Harry Rhodes, Executive Director of Growing Home, spent last week in Oakland and Detroit, attending two conferences on food justice and equity. Here is his summary.
I attended the Community Food Security Coalition’s (CFSC) annual conference in Oakland from December 5 – 7. It was their biggest conference yet, with 1000 participants. Urban ag and community development were both hot topics at the conference. On Saturday I went on a tour in the paths of the Black Panthers in Oakland, and was inspired by the words of David Hilliard, one of the founders of the Panthers. They were among the first organizations to organize free breakfast for children. I heard about some interesting alternative grocery stores around the country, such as the People’s Community Market in Oakland.
On Monday afternoon, I made a presentation with Warren King and Ron Doetsch (Milwaukee) on community development and urban agriculture. We spoke about our work in Englewood, and Ron’s work in Milwaukee. It was a good crowd, a full room, with many good questions. Our work is bringing together many important issues: food access and security, workforce development and economic development. These are all key issues in the development of healthy communities. The CFSC conference is one of my favorites; there is always a lot of good networking.
From Oakland I flew to Detroit for the Equity Summit, organized by PolicyLink. My participation was sponsored by Karen Lehman and the Convergence Partnership. Karen organized the trip for about 6 people from Chicago.
The theme of the conference was: “Equity is a smart growth policy.” Economic growth will only come about if all communities and all people are included in that growth. Some of the highlights included:
• Opening plenary with 96 year old activist Grace Lee Boggs from Detroit, HUD Sec. Shaun Donovan, and educator and activist Geoffrey Canada,
• Food Deserts to Food Oases, with a focus on community based urban ag in Detroit,
• Authentic Community Engagement – many good organizing ideas,
• Network lunch with the Chicago delegation – we agreed to work towards collaboration between Englewood and Washington Park, and will meet again in Chicago
• Quality entertainment – Rah Goddess and Invincible – to conclude the summit
• A commitment to continue to work on equity policies and to turn our efforts into a movement
Both conferences were excellent, and I feel inspired to keep up our work and do even more. We are at the forefront of some exciting movements.