history
How it all started
Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition (MFFC) was founded in 2006 by a group of Mattapan residents who were concerned about the health of the Mattapan community.
In collaboration with the Boston Collaborative for Food and Fitness and other local organizations, MFFC surveyed community residents, held focus groups, and key informant interviews, and conducted walkability and bike ability audits.
The results of the survey indicated that residents wanted to increase access to healthy food and promote an active living. This set the action plan for MFFC.
Major accomplishments include - advocating for the completion of the Neponset River Greenway Trail which opened in 2017, installing wayfinding signs in Mattapan to encourage more walking and biking, running the Mattapan Square Farmers Market (needed more than ever during the pandemic), implementing a youth-led minor bike repair workshops so residents can learn minor bike repair, helping a neighborhood association build a food forest, and becoming the statewide model for the Summer Eats meal program for libraries and farmers markets.
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Awards include:
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2016 City of Boston Greenovate Award for Alternative Transportation- Mattapan on Wheels
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2017 Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Senate Official Citation for Mattapan on Wheels- Former Senator Linda Dorcena Forry
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2018 Cox Conserves Hero Massachusetts
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2020 Small Nonprofit Nominee