Working in a coalition is invaluable for advocacy. These joint efforts create shared ownership of common goals, which magnify your reach.
The potential coalition partners in this section all provide or produce work, in some way, aligned with the organic trade and/or the ideals of the organic movement. Partnering in a coalition can enlarge your base support, your network, and connections. It magnifies existing resources, both financial and human. And, it strengthens advocacy by including diverse skillsets, information, experiences, and opportunities.
Click on the potential coalition partners below to learn more about their missions and efforts.
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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.
Black Dirt Farm Collective is a collective of Black farmers, educators, scientists, agrarians, seed keepers, organizers, and researchers guiding a political education process through the cultivation of Afroecology.
Black Farmers Index: Black Farmers Index started as a project launched by Ark Republic on April 14, 2020 as media project to provide a small list of Black farmers to address the rising issues of food security during the pandemic. Initially, the list was 150 farmers. Today we have over 1,000 farmers.
The Black Urban Gardening Society falls under the umbrella of the Council of Urban Development our Non-Profit Organization. We work to manifest a more sustainable global community by working together, teaching, training, organizing and designing ways that allow people to collaborate to overcome many of the environmental, economic, social, and ecological challenges that face poor minority communities of color around the world.
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 to support Black agrarianism and reimagine Black futures. Based in New York City, BUGs reach is national through its annual conference.
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. Castanea Fellows will build power to shift structures and culture towards the creation of a more equitable, sustainable, and healthy food system for children, families, and all communities. We give Castanea Fellows the time, space, and resources they need to connect and innovate on long-term solutions that can foster vibrant communities.
Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive (CoFED) is a queer and transgender people of color-led organization that partners with young folks of color from poor and working-class backgrounds to meet their communities’ needs through food and land co-ops. They are building the leadership of young BIPOC cooperators to practice cooperative values, economics, and strategies for collective liberation.
Dine Diaspora is an agency based in Washington, DC that amplifies the influence of African food culture around the world. We work with culinary creatives and brands to drive value in new and existing markets. African food culture is the expression of the linkages between people and foods that draw influences from the African continent.
Washington D.C. nonprofit Dreaming Out Loud works to create healthier, more equitable food systems in low-income communities. Dreaming Out Loud supports economic opportunity-building with their two-acre farm, several community gardens and farmers markets, and a food business accelerator. They provide direct supply chain diversity with their “Buy From Our Farmers” initiative.
Contact
Contact Name: Christopher Bradshaw
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. Their legal services consist of educational workshops, intake of the farmers/landowners legal matter and connection to an attorney within the network. For nearly a decade, they have partnered with attorneys from across the country to save small farms from foreclosure due to a reverse mortgage, provided estate planning services, civil rights litigation and 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. Their mission is to be a catalyst for the development of self-supporting communities through cooperative economic development, land retention, and advocacy.
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.
Food First works to end the injustices that cause hunger through research, education, and action, since 1975
Freedmen Heirs Foundation is a foundation whose mission is to promote and enhance the prominence, profitability, and sustainability of Black Americans in agriculture across all sectors & at every level.
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.
Patchwork City Farms is a certified naturally grown organic urban farm that provides the local community with safe and nutritious foods. It is also home to an initiative that aims to spread awareness of the importance of including fresh foods in diets, and is one of the founding members of the South West Atlanta Growers Cooperative, which helps Black farmers create equitable, sustainable, responsible food systems.
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians is the only federally recognized American Indian Tribe in Mississippi, with close to 11,000 members. They have 35,000 acres of reservation lands in ten Mississippi counties and in one Tennessee county. They are one of Mississippi’s five largest private employers, with approximately 5,000 employees—both Tribal members and non-members. Their Choctaw Fresh Produce specializes in Direct-Store-Delivery throughout Central Mississippi to a broad variety of Organic Focused buyers – from grocers and to institutions, to community farmer’s markets. We also partner with some of the best restaurants that need knowledgeable suppliers to bring them the best organic produce.
The OSC² J.E.D.I Collaborative of industry peers and experts is leading this project for the natural products industry to frame the business case for embedding justice, equity, diversity and inclusion into the entire food ecosystem. Their intent is to take a positive, forward look vs. a “fix what’s broken” position. They seek to understand the deeper issues and to devise outlines for the best solutions. They work to clarify the systemic issues that require courage and thought leadership and define immediately controllable issues we all can address as an industry and in day-to-day operations.
Contact
Contact Name: Cynthia Billops
Rise and Root Farm wants to build a different agricultural narrative, inclusive of all races, genders, and sexualities. Rise and Root Farm was created to be a place of healing for diverse and marginalized communities—particularly important today, as black farmers work to call attention to not only their own contributions to the modern food system but also the impact of the slave trade on the development of global food chains.
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.
Soul Fire Farm grows food as an act of solidarity with those oppressed by food apartheid while maintaining respect for their ancestors, history, and the environment. Soul Fire Farm conducts training programs to raise the next generation of activist-farmers and support food sovereignty for future communities. The organization’s Co-Director Leah Penniman recently completed a book, “Farming While Black,” a guide for African-heritage growers to reclaim their dignity.
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.
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. Born out of the Civil Rights Movement in 1969, New Communities, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)(4) based in Albany, Georgia. Founded as a collective farm, New Communities is widely recognized as the original model for community land trusts in the US.
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.
The Okra Project is a collective that seeks to address the global crisis faced by Black Trans people by bringing home cooked, healthy, and culturally specific meals and resources to Black Trans People wherever we can reach them.
Through these five pillars, “Reverence, Fellowship, Support, Celebration, and Convenience” EatOkra-The App vows to honor culinary heritage and history for the African diaspora; cultivate a community rooted in a shared love for Black food and businesses; uplift Black businesses owners and future trailblazers; celebrate food as a centerpiece of Black joy; and provide comfort to Black communities nationwide. EatOkra‘s purpose is to create digital spaces that inspire the larger community and Black business owners, enabling them to spread their wings and embrace their visions for tomorrow.
The People's Kitchen Collective is an organization based in Oakland, California, working at the intersection of art and activism as a food-centered political education project. Their creative practices reflect the diverse histories and backgrounds of the co-founders. Written in their families' recipes are the maps of migrations and the stories of resilience. It is from this foundation that they create immersive experiences that honor the shared struggles of their people. They believe in radical hospitality as a strategy to address the urgent social issues of our time.
Planting Justice works to empower people impacted by mass incarceration and other social inequities through a nursery, land trust, and various community farming efforts. By building a local, sustainable food system, they create thousands of green jobs. They provide fair wages with comprehensive benefits for a dignified livelihood in the food system. The intention is to support healing justice in collaboration with marginalized communities who have been severed from their most optimal wellness due to structural oppression. By investing in food workers, they reinvigorate the local economy, increase access to nutritious food and meaningful employment.
Sankofa Farms seeks create a sustainable food source for minorities in both rural and urban areas located in Durham and Orange County, North Carolina. Sankofa Farms LLC is a multifaceted agricultural entity that seeks to assist changing the food intake habits of those living in and affected by food deserts.
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.
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. SAAFON works to strengthen Black farmers’ collective power to build an alternative food system rooted in progressive values
Website
Contact
Contact Name: M. Jahi Chappel, Ph.D., Executive Director
The Urban Growers Collective operates eight urban farms on 11 acres of land in Chicago’s South Side and works with more than 33 partner organizations to create economic opportunity and boost healthy food access. Each farm uses organic methods and integrates education, leadership training, and food production.
Website
Contact
Contact Name: Erika Allen, Co-Founder & CEO -Operations