Expanding access to healthy food

South Bend’s West Side faces rising poverty rates and growing challenges with food insecurity. These barriers limit residents’ ability to consistently access affordable, nutritious foods, which in turn affects long-term health and well-being. In response, local organizations, such as the Dream Collective, are exploring innovative programs to expand access to healthy food and foster long-term, sustainable habits within the community.

Food insecurity on South Bend's West Side is a persistent problem, and our team was honored to work with The Dream Collective to co-create ways to address these challenges. Three driving factors: access, usage and quality are a common framework used to assess the effectiveness of how well services reach and serve the intended population while creating a holistic view of the food system’s performance.

The Dream Collective is well positioned to fill a critical gap in the South Bend market by leveraging the team’s experiences with Cultivate by Jas and Vegan Bites by Jas. 

While numerous local partners focus on food distribution, there's a recognized, unmet community need for teaching people how to cook healthier meals, an issue the current system has not effectively addressed. While food insecurity in South Bend requires multi-stakeholder solutions, The Dream Collective could fill the critical gap in food education and culinary literacy with community cooking lessons, expanded elementary education curriculum and piloting hydroponic vertical agriculture.  By equipping families and students with the knowledge and skills to turn access into healthy habits, The Dream Collective can create lasting change where distribution alone has fallen short.