PVGrows Racial Equity Co-Learning Community Meeting

The PVGrows Racial Equity in the Food System Working Group is calling together workers and professionals within the local food system to form a committed learning and practice community to illuminate and eradicate racism and shift white cultural dominance to build more effective anti-racist multicultural organizations and institutions.

They seek a dedicated group of individuals to form the core community necessary to grow their collective capacity for engaging in meaningful conversation and local and regional strategizing. On-going gatherings will provide space for delving deeper into the roots of injustice to build a more robust framework for addressing racism in our local food system. This will include scaffolding concepts, frames, and practical skills for advancing racial justice within participants themselves, their organizations, their community, and the movement at large. The group will offer a supportive environment for co-learning and relationship building across organizations and sectors of the food system and beyond. The Working Group recognizes that racism is an injustice that has become embedded into structural systems and that we are all implicated in the work to reverse and amend it. This is an open invitation to understand and “do the work” we all need to do individually to grow our consciousness and dismantle racism, whether we identify as White or as a Person of Color. They welcome anyone ready to take the next step to infuse their food work and activism with a racial equity lens.

Participants will:

• Share ideas, articles and stories to stimulate discussion and create a safe and courageous learning community;
• Investigate and identify internalized racial and cultural norms and characteristics of our work that reinforce white cultural dominance;
• Develop strategies to create more inclusive norms that shift organizational thinking around work flows, leadership structures, planning, decision making, accountability, and conflict;
• Learn strategies to integrate internal racial equity work into everyday tasks, meetings, and conversations;
• Understand the difference between call-out and call-in culture in naming and addressing instances or patterns of oppressive language or behavior; and,
• Build relationships with other people and organizations working to become more effective allies for racial justice.

Please join if you are interested in:

• Addressing racial inequity in the food system such as food access, land access, jobs, wages, and policy;
• Giving input into the group’s focal areas, caucus work and strategic organizing; and,
• Want to learn more, even if you’re unsure of whether you can commit to future meetings.

At the initial gathering, participants will assess where they are as a group and what capacity-building is needed to support their engagement in and advancement of racial equity work.  For those unable to attend the first gathering, PVGrows still welcomes your participation and will include you in scheduling future gatherings.

Date:  Thursday, June 15th, 6:30-8:30pm 

Location: United Church of Christ, 300 Appleton Street, Holyoke

Free parking available in adjacent lot. Bring a vegetarian dish to share for a potluck dinner. Childcare will be provided.

Supported with funding from the PVGrows Network.

Register Here (even if you are unable to attend the first gathering)

Facilitated by members of the PVGrows Racial Equity in the Food System Working Group:

• Sarah Bankert, Program Manager, Healthy Hampshire, Collaborative for Educational Services
• Liz Wills-O’Gilvie, Director, Springfield Food Policy Council and Board President, Gardening the Community
• Catherine Sands, Director, Fertile Ground  and Lecturer in Community Food Systems, UMASS Amherst
• Sara Tower, PVGrows Racial Equity and Food System Working Group member

The PVGrows Racial Equity in the Food System Working Group was formed in 2013 to investigate and address systemic racism and inequities in the local food system.  The group has organized several open gatherings, workshops, and conversations exploring barriers to access, building relationship across individuals and organizations working on racial equity and inclusion, and visioning what a just local food system looks like.  They welcome new members to join their leadership team to help guide their work to create a more just and equitable food system in western MA.