Market Makeovers Featured in GOOD Magazine
Design is a Verb > Alissa Walker on November 30, 2009 at 5:00 am PST
How students in Los Angeles are helping foment a healthy eating revolution in their own neighborhoods.
This Thanksgiving, when you dashed into your local convenience store Thursday morning to buy the inevitable forgotten ingredient in your annual feast, you probably wondered how you ever missed them before. The Great Wall of Doritos. The Leaning Tower of Snickers. The Mountain of Dew. My favorite is the Hostess Blockade, a hulking mass of Twinkies that stands at a 45-degree angle to the entrance of the convenience store on my corner, making my walk to anything else inside the store less than convenient. Sure, I live in a corner of Los Angeles with an artisanal cheese shop and there’s farmers’ market nearby once a week. But most of the stores—and many of the restaurants—in my neighborhood suffer from a severe lack of nutritional value. It’s called a food desert.
Add comment December 2, 2009
Market Makeovers Launch Event at The California Endowment
Kicking Off www.marketmakeovers.org
We were thrilled to kick off the launch of www.marketmakeovers.org in grand style at The California Endowment on Nov. 17. A capacity crowd attended the event which also included a screening of the film Food, Inc. Three years in the making from the first workshops with South L.A. Healthy Eating Active Communities Initiative Youth Ambassadors to the launch of the site, it’s been an incredible experience and success.
Pictured from the left: Mike Blockstein and Reanne Estrada from Public Matters; South L.A. HEAC Youth Ambassadors Brittani Marie Dighero and Andrea Vazquez; Maya Hagege from South L.A. HEAC.
Add comment December 2, 2009
Market Makeovers Site Launch Featured in L.A. Times
The launch of the Market Makeovers site was covered by the Los Angeles Times.
WORKING TO GET MORE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES IN CORNER STORES
Los Angeles Times
by Mary MacVean
November 3, 2009 | 12:54 pm
One way health advocates are working to make more nutritious food available in neighborhoods without easy access to supermarkets is by trying to get more fruits and vegetables into corner stores. A new website, Market Makeovers, has launched to guide people who might like to organize such a project.
Market Makeovers features the work of some high school students in South Los Angeles who have been working on three stores in their neighborhood as case studies.
Add comment November 24, 2009
Highlights from the Pdub Productions Mobile Hi Fi Tour and Jeepney Launch Sept. 29, 2009
The culminating events for the first year of Pdub Productions, the collaborative digital media project exploring L.A.’s Historic Filipinotown between the Pilipino Workers Center, Public Matters, UCLA Remap and HyperCities were a resounding success. A steady crowd showed up, even on a 95 degree L.A. day. The day was action packed, highlighted by the debut of the Mobile Hi Fi Immigrant’s Guides, the inaugural run of PWC’s jeepney (our biggest and coolest mobile media device!), and a Barrio Fiesta to cap the evening.
Thank you to everyone who made this day a huge success.
A few highlights follow. And if you’re feeling generous, it’s never too late to support the next year’s project. Oh, actually, it’s this month. Yup, we’re starting up all over again.
Starting the Day Off
UCLA Remap's Jeff Burke showing everyone how to use the Mobile Hi Fi Immigrant's Guides.
The Morning’s Press Conference
Councilman Eric Garcetti in rapt attention listening to Public Matters' Mike Blockstein. Or is he just waiting for him to stop talking?
PWC's Executive Director Aqui Soriano Versoza being interviewed by The Filipino Channel
Sending the PWC Jeepney Off on Its Maiden Voyage in Style
Blessing the PWC Jeepney
St. Columban Church's Father Brannigan Blesses The PWC Jeepney
The Jeepney Tours
David Rockello On Board
Backing Out of PWC
Cruising the Streets of Hi Fi
Who's Next?
Want Your Very Own Jeepney T?
The Mobile Hi Fi Immigrant’s Guides
Getting Ready
The Amazing Jenn Su
City Year. Possibly the Best Volunteers Ever.
The Tablets Getting Ready for their World Debut
Gerald Gubatan Posing Next to a Cut-Out of His Father Severo Gubatan
The Whole Crew Standing Near Where Gerald's Uncle Lived
The Barrio Fiesta
From this...
to..
The Barrio Fiesta!
The Fighting Cocks Performing On a Beautiful L.A. Night
Seniors from The Silver Lake Adult Day Care Health Center Singing Haranas
The Pdub Youth Barkada
Florante performing
Hi Fi. Where it all happens.
Still hungry for more? Check out these other posts about the event:
Add comment October 16, 2009
Don’t Forget! GOOD GIRL DINETTE WEDNESDAY DO-GOOD TIP NIGHT: SEPTEMBER 23RD
Located in Highland Park, Good Girl Dinette was just recently named to Jonathan Gold’s Annual LA Weekly 99 Essential L.A. Restaurants. It’s “American Diner Meets Vietnamese Comfort Food.” Mr. Gold is a fan of the spicy fries, the biscuit-topped curried chicken potpie and the clove-spiked beef stew. Vegetarians and vegans need not worry though; there are delicious veggie-friendly options as well (a yummy tofu stew in Vietnamese five-spice and an addictive almond jelly with seasonal citrus syrup).
