2019 CIIP Program Book CIIP Booklet 2019 | Page 13

Community Partner: Black Church Food Security Network
Intern: Teagan Kim
Site Supervisor: Heber Brown, III
What is the Black Church Food Security Network?
The Black Church Food Security Network strengthens and establishes economic
ventures that supply and support every part of the food system through working with
Black churches, conducting research, and building social cohesion around food
sovereignty.
This summer, I worked at the Black Church Food Security Network, a nonprofit dedicated to con-
necting black churches and communities with black farmers and vendors. It aims to address several
causes of food insecurity, such as a lack of community wealth, a lack of access to grocery stores, and
a lack of nutritious foods. It addresses these issues through several programs, including a community
farmers’ market, a program to start gardens in black churches, and an alternative currency that fos-
ters community wealth building. Underlying these missions are the values of Black Christian Nation-
alism, a belief popularized by Reverend Albert Cleage. A tenet of Black Christian Nationalism is that
the black church holds untapped social capital and should serve as an anchor institution for black
communities.
During my time with the Network, I mostly spent my time planning the community farmers’ mar-
ket, as well as promoting and workshopping the alternative currency, the BNote. I learned valuable
brand-building and marketing skills, all while obtaining a better appreciation for the way that sustain-
able food, farming, and black culture overlap.
This experience as a whole felt far more personal and engaging than I expected. I came in thinking
that I couldn’t form deep connections with people in such a short amount of time. Yet I’ve found that
everyone I’ve talked to has been incredibly kind, patient, and relatable. For example, almost every
person of color can tell you that their culture is built around food. For me and my people, I know that
if you want to get a bunch of Filipinos to show up anywhere, you gotta have lumpia and sisig and
sinigang. Black culture isn’t any different.
At the core of what I’ve learned this summer is this: when dealing with food justice, you have to be
attuned to what people’s cultural preferences are for food, as food is a very personal and political
matter. We can’t fix healthy food priority areas by replacing every corner store with a Whole Foods.
As the T-shirts we sold at the Market say, “Whoever controls the food controls the people.” I hope
to support alternative efforts to create a more equitable and sustainable food system and promote
racial justice in all spheres of life, wherever I go next.
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• Researched, contacted, and visited
farmers and vendors
• Created and disseminated market-
ing materials like interest forms,
flyers, and social media outreach
posts
• Did weekly outreach at a local
farmers’ market
• Attended meetings concerning
community wealth building
• Managed the BCFSN’s social me-
dia pages and created a branding
guidebook