Neighborhood Nutrition Centers

Thursday, October 1, I had the privilege to attend an afternoon panel discussion at Northeastern Illinois University, featuring Gary Cuneen, Founding Executive Director of Seven Generations Ahead; Lucy Feliciano-Gomez, Lead Health Organizer for Logan Square Neighborhood Association; Orrin Williams, Center for Urban Transformation; and Frances Moore Lappe (and here, I’ll need to learn how to add an accent grave on the “e” in Lappe), Author Diet for a Small Planet and with her daughter Anna Lappe founders of the Small Planet Institute.

Ms. Lappe provided a card at her evening lecture which illustrates the circular motion of the Spiral of Empowerment, or “Premise of Possibility” and on the reverse the Spiral of Powerlessness, or “Premise of Lack.”

“Spiral of Powerlessness, Premise of Lack: goods & goodness”
“Human nature is selfish, competitive & materialistic, so…
we’re incapable of deliberating to achieve common good, and…
we must distrust government & trust an impersonal, fixed law – the market – to decide social outcomes.

“But markets only work if driven by highest return to existing wealth, so…
wealth inexorably concentrates.

“Concentrated wealth then infects & warps political decision-making, so…
power inequities worsen, generating scarcity from abundance & with it needless suffering & destruction of the natural world.

“Fear, depression and violence spread…
competition and consumerism intensify & our ecology collapses…
all reinforcing the limiting premise.”

Here, the arrow on the card circles back to “Human nature is selfish, competitive, & materialistic…”

On the reverse of the card:

“Spiral of Empowerment, Premise of Possibility: goods & goodness”
“Within human nature are deep needs for fairness, cooperation, & effectiveness, so…
we’re capable of learning the skills of deliberative problem-solving, and…
democracy becomes no longer a fixed structure but an evolving, values-driven culture we create.

“Rules, set democratically, keep wealth widely dispersed…
so markets remain open, competitive, & life-serving as guided by democratic politics.

“Political decision-making is freed from the influence of wealth…
so more and more people have a voice in problem solving.

“Problem-solving power, concentration & hope grow…
enabling progress toward resolving local-to-global crises – & reinforcing the liberating premise.”

And, again, the card circles back to the initial statement: “Within human nature are deep needs for fairness, cooperation, & effectiveness.”

- Frances and Anna Lappe (reprinted without, yet, permission).

Choosing the Spiral of Empowerment brings forth many, many possibilities. We begin to see our own coalition grow through e-mails, joining on the internet, and donating at least $5 to the cause; but then ask, what else can we do?

Whom do you know in Englewood? We’d like to be introduced to churches, businesses, community members in the Englewood or West Englewood area. If you have a connection to a friend, a store owner, a minister, a vendor, a grower, a mechanic … we’d like to be introduced. Part of the mission of NNC will be to develop under a fair distribution of wealth and commitment. By meeting the people in various neighborhoods, we can better determine what location is right for NNC.

The Center will be formed through a coalition of neighbors. These neighbors will work together to form an organization to bring in fresh food. The community kitchen demonstration area would feature local cooks, sharing information and knowledge- and help re-stimulate the taste for real food.

We now have people giving money and giving time. There are people already working on neighborhood mapping, and community outreach – if you’d like to join a team, go to the tab to Donate Time and send us your information.

Frances Moore Lappe’s talk on Thursday evening advanced clear, succinct ideas. Her discussion of how to reclaim our political discussion, “Rules set democratically, keep wealth widely dispersed…” was inspirational, with a recommendation to visit change-congress.org on campaign finance reform, and follow the lead of states such as Maine, Connecticut, and Arizona in their Voluntary Public Financing acts.

Let’s follow the example of the Spiral of Empowerment.