Food and Environmental Justice in Mattapan: An Interview with Vivien Morris of Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition
During an interview in 2024 with Ramya Kumar, Program Coordinator at the Resilient Sisterhood Project (RSP) and former volunteer at Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition, Vivien Morris discussed food insecurity, blue and green spaces, and health equity advocacy.
Mattapan is a southern neighborhood of Boston, located a few miles from downtown Boston, Massachusetts. The majority of its residents are Black and Hispanic, and a significant portion of the suburb is home to immigrants. Mattapan has a long history of community activism that has and continues to address structural barriers, such as racist and classist policies that affect the health of people in low-income Black and Brown neighborhoods. Mattapan’s residents have frequently been subjected to environmental racism, food apartheid, and other injustices that pose major obstacles to their access to healthy foods and recreational outdoor spaces.
Vivien Morris is one leader in community health efforts to reduce these disparities. In her interview with Morris, Ramya Kumar, Program Coordinator at the Resilient Sisterhood Project (RSP) asked her about being a public health advocate who has dedicated her career to improving the well-being of marginalized communities. Morris is the founder of one of RSP’s longtime community partners, Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition (MFFC). MFFC is a grassroots, community-based advocacy organization that has made incredible strides in promoting environmental and food justice in Mattapan. In addition to her experience as a public health advocate and founder of MFFC, Morris is also a trained nutritionist. Her work as a nutritionist has allowed her to develop a justice-centered perspective of nutritional health. She has served as a registered dietitian and a public health professional for over 30 years, with extensive work in Boston’s communities and local clinical and public health organizations. Morris’s efforts do not stop there. She is also a founder of the Boston Organization of Nutritionists and Dietitians of Color (BOND of Color), a professional organization devoted to providing nutrition education in the community and increasing the number of African American and Afro-Caribbean nutritionists and dietitians.
Work like Morris’ is especially important due to the history of racism in housing and food system policies that has led to disparities in food access. These continue to impact numerous Black and Brown people around the country today. Morris has seen firsthand how structural inequalities play a major role in the health of populations she works with. In our interview, she talked about how the longstanding effects of racism have led to continually segregated communities around the country. Morris herself lives in a Boston community that is over 90% people of color. She also pointed out that Boston continues to implement policies ingrained with racism and segregation, even with its history of being one of the leading states that fought in support of ending slavery. She calls this division “separate and unequal,” because of the inequitable access to healthy food and jobs with salaries that allow people to take care of their health, well being, and children. Morris referred to this lack of choice and separation as “part of the reality of the lives of many people of color in Boston.”
The term traditionally used to describe areas with unequal access to healthy foods is “food deserts.” Morris clarified that the word “desert” refers to neighborhoods where there are very few overall resources in the area. That means a “food desert” is considered a place with limited access to food altogether. This term can describe rural areas with generally very few grocery stores and restaurants. However, Morris clarifies that “food desert” does not apply to major cities, stating, “Our community has more fast food places than other neighborhoods. The wealthier neighborhoods say, ‘No, we won’t allow those in our community.’ Yet in our community, we didn’t even get a choice to decide whether we wanted them or not.”
Due to these differences in the accessibility of fast food restaurants and grocery stores, Morris says that “food apartheid” is a much more accurate way to describe the food insecurities impacting marginalized communities in urban areas. Morris explained that food apartheid is “a political situation where the community didn’t get to decide what food is here or not here”; this was decided by unjust policies and forced upon the residents. Based on personal experiences with patients and living in communities impacted by food apartheid, Morris pointed out that while grocery stores and sources for fresh fruits and vegetables are scarce, places to find fried foods and bags of chips are more common: a symptom of food apartheid. Morris brought up an example of a pediatric patient she had seen to advise her on nutritional health. The patient told Morris that she ate from four different fried chicken restaurants in her neighborhood over the course of one week. This increased intake of fast foods can lead to risk for illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension.
Along with exacerbating chronic illness risk and progression, food injustice and proper nutrition can impact reproductive health. Morris connected the lack of choice surrounding food options to increased reproductive health risks. Excessive consumption of fast food can have an adverse effect on reproductive health by causing elevated cholesterol and high salt intake, increasing the risk for cardiovascular disease, especially those specific to pregnancy such as preeclampsia. These risks can especially impact women of color and Black women in the US who already face increased risks for adverse reproductive health outcomes. To address this, Morris told me that understanding where patients are coming from—particularly in terms of socioeconomic status—is of utmost importance.
