Chicago teens fight for city gardens and cleaner food choices

Imagine a world where teens take a pass on chemically enhanced chips and cookies to grab an organic apple or orange from their local garden. If peer pressure can generate more urban gardens and healthier eating habits, then the Chicago Youth Food Policy Council is all for it. Launched in February by local food activist Laurell Sims, the youth-run organization is putting teens in charge of producing changes on Chicago’s food-policy scene.

The council held its first meeting on February 9 at Bridgeport’s Iron Street Farm, a location symbolic of the greener future the members want to create. With a focus on environmental improvement, the teen members discussed having more community vegetable and fruit gardens; farmers’ markets; and organic, sustainable grocery stores that would improve the quality of available food where they live.

In a time when teen obesity is inextricably linked to the buzzwords “school lunch,” and figures like Michelle Obama and Jamie Oliver talk about what needs to be changed inside the high-school cafeteria, this group is arguably the first of its kind to think outside the lunch box. While other food-centered nonprofits in Chicago focus on improving cafeteria lunches, CYFPC spotlights the expansion of healthier food choices outside school grounds, especially in underprivileged areas such as Cabrini-Green, Bridgeport, University Village and Pilsen. But how are a group of teens to do this? For these kids, the answer is simple: filling corner stores with locally grown, greener produce and building community dining halls where neighbors can eat nutritious food together—just two of the dreams the board members hope to make an urban reality.

“It’s the students who create their own agendas,” says Sims, who is a firm believer in mentoring but lets the kids decide which policies to battle and how to take action. Sims says her team of Chicago high-school students are a diverse group, many of whom are interested in food-policy careers. Instead of a place for teens to meet up and “volunteer,” a.k.a. shoot the breeze, Sims treats CYFPC as a vehicle to educate teens about agriculture, sustainability and food depositories. Building hands-on volunteer work into the monthly meetings lets the students analytically discuss their actions, while still having some interactive fun.

Can the youth council truly make a difference? Sims says if the fresh-faced dedication and time of teen members don’t revolutionize Chicago’s food-policy system, she’s not sure what will. “How could people not be touched by kids fighting for issues that directly affect them?”

For more info on CYFPC, go to chicagofoodpolicy.org/youth.html.