The food justice movement views healthy food as a basic human right and works to address structural disparities in the food system. Below is a list of 9 organizations to follow on social media who are working to achieve food justice in their communities.
Brooklyn Movement Center
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Mission: As stated on their website, the “Brooklyn Movement Center (BMC) is a Black-led, membership-based organization of primarily low-to-moderate income Central Brooklyn residents. BMC builds power and pursues self-determination in Bedford-Stuyvesant & Crown Heights by nurturing local leadership, waging campaigns and winning concrete improvements in people’s lives.”
What they do: The Brooklyn Movement Center addresses a full range of issues that are identified by its members including food sovereignty, anti-street harassment and police accountability. Its food justice working group brings together residents of Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights to find solutions that will strengthen health equity in the community. They are currently organizing to open a food cooperative that offers healthy and affordable food while building a solidarity economy. The organization has also developed a food justice toolkit that offers resources available to Central Brooklyn residents.
Facebook: Brooklyn Movement Center
Instagram: @bkmovement
Twitter: @BKmovement
Learn More:
- Food Sovereignty (The Brooklyn Movement Center)
- Invest in Black Future (The Brooklyn Movement Center)
- The Root Causes of Gun Violence (The Brian Lehrer Show)
- BK Social Justice Nonprofits Celebrated at Spark Prize Breakfast (Bk Reader)
East New York Farms!
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Mission: The mission of East New York Farms! is “to organize youth and adults to address food justice in our community by promoting local sustainable agriculture and community-led economic development.”
What they do: East New York Farms! Provides community education and also runs urban farms, farmers markets, and a composting program. In addition, they host an annual internship for youth to engage in hands-on learning about environment, health, community development, leadership, and social justice.
Facebook: East New York Farms!
Instagram: @enyfarms
Twitter: @enyfarms
Learn More:
- Featured Farmer: East Farms New York (The Campaign Against Hunger)
- East New York Farms Works to Address Food Justice in Brooklyn (ABC 7)
- A Farm Grows in East New York, Brooklyn (Amsterdam News)
- East New York Farms! Has Local Solutions for Making a Big Impact on our Food System (Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center)
Farm School NYC
Location: Throughout New York City
Mission: Farm School NYC’s mission is “to train NYC residents in urban agriculture, in order to build self-reliant communities and inspire positive local action around food access and social, economic, and racial justice issues.”
What they do: Their Citywide Program is a one-year urban agriculture training program focused on food justice. It begins with a foundation in popular education, botany, and food justice and also includes courses that follow the flow of a growing season. Additional individual course offerings change annually depending on availability, capacity and need.
Facebook: Farm School NYC
Instagram: FarmSchool_NYC
Twitter: @FarmSchoolNYC
Youtube: Farm School NYC Information
Learn More:
- 2% For Farm School NYC (Louisa)
- Farm School Teaches Urban Farming in NYC (Time)
- 5 Agricultural Programs in NYC (Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center)
- You Can Teach a Man to Farm: Interview with Connor Vaughn, Farm School NYC (Urban Demos)
Just Food
Location: Throughout New York City
Mission: The mission of Just Food is “to shift the power, health, and wealth of historically marginalized communities that have been purposely divested from by developing community-driven solutions to inequities within the New York regional food system”.
What they do: Just Food works with regional farmers and producers to create direct routes of access to fresh, sustainable produce for the city’s residents by leveraging a comprehensive network of Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs), community-run farmer’s markets, and local farmers/producers. They also provide community food education to combat inequities in the food system and teach people how to become food justice advocates.
Facebook: Just Food
Instagram: @justfoodnyc
Twitter: @justfoodnyc
Youtube: JustFoodNYC
Learn More:
- Just Food NYC (website)
- Just Food CSA Forum 2022 (YouTube)
- Just Food Brings Communities Together to Fight for Food Justice (Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center)
Los Deliveristas Unidos
Location: Throughout NYC
Mission: Los Deliveristas Unidos (LDU) is a collective organized by the Workers Justice Project whose mission is to “empower low-wage immigrant workers to gain a voice in the workplace and build strong and economically sustainable communities through education, organizing, leadership development and the growth of grassroots economic alternatives.”
What they do: Their goal is to advocate for app delivery workers who are fighting for labor rights. The collective emerged during the pandemic to give this vulnerable group of gig workers access to basic rights, such as the right to use the bathroom and a minimum wage.
