Frontline communities of color have disproportionately suffered huge disparities in health and wealth due to multiple layers of systemic barriers. For every $100 in wealth white Americans hold, Black Americans only hold $15, and Black and Indigenous children are 2-3 times more likely to be food insecure than white families. Community-led solutions in food, health, environment, and climate offer significant potential for addressing these disparities.

Over the past two decades, a number of food justice and food access initiatives have evolved from focusing primarily on access to healthy food access to encompassing complex economic development and built environment projects developed by BIPOC-led organizations. These initiatives aim to improve food access and health outcomes through models of community self-determination, economic development, and wealth creation.

This one-day event will explore the question: How can funding for food access, nutrition, and health equity support community self-determination and ignite equitable food economies? 

We will explore the intersection of health equity, economic development, and food justice to close racial wealth gaps through community-led approaches. Specifically, we will explore and learn from models of healthy food projects, organizations, and networks that focus on community ownership and asset-building led by and for people of color in and from frontline communities.

The event takes place at the Detroit Food Commons, a groundbreaking 30,000-square-foot multi-use facility with a community-owned grocery store, which was conceived of and built by the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network (DBCFSN). Attendees will learn about DBCFSN’s powerful community organizing that led to raising $21 million to build the Detroit Food Commons, and how similar models are emerging across the country. Funders focused on health, community development, and food systems are invited to join us in exploring how we can resource and support communities addressing food and nutrition security through more just and sovereign food economies.