Free Food Program Case Study

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According to Hilliard, the intentions of the Free Food Program was to provide poor people with groceries until economic conditions allowed them to purchase good food at reasonable prices. The Free Food Program provided two basic services to the community: an ongoing supply of food to meet their daily needs and a periodic mass distributions of food to reach a larger segment of the community than can be serviced from the ongoing supply. The community was provided with bags of fresh food containing items such as eggs, canned fruits and vegetables, chickens, milk, potatoes, rice, bread, cereal and so forth. A minimum of a week’s supply of food was included in each bag. “Interested primarily in educating and revolutionizing the community, we …show more content…

According to sociologist Alondra Nelson, it was the backbone of the effort. Yet this result is not surprising considering that approximately 60 percent of Black Panther Party members were female. Some of the clinics were in storefronts; others were in trailers or hastily built structures. Most of them were short lived, but they offered services such as testing for high blood pressure, lead poisoning, tuberculosis and diabetes; cancer detection screenings; physical exams; treatments for colds and flu; and immunization against polio, measles, rubella, and other diseases. Another health care program that the Black Panthers initiated was People’s Free Ambulance Service, which provided free, rapid transportation for sick or injured people without time consuming checks into the patients’ financial status or means. By offering it freely to the community, the Black Panthers strengthened the relationship of the community through assistance and Black Nationalism. To run effectively and efficiently, The People’s Free Ambulance Service “operated with at least one ambulance on a 24-hour emergency basis, and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on a nonemergency or convalescent basis, according to Hilliard.” This allowed the ambulance to be ready at all times in order to provide the African American community with urgent care in …show more content…

The Black Panther Party also created the Black Student Alliance, a program that instituted students with free books and supplies, free transportation, childcare services along with financial aid, and so much more. The program also demanded better instructors for the courses in order to provide the best possible education for the African American

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