So come on down to Good Girl Dinette’s Wednesday Do-Good Tip Night and support PDUB Productions and Pilipino Workers’ Center (PWC). Don’t forget to tip well! It’s for a good cause!
When: Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009, 5:30-10pm
Where: 110 north avenue 56 los angeles, ca 90042
More info: www.goodgirlfoods.com or (323) 257-8980
Note: CASH ONLY
Add comment September 22, 2009
PDub Productions hits PILIPINO PRIME TIME
PWC’s own Aquilina Soriano-Versoza made a guest appearance on Kababayan LA, Southern California’s only daily Filipino television show, hosted by Honorary Committee Member Jannelle So.
Tune in as Aqui Versoza from PWC and Reanne Estrada from Public Matters let everyone know what’s in store for this weekend
Did you know PWC’s Director was also an amazing vocalist? Check out “Beep, Beep,” Aqui’s ode to the jeepney. Sounds so sweet you will buy your tour ticket today!
SEPTEMBER 26th
PDUB Productions Mobile Hi Fi Launch + PWC Fundraiser
BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW!
1 comment September 22, 2009
LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT GARCETTI TO HOST HI FI JEEPNEY TOUR ON SEPTEMBER 26TH, 2009
Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti has signed on as the Chair of Honorary Committee for the PDUB Productions Mobile Hi Fi Launch + PWC Fundraiser. As a highlight of the event on Saturday, September 26, 2009, Councilman Garcetti will lead a one-time-only Jeepney Tour of his Historic Filipinotown from 1:30 to 2:30pm.
Eric Garcetti was elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 2001 and was instrumental in making the official Historic Filipinotown designation a reality. He proposed the designation before the Los Angeles City Council on August 2, 2002, realizing a decades-long struggle for recognition by many members of the community.
Eric Garcetti was born February 4,1971, in Los Angeles. His father is Mexican and his mother is of Russian Jewish descent. He studied high school at Harvard-Westlake School and graduated with a B.A. from Columbia University. As a Councilmember, he has focused on the environment, public safety, housing and economic development, and neighborhood beautification. He received the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award on November 2006 for showing great work and ideals of service in the spirit of John F. Kennedy.
Councilman Garcetti has been a long-time supporter of Historic Filipinotown, acknowledging its significance as a point of entry for new immigrants and its importance to the history of Los Angeles. We are excited to see Historic Filipinotown from his perspective.
Seats are limited, so get your Premium tickets for Councilman Garcetti’s Jeepney Tour today!
1 comment September 4, 2009
PUBLIC MATTERS WORKING IT AT THE FARMERS MARKET ANNIVERSARY EVENT
The Public Matters Crew and HEAC Youth Ambassador Andrea Vazquez talking it up with Councilwoman Jan Perry.
HEAC Youth Ambassador Andrea Vazquez
Public Matters and South L.A. HEAC Crew with a rapt audience
Add comment September 4, 2009
Hi Fi event gets connected; sneak peak this weekend
Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti, who was key in securing the Historic Filipinotown designation, is the chair of Honorary Committee for the PDUB Productions Mobile Hi Fi Launch + PWC Fundraiser.
Council President Garcetti will lead a one-time-only Jeepney Tour of his Historic Filipinotown on Spet. 26.
Garcetti will lead a prestigious committee that includes Jannelle So, host of KSCI Channel 18’s Kababayan LA, and Emmy-award winning Jess Espanola, assistant director of animation for The Simpsons.
They of course share the bill with the Jeepney. The Jeepney will make a guest appearance at the 18th Annual Festival of Philippine Arts & Culture (FPAC). In addition to the live traditional and contemporary music and dance, PWC will create special T-shirts and other shag to show your Pilipino pride.
Add comment September 3, 2009
Public Matters and the Farmers’ Market go to City Hall
Public Matters will be letting people know where they can get their 5 at a special event today at City Hall, where Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will announce the winner of a contest focused on design solutions for growing and delivering local, fresh food to urban residents.
The problem of finding healthy food in an urban environment is one that Public Matters is working to solve.
The event, sponsored by GOOD Magazine, The Architect’s Newspaper and edible LA entertainment, is celebrating 30 years of farmers’ markets in L.A.
Other presenters include:
Authors Erik Knutzen & Kelly Coyne, Homegrown Revolution, will demonstrate their self-irrigating pots.
Tara of Silver Lake Farms and Urban Farming Advocates will talk about how legislation can change urban agriculture policy in L.A.
Add comment September 3, 2009
