WeCo-Cayce Food Policy Coalition
Join our mission to combat food insecurity and enhance food equity in the West Columbia-Cayce area. Our goal is to ensure that every neighborhood has access to nutritious and affordable food, by eliminating food deserts and improving local food systems through community engagement and sustainable practices.
Brookland-Lakeview Empowerment Center is an organization committed to its mission, vision and many desires to listen to and address people's needs. The work the coalition and the organization does is impressive. Ms. Nury Murillo, An attendee of The Community Food Gathering
Addressing Challenges
Food insecurity involves a household’s intermittent struggle to access sufficient, nutritious food due to financial constraints, potentially causing trade-offs between basic needs like housing and adequate food. It may be influenced by factors such as income, employment, race, or disability. Food deserts, areas with limited access to affordable and nutritious food, often exist in urban, rural, and low-income neighborhoods, where convenience stores replace full-service supermarkets, offering higher prices and less variety. In Lexington County, as of 2019, 26,520 individuals are food insecure, reflecting a 9.1% food insecurity rate.Program Initiatives
For the WECO Food Policy Coalition, we are supporting:
- Community-Based Food Systems: Developing local partnerships to increase access to fresh produce and support local agriculture.
- Education and Advocacy: Providing education on nutrition and advocating for policies that support food equity.
- Supporting Local Farmers: Creating opportunities for local farmers through markets and direct distribution channels.
Helpful Resources
- Senior Food Boxes: The Senior Supplemental Food Box Program is designed to assist low-income seniors 60 and older with a supplemental food box. These boxes are distributed once a month.
- Diabetic Food Boxes: The Brookland Community Food Bank distributes nutritious food and other essentials to those in need while working with community partners to develop strategies to end hunger.
- Brookland Community Food Bank: The Brookland Community Food Bank in partnership with Harvest Hope Food Bank, The Brookland Foundation, and Lexington County is open to the public and serves low-to-moderate income individuals and families throughout the Midlands of South Carolina.
- Farmers Market and Food Promotion Program: The Farmers Market and Food Promotion Program aims to build a community-based food system for West Columbia and the broader Lexington and Richland Counties. Learn more.
- Lexington County Public Library: The Lexington County Public Library supports the development of community gardens at its various branches throughout the County. The South Congaree-Pine Ridge Branch currently has active gardens sites that are used for community education and outreach initiatives and are operated by local residents.
- Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program: The Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) provides low-income seniors aged 60 and older access to locally grown produce such as fruits, vegetables, honey, and herbs.
- SC Food Policy Council/Growing Local SC: Participating as a member of the SC Food Policy Council presents excellent statewide networking and educational opportunities. In addition, the SC Food Policy Council is a partner in the Growing Local SC project, which formalizes a cross-sector local food system network aspiring to cultivate a thriving, equitable, inclusive, resilient, and just food economy providing access to healthy food for all.
- Summer Break Cafe: The Summer Break Café, in collaboration with the USDA and S.C. Department of Education, offers free meals to children under 18 during the summer to address nutritional gaps when school is out.
- Julius Felder Coalition for Change: A 501C3 organization, the Coalition was founded in 2000 by Dr. Shirley McClerkin-Motley and Rev. Julius Felder. It was organized to be a liaison between the community and the educational, judicial, and legal systems and religious organizations.
- Alianza Latina: A Hispanic/Latine networking and outreach organization, this organization focuses on connecting organizations and individuals to resources and advocating for equitable provision of services amongst the Hispanic/Latine population of the Midlands.
Program Contacts
Kristopher J. Jones
Email: kjones@brookland.cc
Office: (803) 744-7914
Dr. Cindye Richburg Cotton, Administrator
Email: crichburgcotton@brookland.cc
Mobile: (803) 747-3519
Program Partners
