Health

FLAP believes that Food shouldn’t be weapon and instead a medicine and a human right to prevent, manage, and/or treat chronic diseases. Healthy food aims to improve health outcomes, reduce disease burdens, and enhance equity by addressing nutritional deficiencies.

FLAP partners with other organizations to enhance access to quality healthcare promoting low-wage communities’ safety and well-being.

Co-founder of FLAP, Vincent Beckman III, had Parkinson disease (PD), a chronic neurodegenerative disorder that progressively led to fatal complications in its advanced stages causing severe, widespread physical and cognitive decline, resulting in death from secondary causes for him.

FLAP in partnership with the Michael J. Fox foundation is presently seeking a statewide ban on paraquat, an herbicide that multiple peer-reviewed studies have linked to higher Parkinson’s risk, particularly with repeated occupational exposure (e.g., agricultural settings).  

This herbicide is already banned in 70+ countries, including the EU, China, Brazil, and Canada. A ban would help protect farmers, farmworkers, and certified applicators from a uniquely hazardous chemical, align Illinois with a growing trend of states reassessing paraquat’s safety, and send a clear message that when strong evidence points to avoidable harm, Illinois will act to protect the people who feed and serve our communities. Many migrant farmworkers are likely using this product without knowledge of its long-term effects.

The low-wage community FLAP is seeking to help in the food supply chain, greenhouse, landscaping, nursery and snow removal industries is witnessing deportations, detentions and family’s separations. Because of this trauma, mental health issues are increasing. FLAP is bringing support to those families connecting them with the mental health service providers.

Mental health issues are also affecting the FLAP team, either because they have been witnessing very closely the trauma the low-wage community is going through or, in many occasions and because FLAP hires from the same community FLAP is serving, is affecting our team and their families and friends first hand.

Heal circles and retreats where the staff can vent regarding their mental health and health in general are been held at FLAP and in partnership with other organizations such as Illinois Unidos.

Since the pandemic, FLAP had secured more than $6.9 Million ($2,483,035 just during the pandemic) in financial assistance to very low-wage individuals benefiting approximately 52,873 low-wage family members (26,000 just during the pandemic). These distributions paid for families’ bills, including medical expenses.
FLAP has also distributed 2,987,909 pieces of Personal Protection Equipment-PPE, of which, 1,095,263 units went directly to low-wage farmworkers and 25,677 to low-wage immigrant children and youth.

In 2020 Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health publicly recognized FLAP Bilingual Chief Executive Officer, Alexandra Sossa as Illinois COVID-19 Ambassadors for her efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by promoting and sharing critical information and resources thereby keeping communications across Illinois safe during these challenging times.