Malik Yakini/Courtesy photo
Mailk Yakini of Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN).
Detroit has always been a hub for urban gardening, and a sizable grant will allow two agricultural organizations to spread the gospel of growing your own food even further.
Keep Growing Detroit and Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN) collectively received $900,000 from Rite Aid Healthy Futures. The money will be used over two years to help fund public programming around food insecurity and sovereignty for Detroit families and youth.
DBCFSN founding member and education outreach director Mama Hanifa told Planet Detroit it’s essential for Detroiters to have more control over their food environment.
“Those who control your food, control you,” she told the environmental news publication. “If we are not in a position to be able to grow our food, process our food, understand where our food is coming from – understanding how to prepare, store our food and our seeds, then we have a problem on our hands.”
DBCFSN received $500,000 which will go towards its Food Warrior program for children ages 5-12 and the Food n’ Flava program for high schoolers. Both focus on teaching young folks about food cultivation and their relationship to the land.
Keep Growing Detroit will use its $400,000 portion of the award for its Healthy Eaters to Healthy Leaders Project. The organization plans to run a seven-week summer youth apprenticeship and support youth engagement at more than 1,000 local gardens.
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