JAFSCD "Voices from the Grassroots" commentary by Carol E. Ramos-Gerena (U of Buffalo-SUNY), Allison DeHonney (Urban Fruits & Veggies), Shireen Guru (U of Michigan), Rachel Grandits, Insha Akram, and Samina Raja (all at U of Buffalo-SUNY)
The Seeding East Buffalo Fellowship (SEBF) program, piloted in 2022, is one of the many initiatives led by local food actors intending to reverse historical disinvestment in eastern parts of Buffalo, New York, by helping residents grow healthy food, control their food system, and advocate for their communities. For years, numerous organizations in Buffalo have pointed out the limited access to healthy food in predominantly Black neighborhoods in eastern Buffalo—and the untapped potential of urban agriculture on the 8,000 publicly owned vacant lots managed by the city government.
The SEBF was launched by Growing Food Policy from the Ground Up (GFPGU), an action-research coalition composed of an urban farmer (Urban Fruits & Veggies, or UFV), community elders (Buffalo Freedom Gardens), and researchers (UB Food Lab and other partners). The program was advertised in The Challenger, the city’s oldest Black-owned newspaper. The SEBF program provided didactic information (on sustainable agriculture and food policy), experiential learning opportunities (on a farm and in their homes), social networking opportunities (with peers and community elders), and material resources to fellows to begin or expand their own gardens.
LESSONS LEARNED
There are three areas were important for a meaningful implementation of the SEBF program: (a) the history and context of the community, (b) the pedagogical strategy of the course facilitators, and (c) the relational infrastructure of program leaders and participants.
Rooted in community history: After a tragic murder by a white supremacist near the UFV farm site, one elder in the community shared with the SEBF program coordinators that "they [supremacists] are not going to take this away from us." Elders reaffirmed that reversing historical inequalities is not a one-time event, but a long-term struggle that has been spearheaded by generations before them.
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Tailoring pedagogy to local context: The SEBF program made a conscious effort to welcome residents with little to no experience growing food. Sharing knowledge across diverse levels of experience in gardening motivated the SEBF team to use a dialogic inquiry-based learning approach, particularly for the classes held at the farm.
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Fostering relationships: Rooted in the community’s history, using pedagogical strategies tailored to the local context, and fostering new relationships with the soil, food, and peers, the SEBF program supports the potential for community-led policy change. Stronger relationships among Black growers, combined with their heightened awareness of the linkages between municipal policy and urban agriculture practice, are important precursors for community advocacy and systemic change.
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JAFSCD is pleased to publish Voices from the Grassroots commentary on the Seeding East Buffalo Fellowship program. SEBF supports residents in Buffalo's Black neighborhoods to grow their own food and is a "beautiful space to create networks [among] . . . people gardening in the community." #urbanag #BuffaloNY #adulteducation Read the entire @JAFSCD article for free: https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2024.133.018
