south bay food justice collaborative

a community of practice in support of food justice

The South Bay Food Justice Collaborative (SBFJC) is a community of practice consisting of organizations and individuals working toward food justice in the South Bay region (Santa Clara and San Mateo counties) of Northern California.

Our Mission: The SBFJC strives to create a food system that delivers plentiful, nourishing, culturally relevant, responsibly-produced food to all as a human right. We leverage advocacy, capacity-building, and relationships among a diverse group of individuals and organizations to collaboratively promote food justice across the southern counties of the San Francisco Bay Area. 

Join the Collaborative

ABOUT US

Our Vision

The SBFJC envisions equitable food systems where all people, regardless of their differences, can:

  • participate in and influence their local food system socially, politically, and economically;
  • grow, access, and consume nourishing, culturally-appropriate food;
  • create and/or support thriving food and farming businesses; and
  • enjoy improved outcomes in health, education, environment, and economic opportunity.
Where does the SBFJC work?

Our current members are based fully or partly in the South Bay, but our relationships extend throughout the regional foodshed and we encourage the engagement of people and organizations in places beyond our county borders. We welcome collaborations with farmers, urban growers, and community-based organizations in other counties across Northern and Central California.

Image

Join us for an upcoming Policy and Advocacy online training session — details will be announced soon.


HISTORY AND CONTEXT

The seed for the SBFJC was planted in 2019, when four community-based organizations (Fresh Approach, La Mesa Verde, Valley Verde, and Veggielution) and two academic partners (Santa Clara University and University of California Cooperative Extension) came together to organize a coalition-building-oriented food justice workshop for the South Bay. That workshop affirmed our interest in collaborating to share knowledge and resources through networked activity that values the many culturally-rooted practices of diverse residents and professions.

The South Bay Food Justice Workshop was held in March 2020 on the eve of the COVID-19 shutdown. The pandemic highlighted the deep racial and economic inequities in our society, the essential role of farm and food system workers, and the important and innovative work that can be carried out at the regional level. As a result, participants began to meet regularly online to share our organizations’ emergency response work, learn from collaborators, identify community and our own organizational needs, and combine short-term relief with efforts to craft a longer-term response that is rooted in equity. As the initial urgency of the pandemic response has faded, the SBFJC has continued to share, learn, and collaborate on a broad set of food system issues and initiatives. In 2023, the SBFJC hosted a professional development series on Building Equity in the Silicon Valley Food System, which reiterated the local interest in connection, collaboration, as well as learning about food justice issues and strategies for making change.

We came together because we recognize that in our region:
Multiple, intersecting systems are not meeting residents’ needs to live vibrant, safe, and healthy lives;
Significant socioeconomic, health, and environmental disparities were created by these systems; 
We can build a more equitable food system by harnessing our rich history of agriculture, our diverse cultures and local knowledge, and many other local assets and opportunities.


RESOURCES

OUR MEMBERS