The Social Enterprise

How do you fight obesity in a food-desert of Los Angeles? With healthy fruits and veggies! The Growing Experience is a 7-acre urban farm, operating within the grounds of Carmelitos, the largest low-income housing development in LA County. Their goal is to provide the local community with affordable organic fruits and vegetables, nutrition education, and job training opportunities.

The Challenge

After 18 years of operation in close proximity to the low-income households they intended to serve, The Growing Experience attracted little interest from residents. This perplexed staffers. Boxes of fruits and veggies were subsidized to make healthy, fresh fruits and vegetables affordable for Carmelitos residents, but almost nobody bought them. As a result, most of The Growing Experience’s produce went to local high-end restaurants, and high rates of obesity persisted within Carmelitos.

The Research

Appleseed conducted focus groups and interviewed community residents to learn why they didn’t want The Growing Experience’s produce. The investigation revealed precisely why residents stuck to their normal shopping routines.

Taking Action

To break down barriers and inspire feelings of local pride, heritage, and ownership, Appleseed helped The Growing Experience organize a community cook-off. Six Carmelitos resident chefs participated by cooking a dish of their choosing for family and friends - the only rule was that the dish had to include vegetables, and the vegetables had to come from The Growing Experience.

Appleseed helped design and distribute cook-off flyers to promote the event and made further recommendations to increase The Growing Experience’s impact.