Equitable Food System Resources

Food justice is racial justice.

Donate to the organizations below. Read on for other action steps you can take.

ORGANIZATIONS ADVANCING FOOD SOVEREIGNTY for BLACK, BROWN, and INDIGENOUS FOLKS:

Acres of Ancestry Initiative/Black Agrarian Fund is a multidisciplinary, cooperative nonprofit ecosystem rooted in Black ecocultural traditions and textile arts to regenerate custodial landownership, ecological stewardship, and food and fiber economies in the South. A project of the Black Belt Justice Center.

Black Church Food Security Network works to connect Black communities and other urban communities of color with Black farmers in hopes of advancing food and land sovereignty. Read more.

Black Dirt Farm Collective is a collective of Black farmers, educators, scientists, agrarians, seed keepers, organizers, and researchers guiding a political education process.

Black Urban Gardeners and Farmers Cooperative of Pittsburgh works with Black communities in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to grow food and to share Black cultural traditions through a farm, youth program, and policy work. Read more.

Black Urban Growers (BUGS) is committed to building networks and community support for growers in both urban and rural settings. Through education and advocacy around food and farm issues, it nurtures collective Black leadership.

Black Food Sovereignty Coalition serves as a collaboration hub for Black and Brown communities to confront the systemic barriers that make food, place and economic opportunities inaccessible to us. BFSC is focused on meeting these barriers with creative, innovative, and sustainable solutions. Built on a decade of work of founding members of the Black Food Sovereignty Council and other Black-identified leaders and stakeholders in the Pacific Northwest, the BFSC mission is to ignite Black and brown communities to participate as owners and movement leaders within food systems, placemaking, and economic development.

Castanea Fellowship offers a two-year fellowship for diverse leaders working for a racially just food system in any of the areas of health, environment, agriculture, regional economies, or community development. Read more.

Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive (CoFED) is a queer and transgender people of color-led organization that partners with young folks of color to build food and land co-ops.

Detroit Black Community Food Security Network ensures that Detroit’s African American population participates in the food movement through urban farming, youth education programs and the much-anticipated Detroit People’s Food Co-op. Read more.

Family Agriculture Resource Management Services (FARMS) is a legal nonprofit, committed to assisting Black farmers and landowners in retaining their land for the next generation. Read more.

Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund is a non-profit cooperative association of Black farmers, landowners, and cooperatives, with a primary membership base in the Southern States.

Food Chain Workers Alliance is a coalition of worker-based organizations whose members plant, harvest, process, pack, transport, prepare, serve, and sell food, organizing to improve wages and working conditions for all workers along the food chain. Read more.

Food First works to end the injustices that cause hunger through research, education, and action.

Freedom School Demonstration Farm runs a Fresno, California-based program aimed at empowering Black and brown youth to grow their own food. Read more.

Gardening the Community is a food justice organization in Springfield, MA engaged in youth development, urban agriculture and sustainable living to build healthy and equitable communities. GTC operates a training program created for youth from around the Mason Square neighborhood and beyond to grow fruits and vegetables on vacant and abandoned lots. Youth receive a stipend and are taught principles of urban sustainable living and urban agriculture.

Harlem Grown operates local urban farms, increases access to and knowledge of healthy food for Harlem residents, and provides garden-based development programs to Harlem youth. They support the physical renovation of abandoned lots in Harlem, transforming them into thriving urban farms. Currently, they have 12 urban agriculture facilities ranging from soil-based farms, hydroponic greenhouses and school gardens.

HEAL Food Alliance brings together groups from various sectors of movements for food and farm justice to grow community power, develop political leadership, and exposing and limiting corporate control of the food system. Read more.

The Land Loss Prevention Project responds to the unprecedented losses of Black-owned land in North Carolina by providing comprehensive legal services and technical support to financially distressed and limited resource farmers and landowners. Read more.

Love Fed New Haven empowering New Haven & CT residents by reconnecting us to our inherent relationships with food, land & self-resiliency through Black-led & community-run food systems & agriCultural initiatives.

Massachusetts Nonprofit Network provides resources for nonprofits seeking to address racial equity and inclusion within their organizations.

The National Black Farmers Association is a non-profit organization representing African American farmers and their families in the United States.

National Black Food and Justice Alliance organizes for Black food and land, by increasing the visibility of visionary Black leadership, advancing Black people’s struggle for just and sustainable communities, and building power in our food systems and land stewardship. Read more.

New Communities Land Trust is a grassroots organization that has worked for more than 40 years to empower African American families in Southwest Georgia and advocate for social justice. Read more.

The Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust advance land sovereignty in the Northeast through permanent and secure land tenure for Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and Asian farmers and land stewards.

Nuestras Raices is a grassroots urban agriculture organization based in Holyoke, MA with a mission is to create healthy environments, celebrate “agri-culture,” harness collective energy, and to advance a vision of a just and sustainable future. The founding members of Nuestras Raíces were all migrating farmers from Puerto Rico, who now maintain a network of 14 community gardens with over 600 family members and operates a 30-acre urban farm.

Planting Justice works to empower people impacted by mass incarceration and other social inequities through a nursery, land trust, and various community farming efforts. Read more.

