Food Access in the International District with Bernalillo County Open Space
The Center for Community Geography began work with Bernalillo County Open Space in the fall of 2023 through the work of community geography fellows Taressa Nield and Will Tatman. Fellows Ramona Malcyzski and Bianca Camacho have also contributed work to the project. Incoming fellow Meriah Williamson will be continuing this partnership in the spring of 2025.
Fall 2024
Bianca Camacho is an undergraduate student in Geography and Environmental studies. She used asset maps and other data sources to assist Bernalillo County in generating user-friendly information for the public about local food systems and urban agriculture in the International District. The content will be used in such formats as the Urban Ag web page, a series of public information blasts for social media, and flyers or brochures.
Spring 2024
Ramona Malczynski is a fifth year PhD candidate in Geography & Environmental Studies. She spent her time as a Center fellow getting to know the issues around of Albuquerque Interntional District community members regarding urban development, green space and urban agriculture. She met with planners from Bernalillo County, attended urban agriculture community meetings and garden work sessions, and talked with community leaders about how her expertise in historic and geographic research could assist community efforts. Now Ramona is going to incorporate research on the urban environmental history of the International District into her dissertation research on the relationships between humans and concrete in Albuquerque. She hopes this research will be both useful for community organizers and provide insight into the environmental history and politics of Albuquerque.
Will Tatman, an undergraduate student in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, focused on the community efforts in Albuquerque’s International District to address emerging issues of food insecurity and housing inaccessibility. Will attended and participated in grassroots meetings, speaking with community members and documenting and assisting with research needs. He helped connect interested parties with community expertise and mutual aid efforts and was part of a committee to determine location suitability for a future grocery cooperative in a local food desert. Will hopes to stay involved with the community group while working on his master’s degree in Geography, continuing to study how community resilience efforts can adapt to crises.
Fall 2023
Taressa Nield, an undergraduate Geography and Environmental Studies Honors Student, worked with the Cultivating Bernalillo County Grow the Growers Program to address food accessibility in the International District following the closure of the Walmart at San Mateo Blvd. and Central Ave. This partnership is focused on community mapping for foodshed awareness and planning. For her fellowship project, Taressa focused on creating a map in ArcGIS Online with layers that showed community gardens, food distribution centers, stores that accept SNAP/EBT benefits, and open/vacant lots that could be developed to enhance food accessibility.
