Food & Nutrition

Food & Nutrition

Our Food & Nutrition work grew out of the belief that access to nutritious foods and feeling empowered to cook with those foods is essential to a person’s physical and mental health. By distributing food across four food pantries and offering cooking demonstrations, the Food & Nutrition team increases the supply of nutritious foods in neighborhoods lacking healthy options and fosters a culture of learning around food and cooking. 

Our four food pantries a great example of how we partner with value-driven organizations to make a bigger impact. At Kain Na, the Mission Bay's first community food hub, we partner with the Deep Medicine Circle, a women-of-color-led and worker-directed nonprofit, and the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank. At our other three pantries, the SF-Marin Food Bank provides more than 4,000 pounds of food every week for TNDC to store and distribute to community members in the Tenderloin, Western Addition, and Mission Bay. At this time, our pantries are all at capacity. If you'd like to register for the wait-list or find another food resource please go here.

Our values of Inclusion and Equity ground our work in nutrition education. Our team creates individualized, culturally diverse cooking demonstrations for each community served: seniors, kids at the TNDC Tenderloin After-School Program, and people with limited neighborhood food options. Some examples include, demonstrating how to cook with tofu for seniors to prevent osteoporosis, sharing a hands-on fortune cookie recipe for kids for Lunar New Year, and teaching community members about nopales which provide health benefits and are available in the Tenderloin.

Food & Nutrition is guided by Harm-Reduction and Trauma-Informed models, principles of Cultural Humility (see Our Approach), and the TNDC values of Collaboration, Equity, Excellence, Inclusion, and Integrity. The team is a core part of our Health & Wellness program housed in the Tenant & Community Services Department.