Understanding the diversity of people and patients impacted by food injustices and incorporating cultural diversity into their health plan is an important part of a clinician’s work. Morris continues to prioritize cultural diversity in assisting with nutritional plans. Learning about cultures, “makes us all better people,” Morris believes; “not just better at our jobs, but just better people, and makes the community more united.” She talked about how incorporating culturally significant items, such as spices and dish-specific vegetables, into nutritional advice was helpful for patients. Also, she said it’s important to understand that many people from low-income backgrounds who work numerous jobs might have minimal time to cook healthy meals, making fast food options easier methods of feeding their families. Taking time to understand people’s backgrounds and situations can lead to more beneficial food justice advocacy movements. All of these facets can improve cardiovascular health and lower risks for chronic illnesses, especially for Black and Brown communities in the US, which experience higher rates of chronic illnesses compared to the general population. These issues are not just a focus for Morris, they are at the forefront of MFFC’s priorities for community activism.
A large part of MFFC’s championing and community health work is dedicated to addressing the food apartheid affecting Mattapan residents. Notably, MFFC runs a farmer’s market partnering with local diverse farmers to offer fresh produce and healthy food options at affordable prices for the community. Additionally, this farmer’s market works to connect Mattapan residents with federally-funded food assistance programs and other forms of aid that can increase accessibility to healthy foods. MFFC has also helped create a food forest with the Edgewater Neighborhood Association “where food grows naturally.” It includes a wide range of locally-grown healthy food options from nuts to fruits and vegetables. Morris added that the food is “there for a community member to just take it and walk away, because healthy food, again, has to be accessible for everyone.” Additionally, MFFC has created community gardens where people can learn how to garden, grow food, host community gatherings, and access fresh, garden-grown produce. MFFC also partners with younger residents in Mattapan, including youth volunteers who have created their own farmer’s market stand and also play a role in connecting community members with healthy, affordable food.
Besides working towards food justice, MFFC’s community-driven advocacy has played a major role in advancing environmental justice in Mattapan. In the interview, Morris talked about the value of green spaces, particularly about the calming and restorative effects of spending time outdoors in greenery and near bodies of water. Green and blue spaces have been shown to positively impact the mental and emotional wellbeing of people of all ages. Morris contends that it’s important for children to be raised with connections to nature, and these connections should be maintained in adulthood. Oftentimes, people are occupied with multiple jobs and life stressors. Access to blue and green spaces can be an important way to relax, destress, and recharge.
Discriminatory policies have led to Mattapan residents having decreased access to these spaces. One case of this is their historically-restricted access to the Neponset River. After 10 years of policy and health-equity activism, Mattapan residents finally had a trail built in their neighborhood to the Neponset Greenway along the river. Morris brought this up as an example of one of several avenues for MFFC to create programming that increases Mattapan residents’ physical activity, others include the organization’s bike-a-thon. She attributes the success of MFFC’s advocacy to the collaboration from community members of all ages.
Our interview ended with Morris providing advice for people interested in supporting environmental and food justice advocacy. She mentioned that residents of any group must care not only about themselves and their surrounding environment, but the community and country as a whole. Morris urges people of all ages to become involved in fighting for social justice, including equal access to food, water, and blue and green spaces. Advocating for each other is an integral part of successful community health work. Morris left me with a last bit of guidance on becoming a community advocate: She said, “there’s so many ways to do it…as long as you put that positive strength into anything that makes the world better, it’s good for all of us.”
Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition (MFFC)
Mission: Bringing together Mattapan residents, organizations and others to work on improving the food and physical activity environments in Mattapan.
About them: MFFC focuses on food access, physical activity, youth development, utilizing parks, gardens, and rivers (built environment), and empowering residents to advocate for the changes they seek by employing or providing stipends to lead community projects, volunteering, bringing awareness to the challenges that our community holds, and providing educational guest speakers at our monthly community meetings.
Additionally, MFFC has a year round youth group focused on these activities. Their youth group also leads activities of their own such as Mattapan on Wheels and the youth-led farm stand.
To visit their website, click here
Reference
V. Morris, personal communication, February, 2024