La Colaborativa, formerly known as the Chelsea Collaborative, embodies a strong commitment “to serve, protect, celebrate, and uplift Latinx communities in Massachusetts and beyond”.
Historically, this organization has empowered “Latinx immigrants to enhance the social and economic health of the community and its people; and to hold institutional decision-makers accountable to the community.” They have achieved this mission through several programs including, English as a second language classes, work readiness and direct job placement, tenant support, voter registration, several youth programs including job skills training and an arts program for recent immigrant children, and many other community-based programs.
When the pandemic began, Chelsea was hit particularly hard. Last spring, infections were on par with New York City and much higher than neighboring Boston. According to the Massachusetts ACLU, 80% of Chelsea workers are considered essential employees and therefore do not have the privilege and protection of working from home. As a result, while these Chelsea employees keep the services we rely on running, they are exposed to the virus at disproportionately high rates. Additionally, the virus spread quickly in this community in part due to overcrowded housing, a reliance on public transportation, and a lack of bilingual safety information about COVID-19. The Chelsea community, where 2/3 of the population are Latinx, has also suffered financial devastation due to many immigrants facing daily rising unemployment numbers and undocumented residents who are unable to access any benefits.
Hunger in this community surged due to the COVID-19 crisis. In early March, Gladys Vega, Executive Director of La Colaborativa, received a phone call from Food For Free inquiring if they were interested in receiving food deliveries to support their community. Though food resources were not part of their existing programming, La Colaborativa immediately responded to our inquiry by creating their first ever food pantry, initially on the Executive Director’s front porch. During that first night on her front porch, Gladys and her staff were able to provide 250 boxes of food to Chelsea residents in need. The pantry moved from the porch to a small coffee shop, and currently it is held in a large warehouse, where they serve hundreds of residents daily and additionally coordinate several hundred home grocery deliveries. Gladys Vega reported that these efforts are feeding more than 3,000 community members a week.
La Colaborativa has done an amazing job of going from providing no food services to being a central food provider in their community and Food For Free is honored to partner in their work. Our role has primarily entailed helping with weekly food transportation. La Colaborativa did not have access to a truck for food pickups and acquiring one was a formidable obstacle due to cost. Food For Free has primarily been transporting USDA Farmers to Families Food Boxes to Chelsea, and has additionally brought them deliveries of our family meals and grocery store food rescue items. We have also connected La Colaborativa with The Greater Boston Food Bank, who are now also significantly helping them with food supplies. Community partnerships like this one are a strong tenet of the work we do at Food For Free and enable us to strive towards our mission of making healthy food a human right.
