Event Highlights New Food Justice Projects

On August 30, 2022, Healthy Acadia and Impact Justice held a dinner and conversation about food justice in Maine’s prisons and jails. The evening featured musical contributions and renowned guest speakers and benefited two new projects geared toward dramatically improving the quality of food available to incarcerated individuals in Maine. 

Healthy Acadia’s Downeast Restorative Harvest project will establish a garden in partnership with the Washington County Jail that benefits jail residents and the broader community by increasing access to healthy food and providing meaningful, educational, and healthful work. 

Impact Justice, which sparked a national conversation about the poor quality of food in prison through its 2020 report Eating Behind Bars, has teamed up with renowned chef Dan Giusti and his company Brigaid, which has a track record of transforming institutional food service, to launch Chefs in Prisons. This first-of-its-kind pilot project aims to improve food service operations and serve healthier meals in all of Maine's prisons and also provide culinary training to incarcerated people. 

The event on August 30 showcased the common thread of these two projects: expanding access to fresh, healthy, appealing food to all Mainers. View the event recording here.

To learn more about Downeast Restorative Harvest, contact Katie Freedman at Katie@HealthyAcadia.org or by calling 207-667-7171. To learn more about Chefs in Prisons, contact Erica Lawson at Elawson@impactjustice.org.

To make a gift directly in support of these projects, please visit bit.ly/restorative-harvest or impactjustice.org/donate. Your gift will be doubled, as both organizations are the recipients of generous matching gift pledges. The organizations are tremendously grateful for all community support.