Raíces Colectivas

With generous support from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and the Tides Foundation, Collective Roots has been pleased to partner with professional journalists, photographers and youth reporters to investigate and chronicle the stories of immigrant members of our community. We seek to inform the dialog around immigrant households in the following Raíces Colectivas through the lens of delicious food and good health. 

One Acre is More Than Enough

Meet Don Ignacio López, a 90-year-old East Palo Alto resident -- originally from Jalisco, Mexico -- who cultivates a bounty of vegetables in the middle of East Palo Alto. A diabetic, he keeps his blood pressure down with daily portions of black beans, beet juice, and collard greens from his yard. He calls it his "obsession." This is the first of a four-part series, "Backyard Gardeners of East Palo Alto." Read more.

Why parks matter

As a Guatemalan immigrant raised amidst the sprawling concrete of Los Angeles, attorney Robert Garcia understands how crucial parks and open spaces are to the well-being of children growing up in crowded cities. "Children of color living in poverty have the worst access to parks and schools with five acres or more of playing fields, and they have the highest levels of childhood obesity," he told Carla Hernandez, 17, when visiting Collective Roots' one-acre garden at East Palo Alto Charter School. Read more.

Feeding our children

In a city radius of 2.4 miles, there was no supermarket until Mi Pueblo opened on November 14th. Residents of East Palo Alto had to travel long distances, to Redwood City, for example, to buy their fruits and vegetables. For this reason, many people started to buy their fruits and vegetables from the Hermano Fuller, a truck that delivers produce to customer’s houses. Read more.