Bayview youth care about healthy food

These neighborhood youth care about food access. From left to right (standing) are Tyrone Wolfe,Maurice Ross, Delvahn Emerson, Rolando Hill, Kelvin Bibbs, (kneeling) Zakariya Shaikh, Program Coordinator Brandon Lee, and Tyson Do.

If you think that teens don't care about food and health, consider 17 year old Tyrone Wolfe who is a junior at Thurgood Marshall Academic High School.

He witnessed his grandmother's struggle with diabetes, a battle she ultimately couldn't win, and came to believe that better access to good food in the neighborhood would have helped.

"Healthy food is a right of life," Tyrone said recently, "and should be available to all people regardless of where they live."

Tyrone and other students at Thurgood Marshall want to increase access to healthy snacks in the convenience stores that surround their school, an area rife with fast food outlets and liquor stores. They have formed the Nutritional Food Group with the support of the San Francisco-based Youth Leadership Institute. The students hope to convince local food retailers to provide teen-friendly choices that are healthier than what is currently offered.

See lots more about the evolving food scene in BayviewHunters Point, right here on It's What Community Looks Like, Bayview's longest running blog.