Pollos del Pueblo

Pollos del Pueblo/The People’s Chickens will take a currently vacant, overgrown, East New York lot and transform it into a revolutionary hub of community building, urban agriculture and organic egg production! Through collective community action, we will construct a chicken coop, chicken run, storage shed and community compost station; raise and care for a brood of heirloom chickens, and; collect and distribute fresh, affordable, organic eggs in Brooklyn’s East New York neighborhood - a designated food desert. Pollos del Pueblo will increase access to fresh, healthy food, turn a blight on the neighborhood (vacant lot) into a neighborhood asset (chickens & eggs!), and bring neighbors together to create community while we’re at it.

A team of local community activists – members of The Peoples Food Project (PFP) – will head up the effort. PFP was convened by Cypress Hills LDC – a holistic community development organization, working to revitalize the Cypress Hills/East New York neighborhood for the past 28 years. PFP members are long-time neighborhood residents and newly-arrived immigrants, of all ages and from all walks of life, united around the pressing need for more affordable, healthy food in our community. With every fast food joint you could dream of, and a bodega on every corner, fresh, healthy food is difficult, if not impossible to find in Cypress Hills/East New York – and neighborhood residents suffer the consequences. A third of neighborhood residents are obese, more than 16% have diabetes, and the primary cause of death in East New York is heart disease.

We’ll need people and money to make Pollos del Pueblo a success.

November 2011 – April 2012 – Fundraise, Plot & Plan

·         Raise necessary funds;

·         Spread the good word about Pollos del Pueblo;

·         Grow cohort of dedicated chicken activists;

·         Just Food City Chicken Project workshop(s) on chicken care, resources & coop design

·         Participatory design of coop & its surrounds.

April 2012 – May 2012

·         Create project schedule;

·         Assign tasks, ensure coverage for feeding, cleaning, etc.

·         Construct coop, run & shed;

·         Order & care for chicken poults.

June 2012 – and on…

·         Chicken care;

·         Egg distribution;

·         Community building!

Finding fresh, healthy and affordable food is hard, if not impossible in Cypress Hills/East New York. Cypress Hills/East New York is a FOOD DESERT – an area where poverty and bad planning have resulted in a more-or-less complete lack of available fresh or nutritious food but served by plenty of fast food restaurants. The result is a public health crisis:  according to the NYC Dept. of Health, a full 30% of ENY adults are obese, and 16% of ENY adults have diabetes – almost twice the rate in NYC as a whole (9%).  In addition, almost 50% of Cypress Hills/ENY residents live below the poverty line and receive some kind of public income support.  The unemployment rate is a high 19%, and over 80% of students qualify for free lunch.

At the same time, the demand for fresh, healthy, affordable food is great:  the southern section of East New York – south of Atlantic Avenue – is the community garden capital of Brooklyn and local residents frequent East New York Farms farmers’ market – Brooklyn’s oldest farmers’ market. In addition, over half of Cypress Hills/East New York survey respondents grow their own food, have grown their own food, or would like to grow their own food, if only they had the space. 

A vast majority of the restaurants in the neighborhood serve processed, chemical-laden, fast food. A recent CHLDC “happiness” survey showed that most people buy the bulk of their food in supermarkets (not in bodegas or at farmers markets). Those residents, however, are virtually required to leave the neighborhood to do their food shopping -- Cypress Hills/East New York only has only .02 sq ft per person of full service supermarkets, whereas in New York City the average is 1.5 sq ft per person.