Resources for Feeding Change in Your Community

Imperfect stands united against any form of racism, discrimination, and injustice. We believe that Black Lives Matter and that our food system and our country must do a better job at listening to, respecting, and elevating black voices and businesses.

Recent events – like the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and too many others – have made it undeniably clear that it’s not enough to openly condemn racism; we must actively work to reverse its harmful course in our country. We all need to go beyond words and take collective action to build the type of systems we want to see. So, let’s get to work.

What is Imperfect doing? 

We are making donations and matching employee donations to the NAACP and Appetite for Change, an organization that uses food as a tool to create health, wealth, and social change in North Minneapolis. 

We recognize that change also has to come from within so we’re taking a hard look at our own business and hiring practices as they intersect with race so we can start doing better.

What can you do? 

DONATE:

If you are looking for resources for how to advance racial justice in America and support Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in America, here are some food-related organizations that we recommend you check out and support:

Appetite for Change 
AFC uses food as a tool to build health, wealth, and social change in North Minneapolis. They bring people together to learn, cook, eat, and grow food, creating change that lasts.

Dreaming Out Loud
Washington D.C. nonprofit Dreaming Out Loud works to create healthier, more equitable food systems in low-income communities with their two-acre farm, several community gardens and farmers markets, and a food business accelerator. 

Family Agriculture Resource Management Services
F.A.R.M.S. provides legal assistance to farmers with limited resources and helps them retain control and ownership of their land. They also help tackle food insecurity by linking farmers up with food banks to sell surplus produce at a discounted price.

FEEST
FEEST is an organization led by youth of color in South Seattle and South King County working to improve health in their schools.

Just Food
Just Food aims to shift the power, health, and wealth of historically and economically marginalized communities in New York City, particularly Black, Latinx, communities of color, LGBTQ, mixed income, small-scale farmers, and hyper local growers/producers.

Lunch on Me 
Lunch On Me brings nutritious meals, made with redistributed organic food that would’ve otherwise gone to waste, to the Skid Row community in LA six days a week and reaches 10,000 people a month.

National Black Farmers Association
NBFA is a non-profit organization representing Black farmers and their families in the United States.

National Young Farmers Coalition
The National Young Farmers Coalition is a national advocacy network of young farmers fighting for the future of agriculture.

Planting Justice
Planting Justice works in the San Francisco Bay Area to address the structural inequalities that have become embedded in the industrialized food system.

SAAFON
SAAFON is a network of black farmers in the Southeastern U.S. committed to empowering black communities through farming, food, and land strategies.

Soil Generation
Based in Philadelphia, Soil Generation is a Black- and Brown-led coalition that works for environmental and food justice with a focus on community self-representation, anti-racism training, education, and advocacy. 

Soul Fire Farm
Located in New York, Soul Fire Farm is a BIPOC-centered community farm committed to ending racism and injustice in the food system. 

SÜPRMARKT
SÜPRMARKT is a low-cost organic grocery store working to make good food more accessible to low-income communities in L.A.

Urban Growers Collective
UGC supports Chicago communities in developing community-based food systems to build economic opportunity for youth and mitigate food insecurity.

Wallace Center
The Wallace Center develops partnerships, pilots new ideas, and advances solutions to strengthen communities through resilient farming and food systems.

LEARN:

Dismantling racism in our food system involves learning about why it’s so pervasive and how it got to be that way in the first place. Here are some educational resources and food-for-thought to help you on your journey:

Articles:

There Were Nearly a Million Black Farmers in 1920. Why Have They Disappeared?

People of Color are at Greater Risk of COVID-19. Systemic Racism in the Food System Plays a Role

‘Food Apartheid In This Country Didn’t Just Happen. It Happened By Design.’

The Provocations of Chef Tunde Wey

Support Black-Owned Businesses & Restaurants

Covert Acts Of Racism Have Been Happening In Grocery Stores And Restaurants Forever

Race and Food Are Intertwined

Books:

Farming While Black by Leah Penniman

The Cooking Gene by Michael Twitty

Sistah Vegan edited by A. Breeze Harper

Freedom Farmers by Monica M. White

Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America by Marcia Chatelain

Notes from a Young Black Chef by Chef Kwame Onwuachi

Podcasts:

Putting an End to Food Apartheid with Olympia Auset – Unwasted

Digging into Community Gardening with Ron Finley – Unwasted

How Black Farmers Were Robbed Of Their Land – NPR’s It’s Been a Minute

The 1619 Project Podcast