November 20, 2020 - 2020 has indeed been a tumultuous year for the entire world. As COVID-19 spread around the globe, community efforts to strengthen local food systems proved critical for surviving the pandemic’s effects. CAN’s partners have exuded hope and resilience during these trying times and have mitigated health risks, financial strain, and misinformation impacting small farmers, farm working families, and essential workers in Mexico, Nicaragua, and California.

CAN’s Growing Justice (GJ) Program in Watsonville, CA, exemplifies how a community of engaged youth, farmworkers, and community gardeners responded to urgent needs for access to healthy and culturally-relevant food at the start of the pandemic. In March when the lockdown took place, the GJ Youth Team coordinated an emergency seed exchange as the shelter-in-place order was enacted. At the time it was unclear if the garden gates were going to remain open so the community decided to start these seeds at home. Once it was determined safe to use the community gardens—they steered their energy in that direction transplanting their corn, beans, squash, and peppers. Their collective efforts have been successful, yielding organic produce for over six months for the community!

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