Born out of the ‘Austin Forward. Together.’ quality-of-life plan, the Austin Eats initiative is a network of deeply committed organizations working to combat food insecurity by promoting healthier food choices and building up the Austin community’s food access infrastructure. We believe by synergizing organizations already promoting healthier food choices through emergency food preparedness, grocery access, culinary entrepreneurship, food education, community gardens & farms, Austin Eats will strengthen the community’s food access ecosystem.
Below are some key highlights of the initiative:
AUSTIN TOWN HALL FARMERS MARKET
- In 2023, the Austin Town Hall Farmers Market traffic grew by over 40% witha weekly average of 100 people buying high-quality fresh-food groceries. A high proportion of the market’s customers are residents from Austin’s senior buildings and people living in Austin zip codes. Led by Forty Acres Fresh Market, the Town Hall Market also hired a full-time market manager, which led to further developments in market expansion and advertising. Forty Acres also celebrated a milestone this year in breaking ground for a future brick-and-mortar full-service grocery store in Austin!
FILM SCREENINGS
- Austin Eats and One Earth Collective hosted two food justice film screenings in 2023 that took place at BUILD’s community garden and Bethel New Life. Altogether, 373 people came out to hear from panels of local food professionals, discuss pertinent food issues, and eat food prepared by local vendors. Both screenings, which happened in July and October, saw an increase in attendance from the previous year.
AUSTIN GARDEN COLLECTIVE
- The AustinGarden Collective’s volunteer days have also had a positive impact on green space access in Austin. On average, around 8.25 volunteers (a total of 99 over the summer) showed up to support the community gardeners, who are primarily senior residents. A total of 12 Volunteer Saturdays had occurred in 2023.
EMERGENCY FOOD ACCESS
Our partner Jehovah Jireh provides healthy food to those experiencing food insecurity by distributing to homebound residents and by opening up his space to the public weekly. He continues to distribute food (5 bags/person) to 65-100 families a week. Jehovah Jireh also serves about 300 people per hot meal pop-up.
Learn more at AustinComingTogether.org/AustinEats.
