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TIERRA VIVA: HEALTH & ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE PROJECT>
 Breaking News!
Tierra Viva Receives Commendation from San Jose City Council
On May 2, 2006, Tierra Viva received a commendation from the San Jose City Council. The City Council decided to commend Tierra Viva for our work to preserve the health and wellbeing of the Latino community in San Jose over our six year history. Cindy Chavez and Ken Yaegar both spoke in honor of the work Tierra Viva has done to save Olinder and McKinley community centers (2003) and provide pesticide-free produce (2006) through our markets. “We are so proud of receiving this commendation”, said Neelam Pathikonda, Tierra Viva organizing director, “We are looking forward to working with City Council to develop city-wide solutions to the lack of access the Latino community has to healthy, affordable food.”
Posted: May 15, 2006
Community Market Launch a Success!
See pictures from the market opening in April. Tierra Viva launched its community markets, affordable pesticide-free produce stands in low-income Latino neighborhoods in San Jose on April 28 and 29th. In its first two days of business, more than 100 shoppers enjoyed farm fresh produce from Maria Inez Catalan, a Latina immigrant farmer in Hollister. In addition to a crowd of adult shoppers, many children enjoyed the produce as well, especially the strawberries. “It was a major success,” said Lupe Martinez, Tierra Viva’s market coordinator, “It seems like we are providing a much needed service. A lot of communities do not have grocery stores nearby, let alone a farmers market.” Cecilia Ceballos, a Tierra Viva leader and the Olinder market community coordinator agreed, “This is great. I was nervous about how many people would come, but this is great.” Over 50 people bought a membership to the market, pledging to be long-term customers. “We really excited but this is just the beginning,” said Martinez.
The weekly markets are on Thursdays and Fridays at George Mayne Elementary (Thurs, 7:30-9:30am), Washington Elementary (Thurs, 12:30-3:30pm), and Olinder Elementary (Fri, 7:30-10:30am). Please come, buy fresh produce, taste free samples, get information on nutrition and healthy recipe ideas!
Posted: May 15, 2006
Tierra Viva first newsletter hot off the press!
Sign up to receive your copy of ‘News from Tierra Viva’ (email your contact info to npathikonda@svtc.org). In this issue
- Pictures from the Market Launch
- A mother’s reflection on her son’s activism post May Day
- What every Latina should know about diabetes
Posted: May 15, 2006
Tierra Viva Health & Environmental Justice Project is launching SEMBRANDO SALUD en una TIERRA VIVA ***Community Markets for Health***
Affordable, organic produce stands in low-income neighborhoods in San Jose
Open PDF version of poster
Tierra Viva is launching three pesticide-free produce stands in low-income neighborhoods in San Jose. We are partnering with local farmers to provide fresh, healthy, nutritious produce at affordable prices!!! Our launch will be an event to remember! Come by…-see cooking demonstrations-get healthy Latino recipes-taste free samples-get information about diabetes and - buy healthy produce!!!
To volunteer, email the Tierra Viva organizers and write to Lupe.
About Tierra Viva: A Health and Environmental Justice Project
Tierra Viva is a grassroots base-building organization for environmental justice in San Jose. Tierra Viva's mission is to educate, organize and develop the skills of low-income Latina women to work for healthy, sustainable environments where they live, work, pray, play and go to school.
Our long-term goals are:
- To reduce and prevent the disproportionate impact of environmental pollution on low-income Latino communities in San Jose.
- To build power for low-income Latino communities to address social problems and work for health and environmental justice.
- To help build a movement for environmental and social justice led by low-income communities of color and grounded in their lived experiences.
A Healthy Vision of San Jose
Tierra Viva's current platform of work was developed through an 8-month issue identification process with the low-income Latino community in San Jose. Information about barriers to health relevant environmental justice issues were collected through member-led 'fiestas en la casas' or house parties in which Tierra Viva members invited their friends, families and neighbors to discuss social problems over food. Tierra Viva also hosted a series of FACES reunions in which FACES participants from the past seven years came together to give input on future direction of the project. These issues are not dissimilar to other platforms for health that have emerged out of various communities in the South Bay through the years. We are building collaborations between organizations to realize this 'Healthy Vision of San Jose'.
Understanding that race, class, gender and immigration status impact our health and well-being, we demand environments that include
access to healthy and affordable food
access to dignified and affordable housing
access to healthcare
clean air
living wage jobs
rights as immigrants
Tierra Viva accomplishes our mission by using three strategies - our model for social change.
Learn more about our education campaigns, our public policy campaigns and our community-run institutions.
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