Instagram: @losdeliveristasunidos_ny
Twitter: @workersjusticp #losdeliveristas
Learn More:
- Delivery Workers Are the Next Frontier of Organizing (Eater)
- The Next Frontier of Labor Organizing: Food-Delivery Workers (Civil Eats)
- The Deliveristas’ Long Journey to Justice (The City)
- Los Deliveristas Unidos: Organizing against a ‘ghost boss’ (People’s World)
- Los Deliveristas Speak: How Delivery Workers Are Organizing to Take On the Apps (Labor Notes)
Project EATS
Location: 7 farms in 4 boroughs
Mission: According to their website, “Project EATS’ mission is for everyone to have the opportunity – regardless of income – to live healthily and to thrive.”
What they do: Project EATS combines art, urban agriculture, and social enterprise in order to fulfill their mission. Their Enterprise Program works with neighborhood stakeholders to create a network of community-based smallplot, high-yield farms that grow and distribute fresh produce in the community. Their Community Programs provide a range of activities and opportunities including the use of art as a way for residents to engage with their community. They also provide food and wellness-oriented workshops, community meals and events, and “food-as-medicine” programs to help people live healthier lives.
Facebook: Project EATS
Instagram: @ProjectEATS
Twitter: @ProjectEATS
Learn More:
- Project EATS (website)
- Project EATS and Other Highlights from the Frieze Art Fair (The New Yorker)
- Gardening as a Radical Act (WSJ Magazine)
Rock Steady Farm
Location: Millerton, New York
Mission: As stated on their website, Rock Steady is a “queer owned and operated cooperative vegetable farm rooted in social justice, food access and farmer training. They are working to increase equity in the food system and create safer spaces for queer and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) farmers to thrive.”
What they do: Rock Steady Farm was founded in 2015 and manages a total of 12 acres using holistic and sustainable farming practices. Their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Food Access Fund and sliding scale model provide no-cost or subsidized vegetables to low-income households, including communities of color, LGBTQIA+ folks, seniors, families with young children, and people living with serious health concerns (such as HIV/AIDS, diabetes and cancer).
Facebook: Rock Steady Farm and Flowers
Instagram: @rocksteadyfarm
Twitter: @RockSteadyFarm
Learn More:
- Unto Thyself Be True – A Whole Life Approach to Resilience at Rock Steady Farm (Natural Farmer)
- Rock Steady Farm (Main Street Magazine)
- HVADC Client Story: Rock Steady Farm (Hudson Valley Agribusiness Development Corporation)
- NECC Spotlight: Rock Steady Farm (NECC Youtube)
Star Route Farm
Location: Charlotteville, NY
Mission: As a farm with a social justice mission, Star Route seeks to “begin addressing systemic food inequities by farming with integrity and responsibility to both land and people in order to grow nutritious food, so that we might distribute free produce to those who are food insecure all the while, collaborating with the communities we grow for to ensure we grow culturally relevant food.”
What they do: In 2022, Star Route Farm plans to grow 11 acres of culturally appropriate crops (including black beans, soy beans, faro, sunflowers, millet, potatoes, garlic) and will aim to donate 70%-100% of their yield of vegetables and grains to food-relief groups for distribution.
Instagram: @starroutefarm
Facebook: Star Route Farm LLC
Learn More:
- The Slow-Growing Strength of Farming as Social Justice (Times Union)
- Star Route Farm is Farming Against This Mad World (Mold Magazine)
Soul Fire Farms
Location: Petersburg, NY
Mission: Soul Fire Farm is an Afro-Indigenous-centered community farm whose mission is “to uproot racism and seed sovereignty in the food system. We raise and distribute life-giving food as a means to end food apartheid.”
What they do: Their food sovereignty programs–including farmer training for Black and Brown growers, reparations and land-return initiatives for northeast farmers, food-justice workshops for urban youth, home gardens for city-dwellers living under food apartheid, doorstep harvest delivery for food insecure households, and systems and policy education for public decision-makers–reach more than 160,000 people each year. Graduates receive ongoing mentorship to access resources, land, and training and are invited to join a speakers’ collective to amplify their voice in the food system.
Facebook: Soul Fire Farm
Instagram: @soulfirefarm
Twitter: @soulfirefarm
Learn More:
- Soul Fire Farms (website)
- Soul Fire Farm and the Black Agricultural Experience: Part 1 (WFUV News)
- Soul Fire Farm and the Black Agricultural Experience: Part 2 (WFUV News)
- How Soul Fire Farm is Supporting Black Farmers on the Land and the Hill (Forbes)
- Soul Fire Farm’s Leah Penniman Explains Why Food Sovereignty Is Central in the Fight For Racial Justice (Vogue)
