Who is this page for? This page is for you, URI Master Gardener volunteers! This resource portal seeks to empower you, our Master Gardener volunteers, to learn more and carry that knowledge forward into your service to Rhode Island communities.

What does this page include? It houses resources for volunteers interested in broadening their comfort and/or aptitude around JEDI issues related to food and land security, sovereignty, and access. 

Who put these resources together? These resources were curated by a group of URI Master Gardener volunteers and Cooperative Extension staff who serve on the Master Gardener Program’s Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Task Force. There are two major goals of the URIMGP JEDI Initiative:1) To expand the diversity of our volunteer base in order to represent our larger community; and 2) To help our volunteers reach and most effectively serve our diverse population. 

How do we choose resources to share on this page? We ask ourselves, is the resource specifically related to/listed on:

A. The food system (e.g. gardening, eating, food security, farming) and communities/individuals?

B. Community volunteer training and JEDI issues?

C. The Northeast / Rhode Island community?

D. Annotated Bibliography on Structural Racism Present in the U.S. Food System, available here

How might these resources help me as a Master Gardener volunteer? We each come to the MGP with our own unique experiences that shape our thoughts and how we define ourselves within society. The goal of sharing these resources is to help each of us learn from diverse perspectives and broaden our understanding of the vast world of gardening. The notion is that the more we expand our knowledge as individuals, the more comfortably we will fit into our roles in our communities and service projects. This, in turn, will make us more effective leaders and contributors to the mission of the Master Gardener Program. The greater the impact we have as individuals, the greater the impact of the entire program in disseminating science-based gardening resources to all Rhode Islanders.

How do I suggest resources to add to this page? Please contact Kate Venturini at kate@uri.edu.

How do I join the URIMGP’s Social Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Team? Complete this survey or contact Maria Rivera Saillant at maria@wwpl.org.

 

Rooting for Change - Updates from the URI MGP Social Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Task Force

 

Learn More About How JEDI and the Food System Relate

  • By Reconnecting with Soil, We Heal the Planet and Ourselves, by Leah Penniman (ARTICLE) Enslavement and sharecropping cannot erase thousands of years of Black People’s sacred relationship with the land. Article published in 2019 in Yes Magazine.
  • Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land, by Leah Penniman (BOOK) Farming While Black is the first comprehensive “how to” guide for aspiring African-heritage growers to reclaim their dignity as agriculturists and for all farmers to understand the distinct, technical contributions of African-heritage people to sustainable agriculture.
  • Gather (FILM) Gather is an intimate portrait of the growing movement amongst Native Americans to reclaim their spiritual, political and cultural identities through food sovereignty, while battling the trauma of centuries of genocide. @gatherfilm
  • The Good Food Revolution: Growing Healthy Food, People and Communities, by Will Allen A pioneering urban farmer and MacArthur “Genius Award” winner. The son of a sharecropper, Will Allen had no intention of ever becoming a farmer himself. But after years in professional basketball and as an executive for Kentucky Fried Chicken and Procter & Gamble, Allen cashed in his retirement fund for a two-acre plot a half mile away from Milwaukee’s largest public housing project. The area was a food desert with only convenience stores and fast-food restaurants to serve the needs of local residents.
  • Rooted (FILM) A documentary film in production about food justice in America. Released in 2021.
  • Rooted in the Earth: Reclaiming the African American Environmental Heritage, by Dianne Glave (BOOK) In Rooted in the Earth, environmental historian Dianne D. Glave overturns the stereotype that a meaningful attachment to nature and the outdoors is contrary to the black experience. In tracing the history of African Americans’ relationship with the environment, emphasizing the unique preservation-conservation aspect of black environmentalism, and using her storytelling skills to re-create black naturalists of the past, Glave reclaims the African American heritage of the land. This book is a groundbreaking, important first step toward getting back into nature, not only for personal growth but for the future of the planet. 
  • The Color of Food: Stories of Race, Resilience and Farming, by Natasha Bowens (BOOK) The Color of Food teaches us that the food and farm movement is about more than buying local and protecting our soil. It is about preserving culture and community, digging deeply into the places we’ve overlooked, and honoring those who have come before us. Blending storytelling, photography, oral history, and unique insight, these pages remind us that true food sovereignty means a place at the table for everyone.

