DC Greens is a nonprofit that works to advance food justice and health equity in Washington, D.C. Voices for Healthy Kids first funded DC Greens in 2015, to implement a unique food justice leadership development program that empowered residents from underserved neighborhoods to build relationships directly with District council members and their staff. It is designed to ensure that policymakers hear and learn directly from residents of the communities they represent. By 2017, participants in the leadership development program recruited friends and neighbors to join their campaigns, testified before the District council on numerous occasions and planned advocacy events. For example, a 2017 grocery walk helped residents demonstrate how difficult it is to access healthy foods in Wards 7 and 8, which have only three full-service grocery stores for 160,000 residents.
Grassroots support grew so much that, in 2019, Voices for Healthy Kids invested in a DC Greens campaign spearheaded and implemented by residents to reclaim community health from outside influences and interests.
Called #DontMuteMyHealth, this grassroots movement is aimed at reducing corporate influence broadly across numerous areas—including better schools, safer streets and access to healthier food and drinks. Using a primarily online community conversation series approach, leaders elevated the connection between “food and mood,” specifically with respect to violence, and the systemic oppression of Black/African American communities by the food and beverage industry for decades.
As part of the campaign, Voices for Healthy Kids provided communications training and funding for DC Greens to commission, produce and disseminate via social media a spoken word piece called #StopBuyinIt by Té Speight, a local resident and artist, that laid the groundwork for the eventual introduction of a sugary drink tax bill. The #StopBuyinIt spoken word video received 2,600 likes and 5,700 shares on Facebook.
Voices for Healthy Kids and DC Greens intentionally allowed #DontMuteMyHealth to grow organically, so that the power of residents would drive the campaign.