Thursday, March 21, 2024, 5:30-7:00pm PT
Student Center Cafeteria, Gilroy High School
750 W 10th St, Gilroy, CA 95020

In 2016, the State of California passed Senate Bill 1000: The Planning for Healthy Communities Act to incorporate environmental justice into city and county land use planning. The law requires cities and counties with “disadvantaged communities” — as defined by the California Environmental Protection Agency through its CalEnviroScreen tool — to integrate environmental justice into their General Plan, a document that serves as that municipalities development framework.

While communities of color disproportionately face environmental hazards and limited access to green space, safe housing, and healthy food, SB 1000 promotes equitable land use policies that would reverse this legacy of discriminatory land use planning.

Berkeley Food Institute’s faculty directors, Dr. Charisma Acey and Dr. Susana Matias, and recent Master of City Planning graduate Katherine Fallon, conducted research and developed a database to track city and county efforts to design and implement equitable food access policies.

We’ve taken their research on the road with our third stop being in Gilroy, California at Gilroy High School.

On November 2, 2020, the City of Gilroy amended its General Plan with an Environmental Justice element in compliance with SB 1000 with some of its goals to improve access to healthy foods, health services, and resources to enhance quality of life. A little over three years later, what progress has been made to achieve these goals?

Berkeley Food Institute, in partnership with Nueva Vida, invite you to join us for a dinner time community meeting to learn about SB 1000, how Gilroy has been implementing the law within its new Environmental Justice element, and what further steps can be taken to expand equitable access to healthy fresh foods for all. We welcome critical perspectives from Gilroy residents, local elected representatives, city staff, and community organizations that work to secure good food access for the people of Gilroy.

Doors open at 5:30 with a start time of 6:00pm. Dinner and childcare will be provided at this hybrid meeting. Live Spanish language interpretation will be offered as well. The zoom link for virtual participants will be shared at a later date.

Accessibility

Gilroy High School is located at 750 W 10th St Gilroy CA 95020. The closest parking to the cafeteria is located in the High School visitor parking area off of Uvas Pkwy. The entrance to the cafeteria and bathrooms are ADA accessible.

If you will require accommodation to fully participate in the event, please contact Nathalie Muñoz at namc93@berkeley.edu or 510-529-1533 at least 10 days in advance.

For other inquiries, contact the Berkeley Food Institute at foodinstitute@berkeley.edu or 510-529-1533.