The Mattapan Food + Fitness Coalition: Quality Food Access and Active Living For All
Photos by Michael Piazza
On one cool winter morning, the Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition (MFFC) hosted their first virtual cooking series for families through Zoom. Previously hosted in person at the Mattapan Community Health Center, this time a handful of Boston families joined from the comfort of their homes to learn how to make a healthy alternative for breakfast: overnight oats. In collaboration with Black Organization of Nutritionists and Dietitians of Color (BOND of Color), the MFFC strives to provide healthier recipes for everyday meals.
MFFC board members kicked off the virtual event by sharing resources and upcoming events, such as their yoga program and walking challenge. During the 10-week yoga program, each participant receives a free yoga kit including a mat, yoga blocks, a belt and blanket to ensure that the experience is as equitable as possible regardless of background or experience. Winter weather aside, they encouraged participants to get active in any way possible. Even if that means walking around the neighborhood and within their own homes, because every step counts.
The virtual cooking series is just one example of the MFFC’s many partnerships to encourage active living and healthy eating. Each week, a member of BOND of Color showcases a favorite quick and easy recipe that is also a healthy alternative.
“Oats are a great whole-grain breakfast option because they are versatile, lower cholesterol, have fiber, taste good, have antioxidants and they are quick!” said Angela Brown, chair of BOND of Color, as she broke down the benefits of oats and why breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
Along with her daughter, Brown led participants step by step to make overnight oats, followed by a special surprise recipe of no-bake energy bites, a quick snack for children and a great alternative to candy. Families watched and prepared their oats from the convenience of their homes and shared their final products. Some families expressed their excitement and love for oats and how fun the meals were to make.
“If [kids] are helping in the kitchen, they are more likely to try it,” says Brown. An interactive cooking session is just one way to promote a healthy living environment, with a focus on providing families the resources to access healthy foods options and to encourage active living. Due to the global pandemic, the MFFC created new and exciting ways to continue engaging community members as it has since its inception nearly 15 years ago.
When a group of residents came across a 2006 report conducted by the Boston Public Health Commission that showed Mattapan residents had a higher rate of adults with obesity and diabetes than those in other neighborhoods, they knew they had to take quick action. The residents conducted walkability and bikeability audits and discovered that their neighbors wanted healthy food and active living access. And from that moment, the residents created the Coalition to help advocate for the community.
In response to the community’s needs and a lack of nearby supermarkets or grocery stores selling quality foods, the MFFC created its first program: the Mattapan Farmers Market. Nearly 15 years later, the MFFC continues to serve all residents of Boston, selecting farmers to sell foods at reasonable prices while also accommodating the needs of the neighborhood. Since Mattapan is home to many Haitian and Caribbean Americans, MFFC is intentional in selecting foods that are culturally relevant. The Mattapan Farmers Market also welcomes the use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) benefits, and WIC recipients who receive WIC Farmers Market Coupons, as well as Senior Farmers Market Coupons.
This past year, the Mattapan Farmers Market looked slightly different as the MFFC navigated through the global pandemic and safety protocols, but they still managed to provide residents with quality food options. From the month of July until October, the MFFC hosted their weekly farmers market in Mattapan Square. Every Saturday at 7am, youth volunteers made their way to set up tents and help local farmers set up produce. Residents even stopped by for free bike repairs provided by the Boston Cyclists Union. The MFFC also hosted themed days for seniors, children and families including a back-toschool event to provide children with free backpacks.
Residents had also noticed that children were going to the Mattapan Library instead of going home to eat, and as a result the MFFC partnered with Project Bread to create the Summer Eats program and they have been able to provide 3,000+ meals to children in the area. In addition to providing quality food access, the MFFC aims to provide active living opportunities, like Mattapan Moving for Life.
Mattapan Moving for Life is an annual summer event filled with physical activity events to encourage residents to get active. The main goal of the event is to get residents to learn about their neighborhood and to showcase accessible and affordable resources around healthy eating and physical activity that are available in Mattapan and across Boston. The MFFC encourages residents to get out and move around the city by walking, running or biking. They also encourage residents to take advantage of parks and green spaces, like the extension of the Neponset River Greenway in Mattapan and community gardens.
The MFFC supports two community gardens known as the Woolson Street Community Garden and Kennedy Community Garden. Within these two community gardens, the MFFC hosts gardening workshops, harvest parties and art activities. They encourage residents to sign up to owna garden plot to begin growing their own food. The two community gardens also serve as a safe place for families to gather and learn about healthy eating.
While these important programs and events are organized by a seven-member team consisting primarily of Black women with a wide range of backgrounds in food and fitness, this work is not possible without the contributions of many local partners and local youth. Youth engagement is at the forefront of what the MFFC does. “The Vigorous Youth” group leads MFFC’s bike education and advocacy work and maintains the two community gardens.
The Vigorous Youth group provides young people with the opportunity to improve their professional and personal development skills while learning how to advocate for healthy food access and active living in Mattapan and throughout the city. The group leads workshops to teach their fellow residents how to repair bikes and offers tips on street riding, bike safety and what to wear when riding. They also created a free, youth-led day of biking called Mattapan on Wheels. The goal of the event is to promote active living through biking that is accessible and safe. The youth at MFFC want to increase visibility of the biking community in Mattapan to encourage their neighbors to join and get active.
The event is divided into different routes, depending on one’s comfort level, and allows participants to bike throughout the city. One route even goes out as far as South Boston. The event welcomes more than 100 bikers who come from all over Boston—with all different experiences—and starts in the center of Mattapan. Because Mattapan on Wheels 2020 had to be a virtual event, MFFC hosted a virtual trivia and awards ceremony to celebrate a successful 10 years. The event honored all the great work of the youth and celebrated a decade promoting biking within the community.
As the MFFC embarks on its 15th year, board members continue to build out the organization to support the needs of the community. Board members keep residents informed about what’s happening in the city and engaged through monthly community meetings and events, year-round. Unfortunately, the data have not changed and COVID-19 highlighted the disparities of health inequities and food access in cities across the nation, especially in Black and Brown neighborhoods. The MFFC hopes to build on membership by engaging a wider variety of the community because they truly believe resident engagement is important. After all, that is how the MFFC was founded.
Overall, the goal remains the same. The MFFC plans to continue to offer quality food access points to all residents in Mattapan and across neighborhoods and to get residents moving. This work also includes advocating for more food access points that are truly accessible and affordable, since healthy foods tend to be more expensive.
The MFFC wants to provide the same quality foods that one might find at a grocery store or supermarket for a more affordable price at their local farmers market. They also want to show how cultural foods can be healthy.
“The foods we grew up with are healthy, we just have to prepare them a little healthier,” says Sonia Carter, an MFFC board member. “Continue to enjoy the food we’ve grown up on, make that food affordable and get people to move!”
The MFFC shows the beautiful impacts of investing in the community, especially the youth. By investing in the youth, they prepare generations and generations of young people to continue the work to advocate for the resources needed in Mattapan and the rest of the city.
Keep an eye out for their next event whether it be virtual or in-person. And stay tuned for this summer’s Mattapan farmers market in Mattapan Square.
