By Kim Wong
As my Department of Public Health Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) Team colleagues share their reflections in light of the five year celebration of the SF Soda Tax, I recall that I was once a public health graduate student in NYC writing blog posts detailing my disappointment in the New York State Legislature for dropping Governor Paterson’s soda tax bill in 2010. Who knew that in 2023 I’d have my dream job on the opposite coast bringing together community in celebration of SF’s soda tax (and still blogging about soda taxes!)?
On a clear and crispy fall afternoon in the Bayview, we kicked off the celebrations at the Florence Fang Community Farm on Saturday, November 4th. The Florence Fang Community Farm, a one-acre farm and current soda tax grantee that grows nearly 15,000 lbs of fresh produce each year, provided the perfect backdrop for past and present soda tax grantees to come together and reflect on the impact of the community-based grants programs. Recognizing that the grants started just months before the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to then greatly limited in-person events, it felt especially healing and nourishing to connect with community while tasting delicious healthy foods, moving to music, and touching the land.
We were joined by California State Controller Malia Cohen, who was one of the co-sponsors of the 2014 and 2016 soda tax ballot measures when she was D10 Supervisor. The State Controller animatedly recounted the journey of passing the soda tax seamlessly connecting the process of garnering community support for the measure to the subsequent allocation of revenues back to the community. San Francisco Health Officer Dr. Susan Philip and SFDPH Community Health Equity & Promotion Co-Director Christina Goette gave remarks affirming SFDPH’s ongoing commitment to the work and highlighting how soda tax revenue is being invested directly into the neighborhoods most impacted by diet-sensitive chronic disease.
Emcees and current and former Sugary Drinks Distributor Tax Advisory Committee (SDDTAC) Chairs, Marna Armstead and Dr. Jonathan Butler welcomed community members to the farm to enjoy performances reflecting the rich cultural diversity of San Francisco including the Jiu Jin Shan Chinese Chorus; Danza Xitlalli, the oldest Aztec dance group in SF; and Mixed Persuasion, a youth Polynesian dance group specializing in Siva Samoa. Line dance and fitness instructor, Chocolate Platinum, got hearts pumping with soul line dance routines and Neo Veavea stretched everyone out with Hot Siva, a low-impact movement class set to Polynesian tunes. Faheem Carter, Bayview native and Farmer-In-Charge led tours of the Black Organic Farm and the farm provided free produce giveaways and honey bee education. Community Well, 18 Reasons, Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC) provided delicious samples of affordable, healthy, and delicious recipes. Games, sugary drinks education, resources, and giveaways were provided by Community Awareness Resource Entity (C.A.R.E.), CARECEN SF, All My Usos, Fa’atasi Youth Services, SF Department of Public Health, and the SDDT Children’s Oral Health Taskforces for District 10, Mission and Chinatown. Raimi & Associates, the evaluator for SF Soda Tax, presented evaluation findings on the impact of the soda tax thus far.
It was an honor and privilege to coordinate this joyous community event! I want to extend my deepest gratitude to the partner organizations, planning team members, and volunteers who helped make the event a success. Here’s to the next five years!