Detroit

The Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN) was formed in February 2006 to address food insecurity in Detroit's Black community, and to organize members of that community to play a more active leadership role in the local food security movement. We observed that many of the key players in the local urban agriculture movement were young whites, who while well-intentioned, never-the-less, exerted a degree of control inordinate to their numbers in Detroit's population. Many of those individuals moved to Detroit from other places specifically to engage in agricultural or other food security work. It was and is our view that the most effective movements grow organically from the people whom they are designed to serve. Representatives of Detroit's majority African-American population must be in the leadership of efforts to foster food justice and food security in Detroit. While our specific focus is on Detroit's African-American community, we realize that improved policy and an improved localized food system is a benefit to all Detroit residents. DBCFSN is creating model urban agricultural projects that seek to build community self-reliance, and to change our consciousness about food. In 2006 we planted and maintained a ¼ acre garden near the 4-H Community Center on McClellan near Gratiot on Detroit's eastside. In 2007 we partnered with the Shrine of the Black Madonna to plant and maintain a ¾ acre mini-farm near Broadstreet and Collingwood. This year, we enter our second growing season at D-Town, our two acre farm at Rouge Park in Northwestern Detroit. Our produce is grown using sustainable, chemical-free practices, and sold at the farm sites, Eastern Market, and markets for urban growers throughout Detroit. Since our inception, we have focused our energies in three main areas: urban agriculture, policy development and co-operative buying. A brief history of our efforts in each of these areas follows.