The sentiment repeatedly voiced by the speakers at Friday’s national panel on building local food security was “this is the best panel I’ve ever been on.” The statement held true for the audience as well, which included residents of DC, activists, gardeners, nutritionists, community leaders, and others. The panel drew points of connection and parallel themes between disparate initiatives in Washington, DC and some highly successful projects and movements in other regions of the country.
In the audience were quite a few leaders from Ward 8, where the event was being held – but they were outnumbered by predominately white people from other parts of the city. This, however, may reflect the cultural state of awareness of food issues, rather than shortcomings on behalf of the panel organizers, who outreached aggressively in the communities that lacked representation at the panel.
The panel represented several generations and fields of work. Maurice Small works in Cleveland, Ohio acting as the link between farmers and buyers. Malik Yakini is leading the urban agriculture movement in Detroit through a number of initiatives — in particular, he directs the Nsoroma Institute Public School Academy, an African-Centered elementary and middle school. He has also started a two-acre farm in downtown Detroit. Both are community organizers and farmers — but first and foremost, they reminded us, they are educators.
Michael Heller is a farmer who transformed a tobacco and corn farm into a 285-acre livestock and vegetable operation in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. He brought to the panel his perspective on scaling up urban farming as well as fostering community development within the framework of large scale agriculture in the U.S. He explained how Claggett Farm partners with Capital Area Food Bank to strengthen the link between farms and low-income communities. He also helped found Future Harvest, an organization integral to building the capacity of farmers in the Chesapeake reason.
Robert Egger, author of Begging for change, is currently doing research on food as a tactic for social change, and is president of DC Central Kitchen. During the talk he brought the work of food activists into the context of a movement – he called it “the currency of something different.” People want less money and instead people are seeking happiness and community, and food manifests just the tip of that change.
Carolina Valencia reseachers economic issues through her work for Social Compact, focusing on the informal cash economy, food access and small business development. She spoke to the market dynamics that underpin all of this work — and also reminded us that government officials themselves should be part of the conversation, as they can facilitate or obstruct so much of what’s possible.
The panel was moderated by a researcher from Michigan State University, Cheryl Danley, who was the technical assistant for the Kellogg-funded Food and Fitness Initiative. (She also went to kindergarden with Malik.)
The first question from the audience matched the tone of the panel: “What brings you to this work?” Maurice does this work for the people he meets and for the younger generation who will shape the movement to come. Maurice discussed his work bringing chefs, youth and elderly together to sell their produce at markets in Cleveland. Carolina is interested in doing the research necessary to generate effective economic growth at the grassroots level.
Another question was, “who is missing from the discussion on food justice issues?” Malik stressed, to the perceived agreement of the audience, that people who live in the food deserts we speak of are those missing most from the discussion. Thus, Malik discussed how organizations should attempt to devolve funding for and power over projects in low-income communities to the people who live there – such that members of the community itself are those who also shape the efforts to improve their own food systems.
Also, regarding a solution to food access issues, Maurice told us how food became the tactic to greater social change in Ohio, where gardens were started on both the West and East sides, catalyzing people to talk not just within the gardens, but between the gardens. A bridged partnership was created that manifested itself through local chefs helping local youth, particularly about how to prepare local simple foods youth can understand.
Some other key points from the discussion:
- Post-1960′s U.S. went from having a few thousand faith-based organizations to having close to two million foundation and member-supported non-profits. It is again time to change this paradigm and open the door for economic empowerment, not charity (Robert Egger).
- More points of food access with an intermediary are necessary. Farmers’ markets are important, but they have their limits for both the farmer and the consumer. More focus should be applied to building the infrastructure and networks that would support farmers and healthy foods in all communities by developing points of access with only one intermediary, which would help producers and consumers. Corner stores are everywhere and should be utilized! (Carolina Valencia).
- Schools have the potential to be economic hubs and sites of social entrepreneurship (Robert Egger).
- The first economy is the food economy.
- Malik also pointed a number of people who had specific questions about their projects to Earthworks in Detroit. The project attempts to address the systemic issues of poverty through a soup kitchen, garden/greenhouse, fresh food markets and the sale of value added products.
Despite the panel members’ geographic differences, and the diverse roles they play in the food movement, many similarities abound in their message — they mentioned many efforts best undertaken alongside each other. Here in DC, we see that collaboration starting to come together more and more — from the annual RootingDC conference to a one-off event like this panel; from the volunteer engagement through the Field to Fork Network to the activist discourse in the DC Food For All group. More collaboration, it seems, will create more opportunities for more people to do more things together — and not a moment too soon.