Restaurant Opportunities Centers United is fighting to improve wages and working conditions for the nation’s restaurant workforce. Read more.

Sankofa Farms seeks create a sustainable food source for minorities in both rural and urban areas located in Durham and Orange County, North Carolina.

The Seeding Power Fellowship is an innovative 18-month, cohort-based food justice fellowship program. Read more.

Soil Generation is a Philadelphia-based Black- and Brown-led coalition of growers building a grassroots movement through urban farming, agroecology, community education, and more. Read more.

Soul Fire Farm is a Black, Indigenous, and people of color-centered community farm committed to ending racism and injustice in the food system. Read more.

Southeastern African American Farmers’ Organic Network is a regional network for Black farmers committed to using ecologically sustainable practices to manage land, grow food, and raise livestock that are healthy for people and the planet. Read more.

Urban Growers Collective supports the development of community-based food systems where produce is grown, prepared, and distributed within neighborhoods. In this way, communities help themselves by learning how to provide for their own needs in a sustainable manner. In addition to farming on 11-acres in Chicago, they transform buses into farmers’ markets on wheels and do job training.

WAYS TO TAKE ACTION around FOOD INSECURITY:

For decades, the focus of efforts to end hunger in the United States has been on feeding the immediate need of people who are hungry today. That’s what has built the system of food banks, food pantries, and community meals as well as programs like SNAP (formerly known as Food Stamps). Feeding the immediate need is crucial, but until we address the root causes of poverty and hunger, we won’t be able to “shorten the line” of people at those food pantries and meal programs who are food insecure. To address food security in our community, we need to work to both feed the need AND shorten the line.

In early 2020, Franklin County Hunger Task Force created a list of MANY ways YOU can help change the story about hunger and work to increase food security in Franklin County. To learn more about the Hunger Task Force, contact mmcclintock@communityaction.us.

LISTEN TO OUR HUNGRY NEIGHBORS

Listen to the experiences of people who have experienced food insecurity. What led them to need food assistance? What helped them come to a place where they no longer needed such assistance? What would have prevented them from needing such help in the first place? Take this information and act on it! Advocate for public policy or organize with your community to make the changes that they suggest.

Have dinner at a community meal. Meet your neighbors who eat there regularly. Talk to them, get to know them as people. By sharing a meal, we establish community, and we begin to break down the “us vs. them” dynamic at the heart of the stigma surrounding food insecurity.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM

Work for criminal justice reform, especially around racism in the criminal justice system. Even though they do not commit crimes at a higher rate, people of color are more likely to be convicted and be incarcerated. Upon release, a criminal record makes it difficult to find a job and disqualifies former inmates from certain government benefits. This, in turn, means former prisoners are more likely to be food insecure. Additionally, if the incarcerated individual is a parent, their spouse/partner/co-parent/guardian and the child are more likely to be food insecure during the parents’ incarceration.

Check out: Decarcerate Western Massachusetts, a coalition working to secure the release of incarcerated people, to amplify and respond to the needs of prisoners and their families, and to build a future without mass incarceration,, police, prosecutors, and prisons.

Check out: Massachusetts Bail Fund pays up to $2,000 bail so that low-income people can stay free while they work towards resolving their case, allowing individuals, families, and communities to stay productive, together, and stable. The Massachusetts Bail Fund is committed to the harm reduction of freeing individuals serving pre-trial sentences, and to abolishing pre-trial detention and supervision in the long-term.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Support organizations that are working to increase access to affordable housing. Like health care costs, the high cost of housing is another financial strain on many households, yet there are not enough housing vouchers available for everyone that needs them. This means that some families remain on the waitlist for a voucher for years before receiving one. In the meantime, families pay more than they can afford for housing, leaving less money available for other necessities, like food.

Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association is a statewide organization mission is “to encourage the production and preservation of housing that is affordable to low and moderate-income families and individuals and to foster diverse and sustainable communities through planning and community developments.” www.chapa.org

Interfaith Council of Franklin County’s Housing Committee is actively working to address this need locally. Those interested in joining this effort can email interfaithcfc@gmail.com

TAKE POLITICAL ACTION

Sign up for Advocacy Alerts from The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts by going to www.foodbankwma.org/get-involved/advocate. They’ll let you know when there are opportunities to contact your legislators about important legislation. Other organizations that have advocacy alerts on hunger issues include the MA Food System Collaborative (www.mafoodsystem.org), Project Bread (www.projectbread.org), Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (www.massbudget.org), Massachusetts Public Health Association (http://mapublichealth.org), and Raise Up Massachusetts (www.raiseupma.org). Sign up for email alerts and engage!

Vote to End Hunger by pledging to support candidates who make ending hunger and poverty a priority. Educate your family, friends, and neighbors about who these legislators are. Learn more at www.votetoendhunger.org.

If you’ve experienced food insecurity, speak up! The folks in charge of making the rules for anti-hunger programs like SNAP, who decide on things like minimum wage, and transportation funding, etc. need to hear from YOU about YOUR experiences and how these policies have impacted or will impact YOUR LIFE! Find out who your legislators are at www.wheredoivotema.com.

