Written by SVBC’s Executive Director, Shiloh Ballard

I was fortunate to grow up in the supportive environment of a small, progressive, Methodist church. Weekly I had youth group and choir practice in addition to all the activities (and oh the potlucks!) on Sundays. While the church was wonderful in countless ways, it is also on this upbringing that I blame my difficulty shaking a bias that is deep in my brain, something that is termed, “white savior complex.” This concept, which was central to the establishment of missions here in California, assumes a paternalistic approach where my way is better and you obviously can’t get by without my help.

Most recently, I’ve been battling this complex in the context of a program of Veggielution called Eastside Connect.

In April, SVBC launched a new aspect of Veggielution’s Eastside Connect to deliver farm boxes to families in East San Jose by bike. The first day was so wildly successful that I left on a high that will likely power me through all of April. The SVBC volunteers were incredible, Veggielution staff were awesome, and watching the farm as a community-building hub left me deeply appreciative of being permitted to be a part of this work.

But what I want to talk about is an important detail about the development and implementation of this program that is rooted in SVBC’s commitment to working through a lens of cultural humility and social justice via its diversity, equity, and inclusion plan.

For those who don’t know, Veggielution is an urban farm umbrulla’ed by a maze of imposing freeway structures that shelter rows of tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables. As a bike advocate, the contrast between car-centric, man-made road infrastructure and a community farm is jarring and is enjoyed through the chilling cries of the farm peacocks, trying, unsuccessfully, to drown out the constant hum of rubber on the road. The surrounding neighborhood has historically been under-appreciated by those outside of East San Jose. Veggielution, along with several nonprofits, work in this community to counter the ongoing effects of a system that has and continues to intentionally exclude poor people and people of color from accessing resources and power.

Eastside Connect is a program that was born out of Covid. It brings food-producing partners together to create yummy boxes of food, distributed to people who have been sheltering in place for the past year. On a weekly basis, Veggielution is distributing 250 farm boxes to roughly over 250 families.

The program has been so great that Veggielution would like to keep it going beyond covid. And they would like to make it more environmentally friendly. That’s where SVBC comes in. Through a grant from the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority, Veggielution has the resources to support SVBC in delivering, through a brigade of bike volunteers, farm boxes by bike for the next three years.

Wow! How cool is that? To go on a bike ride and be helpful?! …At the same time, given that SVBC is not rooted in East San Jose, we were a little wary and extra sensitive to the need to approach the program through our stated commitment to cultural humility and social justice.

It’s worth pausing to underscore this point. The bike movement as a whole is not a welcomed entity in every community. The movement has been known to be tone deaf, advancing an agenda that prioritizes bike lanes while ignoring issues that intersect, like affordable housing. As a result, to some, bicycling and bike lanes have become a symbol of gentrification, viewed as an activity for those who have money and time, time not spent truly understanding the wonderful elements of East San Jose.

So, we reached out to several people in the diversity, equity and inclusion space and asked, how do we do this right? How do we make sure the bike movement is respectful, appreciative, sees the value of a community that has been mistreated for decades by a system that takes and hoards resources/power and then finds fault with the people it takes from? How do we truly build community along the most dimensions possible – between constituencies, between geographies, between ethnicities, between types of programs (farming and biking) and more.

Veggielution took this question to the Si Se Puede Collective, a group of nonprofit organizations (Amigos de Guadalupe, Grail Family Services, Somos Mayfair, School of Arts and Culture and Veggielution) who know the best ways to make sure the community has what it needs to thrive.

The answer from the Collective was beautiful. They would reach out to their staff and volunteers to see if there were any folks who would be interested in pairing up with one of the SVBC bike volunteers to ride with them. In this way, we could start small, with a mutual exchange of information, build relationships between people coming into the community and people who live in the community, teach each other and through it all, maybe, hopefully, build a better program.

When the volunteers returned from their ride, it was a kick to hear them prattle on about how much fun they had.

One of the SVBC volunteers who returned with two residents of East San Jose marveled at how much they learned on the ride. At certain locations, they stopped and the volunteers from the Collective educated them about the significance and history of different areas. After the ride, they kept chatting together, and discovered many commonalities. Another volunteer mentioned how appreciative he was to have a local guide. He also realized that his escort did not feel super comfortable riding a bike in traffic. By riding with him, she increased her bike confidence and now wants to learn how to ride with a trailer to deliver farm boxes.

SVBC is deeply appreciative of being invited to East San Jose by Veggielution and appreciates being stretched by them and the Collective to learn to pedal well in any community. SVBC is also deeply appreciative of those who have helped the organization be more intentional about this work, including the Hewlett Foundation which provided SVBC with a grant in 2016 to develop a diversity, equity and inclusion plan. Eastside Connect and the farm box delivery by bike is just one way that we’re figuring this out and trying to pedal better in this world.

And, if you’ve read this far and want to volunteer to deliver farm boxes by bike, sign up here!