“When you’re in a new place and you’re not familiar with the culture or anything, many of the old connections, the only connections that you have to where you come from are through food”, says Mónica Segura-Schwartz, LEDC Business Development Associate, in an interview with Jason Edens, host of PBS’s “Lakeland Currents” program.
Segura-Schwartz discusses food security in immigrant communities in Minnesota as well as the relief work that LEDC has been doing in central Minnesota during the pandemic. And she adds: “Also to families food is a way of sharing, is a way of being together, a way of showing love to your loved ones, so it is very important.”
Segura-Schwartz highlights LEDC’s agriculture program and how the organization’s work has been expanding across the state: “Right now I’m particularly working with a project with the Initiative Foundation of Little Falls, a focus in Central Minnesota to provide extra support and COVID relief to immigrant families in this area.”
Regarding resources for Latino communities in rural areas, Segura-Schwartz says that “there has been historically around this area not a lot of effort, information that is culturally appropriate or even in Spanish for people and there is a large population of Latino families around here.” The pandemic made social and economic disparities worse for Latino communities.
Another related LEDC food safety initiative is the COVID-19 Housing Assistance Program that helps many families who cannot afford to pay rent and other expenses. Housing is so important to many families that they prioritize paying for these expenses before prioritizing other basic needs like food, explains Segura-Schwartz.
Business owners and community leaders have helped LEDC make the distribution, provide sites for food distribution, and locate those in need, says Segura-Schwartz about the impact of the organization in communities.
In one community-led initiative, a group called the Knights of Columbus gathered and donated food to build a pantry themselves, and they distributed that pantry to families that were affected by COVID, she explains.
At the end of the interview when Edens asks what Minnesotans can do to foster an equitable community, Segura-Schwartz says: “Observe better what happens with our immigrant families and assume less.”
Watch the entire interview here.