Join the Franklin County Resource Network’s “Hunger Task Force” to continue working on these ideas! Contact Justin Costa (jcosta@communityaction.us) at Community Action of the Pioneer Valley for more information about how to join.

Advocate to your state legislators in supporting The Fair Share Amendment, a legislative amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution that would create a 4% surtax on annual individual income above one million dollars and direct this new revenue toward investments in education and transportation. https://www.raiseupma.org/campaigns/fair-share-amendment/

HELP FEED THE IMMEDIATE NEED

Increase awareness of food access resources such as pantries and meals. Keep a list of food access resources on hand and post it at your workplace, place of worship, local library, and other places where people in your community gather. Get a printable PDF of programs in Franklin County at: ww.foodbankwma.org/get-help/locate-a-local-feeding-program.

Increase awareness of non-food resources and benefits, such as fuel assistance, tax prep assistance, where and how to apply for housing assistance or subsidized childcare programs, etc. These resources can be shared in the same places and in the same manner as food access resources, listed above.

Support and increase awareness of income-accessible CSA farm shares. Community Supported Agriculture Farm Shares are a way that farmers sell their products to people in their community. People buy a share, and receive farm products over a period of time. Local non-profit organizations such as Just Roots in Greenfield offer reduced-price shares for qualifying low-income households. They have the largest low-income CSA program in Massachusetts. Donating to nonprofits such as Just Roots 501c3s that not only give away food through donation programs, but enable affordable food through subsidies and provide wrap-around support is another way to help in this effort to address hunger. Learn more about Just Roots’ CSA program at https://justroots.org/farm/csa-farm-shares/.

Promote the use of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) and the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP). HIP provides a dollar-for-dollar match for SNAP recipients who purchase fresh fruits and vegetables through participating farmers markets, farm stands, CSAs ad Mobile Markets. Learn more about HIP at www.mafoodsystem.org/projects/HIP. Post this information at your workplace, place of worship, local library, and other places where people in your community gather.

Visit www.coalitiontoendhunger.org to hear stories from people in our community who have experienced food insecurity. Then share the website with your friends on social media.

Work to increase access to community gardens, especially for people at risk of food insecurity. This could mean a new community garden in a low-income housing development, or reduced rates for garden plots for low- income community garden members. Growing your own food is empowering, builds community, and increases fruit and vegetable consumption! One organization already working on community garden access is Just Roots, which manages the Greenfield Community Farm and offers more than 60 garden plots. Sizes vary and pricing for plots are affordable (some as low as $0). Gardeners have access to community tools, water and resources as well as monthly gatherings and a newsletter. https://justroots.org/farm/community-garden/

If you know someone who is homebound, offer to give them a ride to the grocery store, or to a pantry or local community meal. Or talk to your local human service organizations (ex. senior centers, recovery centers, subsidized child care centers, etc.) about providing rides to the food pantry for their patrons.

Do you own or work at a restaurant or grocery store? Talk to the managers of these businesses to encourage them to donate excess food products to food pantries and meal sites in your community.

Using your local food co-op, create a community buying club that will help leverage the purchasing power of your community members, increase access to nutritious food, and build community bonds. What’s a community buying club, and how does it work? Basically, you throw in with some family and friends to buy food (or other products) in larger sizes or in bulk, because bulk products have lower prices per unit. This saves money for everyone involved! Learn more about food buying clubs here: https://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/how-to- start-a-food-buying-club.

OTHER ACTION STEPS TO TAKE:

Learn more about the inequitable history of the food system. Land is a foundational resource in the production of food. Systematic dispossession of land from both Native and black populations through bureaucratic theft and immoral force-of-law has promoted racial inequity within the food system, in addition to accelerating the widening of the racial wealth gap. Gender disparities in land ownership for farmers and compensation for food workers highlights the ways in which patriarchal systems intersect with how our food is produced. Learning more about the inequities present within our food system helps us understand the multitude of ways in which food production processes reproduce systems of oppression.

Learn more about agricultural policy. While individual choices that consumers make can have an impact on a local scale, in order to address structural problems, we will need to address structural causes. Many of those causes can be found in our agricultural policy. For example, the biggest catch-all of agricultural legislation is the Farm Bill, renewed approximately every five years and most recently passed in 2018. The Child Nutrition Act Reauthorization is another bill that can have an impact, for example, on the quality of food provided to kids through schools, and the accessibility of institutional markets to smaller local growers. There are many opportunities throughout the process of policy-making to get involved – keep an eye out for our post on Friday about how to visit your legislator!

Eating food from nearby farmers builds food sovereignty and decreases energy consumption. Vibrant local economies involve more than just money and jobs – a community full of independent, locally-owned farms and food businesses also has more food sovereignty – a greater ability to make its own decisions about the way it wants to grow, process and consume food.

TEACHING RESOURCES:

PLACES TO GATHER & DISCUSS:

VIDEOS & FILMS:

‘Food Chains’ Documentary Sheds Light on Farmworkers’ Reality

Black Farmer in Charlottesville who went viral criticizing the daily racism in the city:

Sweet Potatoes & Yams: confusion traces back to slavery