Federal cutbacks threaten fresh food access for Indy immigrant communities

Planting is well underway at the First Baptist Church on the city's north side. Urban farm fields take up a few acres on the edge of the church property. There is a greenhouse where plants are sprouting and an old barn to store equipment. A few people are busy planting collard greens on this spring day.

Kitty Beckman is the founder and executive director of Helpings of Hope, a nonprofit urban farm operation that started with a few volunteers more than a decade ago. She said they are prioritizing planting vegetables that may be less familiar in Indiana.

That includes African vegetables, including a leafy variety called linga linga.

"And then we have what's called a sour leaf, and then we have African eggplant, and then a sweet potato leaf," Beckman said.

The nonprofit sells affordable food at farm stands, helps establish community gardens where people can grow their own food, and provides cooking education. This summer it also took over the John Boner Community Center’s urban farm on the near east side, part of the organization’s goal to create more satellite farms.

“We're a grassroots organization,” Beckman said. “We're here to feed Indianapolis.”

Over the past decade, Helpings of Hope established itself as an important part of the local food system, and it has been able to grow during that time. Today the group farms on two to four acres every year and has four people on staff.

Nana Bimba has worked for the group for the past two years. She’s from the Congo and has been in the U.S. for 14 years. Her mother taught her to farm and cook, and she said it’s nice to have familiar, fresh vegetables to use. She said others appreciate it too.

“It's sometimes hard to find out here, if you find the price is high,” Bimba said. "Here we help people, low-income, they have low money, so we sell at that low price.”

But the group took a hit earlier this year. It lost some of its federal funding when there were cuts to United States Department of Agriculture initiatives. The Trump administration ende over $1 billion in federal support for programs that helped schools and food banks buy food from local farms,

Beckman said the federal funding helped farmers in Central Indiana.  

“It’s really helped people, BIPOC farmers, to help them with the cost of subsidizing the food,” Beckman said, “Plus it keeps everything local.”

Through that USDA program, Gleaners Food Bank subsidized the cost of raising crops for Helpings of Hope and enabled them to donate straight to local food pantries.

That was part of a swath of Trump administration cuts to charitable food programs—more than one billion dollars. Gleaners President and CEO Fred Glass said that impacts local farmers and nutrition programs across the country.

“At a time when we really should be diversifying our food sources,” Glass said, “I mean, the pandemic taught us a lot of lessons, but one of them was, be real careful about putting all your eggs in one basket.”

Beckman estimated a loss of about $20,000 for Helpings of Hope. Other funding sources for the group include grants and donations. Helpings of Hope also has a strong volunteer core, including many immigrants. Beckman said Indianapolis’ international communities need more support right now.

“It's a very scary time right now,” Beckman said, “People, especially at our community garden, we have returning gardeners, I think people are just a little bit more apprehensive.”

Natalicio Dungi is one of Helpings of Hope’s employees. Dungi is from the country of Georgia in Africa. He has a background in logistics and joined the team last year as farm manager. He said he enjoys how Helpings of Hope is able to bridge the food gap.

“The thing is that you can easily communicate with the folks and community to actually consume the products that you are planting here, our products can be an easy access to communities,” Dungi said.

He said his aim is to create more urban farms and improve the local distribution system.