-imagine them. It turns out that adaptation to The Incredible Shrinking City includes making it healthier for people: designing with nature, establishing local food sources (urban farming, community gardening), and re-aggregating communities on a livable scale. U.S. cities aren’t likely to ever be… Continue reading →

Individual Choice: Eating healthier foods isn’t a matter of individual choice if there isn’t a reasonable choice to begin with. That’s the upshot of a recent community-driven effort to implement the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey in Maryvale and Canyon Corridor. Less than a third of stores in the 38 square mile survey area offered healthy options like… Continue reading →

Where the Joy Is: Recently a relative passed along an online inflammatory pamphlet. Wars, freaky climate, economic meltdown, oppressive governments, violence in the streets, feckless politicians – it grimly prophesized the end of life as we know it. The solution: horde precious metals, buy a gun, hunker down with plenty of water and dry goods, and accept Jesus as… Continue reading →