 

Increase Your Awareness and Learn to Engage with JEDI Issues

  • Food Solutions New England 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge (TRAINING)
    You (along with thousands of other people across the US and beyond) commit to deepening your understanding of, and willingness to confront, racism for twenty-one consecutive days. The Challenge will raise your awareness, change your understanding and shift the way you behave. The Challenge goes beyond individual or interpersonal racism by helping to demystify structural and institutional racism and white supremacist patterns that are sometimes invisible to people. Finally, the Challenge inspires you to act, on your own or with others in your organization, business or group, to dismantle these systems.
  • Inclusive Community Engagement: Inclusive Science Communication for URI Master Gardener Volunteer Educators with Dr. Sunshine Menezes (WORKSHOP)
  • Aspiring Social Justice Ally Identity Development (HANDOUT)
    Individuals who are supportive of social justice efforts are not always effective in their anti-oppression efforts. Some who genuinely aspire to act as social justice allies can be harmful, despite their best intentions. These folks can ultimately perpetuate the system of oppression they seek to change. Different underlying motivations of those who aspire to be allies can lead to differences in effectiveness, consistency, outcome, and sustainability. The conceptual model presented here, using underlying motivation to frame the different issues and challenges facing those who are aspiring allies, is offered as a tool for critical self-reflection and for guidance in developing other aspiring allies for social justice.

 

Northeast and RI Community: Inspiring People, Places and Stories

  • African Alliance of Rhode Island: “Farm to door delivery.” “Traditionally, when you enter a village in Africa, you are greeted warmly… Like other cultures of the world, we have been growing crops for thousands of years. The village brings people together, sustains, imparts and uplifts. AARI believes in people, growing healthier together – through our foods and stories, uplifted by our cultures. You are welcome in our village.”

    • Podcast: Mosaic, Season 2, Episode 6: Johnston’s (RI) history as a Yankee farming town makes it hard for newcomers like Julius Kolawole to feel welcome farming the same soil. He’s doing it anyway.
  • Garden Time: Garden Time provides garden programs for incarcerated men and women at the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institutions. Through gardening, we foster education, inspiration, and empowerment; teach inmates to grow food for economic and personal self-reliance; and connect participants with opportunities that enable permanent reentry into society.
  • Groundwork RI: Groundwork Rhode Island is a non-profit, community-based environmental organization dedicated to creating healthier and more resilient urban communities. We achieve this through our many urban stewardship programs, which create economic opportunity for Rhode Island’s urban residents, and at the same time physically improve our shared urban environment, especially in economically-distressed areas. We believe our mission can only be achieved by meeting the community’s dual needs of environmental sustainability and economic prosperity in partnership with residents, businesses, and other partners.
  • Roots2Empower: “Roots2Empower’s mission is to improve the lives of returning citizens in the urban cores of Rhode Island . . . We promote economic empowerment as a means to break the cycle of incarceration. We provide entrepreneurship training in the green industries as a catalyst to break the cycle of poverty . . . We focus on entrepreneurship training and business development; green industry training; financial literacy; competitive employment; and microloan lending.”  
  • Soulfire Farm: “Soul Fire Farm is a Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)-centered community farm committed to ending racism and injustice in the food system. We raise and distribute life-giving food as a means to end food apartheid. With deep reverence for the land and wisdom of our ancestors, we work to reclaim our collective right to belong to the earth and to have agency in the food system. We bring diverse communities together on this healing land to share skills on sustainable agriculture, natural building, spiritual activism, health, and environmental justice. We are training the next generation of activist-farmers and strengthening the movements for food sovereignty and community self-determination.”
  • Southside Community Land Trust: “Southside Community Land Trust (SCLT) serves people in economically challenged urban neighborhoods where fresh produce is scarce and who, as a result, are at risk for life-threatening, diet-related, chronic diseases. SCLT owns or directly manages 21 community gardens in Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls, and partners with schools, housing and community organizations to manage another 37. We also own or manage land used by 25 farmers to supply fresh fruits and vegetables to farmers markets, food businesses, restaurants and CSAs. Lastly, we operate three production farms in Providence and Pawtucket that practice and demonstrate bio-intensive, small-scale agricultural production.”
  • Tomaquag Museum: The mission of the Tomaquag Museum is to educate the public and promote thoughtful dialogue regarding indigenous history, culture, arts, mother earth and connections to native issues of today.
  • What it Takes to be a Black Farmer: Continuing a Legacy and Combating Systemic Racism (ecoRI news): “When Quatia Osorio started farming two years ago, there were only nine Black farmers in Rhode Island. That pathetically low number is part of a larger, disturbing trend in the United States that has its roots in slavery and the oppression of Black people.”

 

Learn About Best Approaches to Leadership in Master Gardener Programs

 

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