Village Exchange Center
Empowering Community Through Exchange: Celebrating religious and cultural diversity.
Kaizen Food Share aims to prevent food waste and improve food justice and health equity in communities facing food apartheid. Our vision is to continuously improve food security and food justice, because we believe healthy and culturally relevant foods should be accessible to all.
Our Story:
Kaizen is a community-driven food share collective that empowers its members to build reciprocal relationships with their local food system. We conduct the following activities to organically engage with our community to:
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Increase access to fresh, healthy food in underserved communities, with urban gardens, food forest, community gardens, food shares, civic engagement training, food justice workshops, and no-cost farmers markets.
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Support small-scale farmers, as they often struggle to make a living, and Kaizen supporting local BIPOC farmers and Black producers help to create a more sustainable and equitable food system.
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Educate the public about nutrition, food waste and food justice: BIPOC nutritionists, BIPOC dietitians, and other food experts work with Kaizen to help educate the public about food waste, food justice, healthy eating habits and the importance of a balanced diet.
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Reducing food waste: The food industry is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, and Kaizen works to reduce food waste, such as food recovery programs with hotels and composting initiatives, which help to mitigate these environmental impacts.
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Advocate for food justice: Kaizen works to address systemic inequalities in the food system, such as racial and economic disparities in access to healthy food. Many community members are engaged in civic engagement and leadership development with Kaizen
Our partnership with FIC has been very valuable as they have provided subject matter expertise, done technical assistance and have provided funding at times. provided technical assistance for Kaizen to help us develop activation strategies to improve food justice. This can include assistance with community DEI praxis and community engagement praxis training.
Subject matter research: FIC conducts research on a variety of topics related to the food system, such as food safety and White House Conference reports, data analysis, and consumer behavior. This research can help our nonprofit to make evidence-based decisions and improve our services.
Funding: FIC provides funding opportunities for us, which supports various stages of development with addressing nutrition and food insecurity.
Networking: FIC hosts events and workshops that bring together farmers, food companies, entrepreneurs, and nonprofits to network, share ideas, and learn from each other.
Coalition building: FIC works with a variety of partners in the food system, including government agencies, nonprofits, farmers and industry associations, to build coalitions and advocate for policies that support a more sustainable and equitable food syst
Let's Connect:
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