Debweyendan (“believe in it”) Indigenous Gardens (DIGs): A Portfolio for Community Workshops

Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) was awarded funds in Spring 2019 to promote intergenerational learning and access to healthy foods and medicines through the Debweyendan (“believe in it”) Indigenous Gardens (DIGs) initiative. DIGs aims to promote food sovereignty, strengthen wellbeing and cultural identity, and sustain knowledge for future generations.

This Portfolio is a compilation of project activities, including the 12 workshops and 4 community capacity initiatives funded by the Michigan Health Endowment Fund. It is intended to be a resource for other communities who desire similar programs to promote access to healthy foods in their communities and is designed with those communities in mind. It is also to ensure that the community maintains a resource and inventory for future planning of food sovereignty initiatives in the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.

2020 Western U.P. Farmers Market Capacity & Needs Assessment

The Michigan Farmers Market Association (MIFMA) did an assessment of six area farmers markets in the Western Upper Peninsula to learn more about the operations of each of the markets in 2020. This report provides a brief profile of each responding market, highlights key survey findings, and conveys recommendations for future programming and market support in the region based on the assessment results.

An Annotated Bibliography on Structural Racism Present in the U.S. Food System, Seventh Edition

Published annually by the Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems - the annotated bibliography offers a foundation for learning and communicating about structural racism in the U.S. food system. The seventh edition includes 250 publications and 29 videos that explore structural racism both across the national system and in specific food system sectors. Food sovereignty is a theme of many of the new references.
This annotated format is useful for food systems practitioners, policymakers, researchers, educators, scholars, and students. Most references were crowd-sourced – collected via a nationwide request sent through food systems networks.
For more information, contact Rich Pirog, Center for Regional Food Systems, rspirog@msu.edu.
This work was supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Methodology: Applying a Racial Equity Lens to Anti-Hunger Policies

Racial inequity is a root cause of hunger

ENDING HUNGER in a lasting, sustainable way requires identifying and resolving its root causes. While hunger and poverty rates have declined nationwide, people of color consistently have far higher rates of hunger and poverty than whites. This is due, in large part, to the impacts of structural racism. Applying a racial equity lens—a concept and practice that focuses on achieving equality for people of color—can help respond to structural racism and its consequences. This will not only reduce hunger and poverty among communities of color, but also move the United States closer to its national goal of ending hunger by 2030. A new report from Bread for the World Institute—“Applying Racial Equity to U.S. Federal Nutrition Assistance Programs"—provides first-ever analysis to identify ways key nutrition programs can apply racial equity principles so that people of color are no longer disproportionately food insecure and no longer disproportionately at risk of food insecurity. The report also provides a detailed glossary of terms related to racial equity, historical accounts of structural racism, and spotlights of how various community members are already applying this lens effectively.