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-------- Original Message --------
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<th valign="BASELINE" align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap">Subject: </th>
<td>Food Justice Strategy and April's Community Input Session in
the Michigan Citizen</td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap">Date: </th>
<td>Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:13:02 -0400</td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap">From: </th>
<td>Lottie Spady <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:lottie@emeac.org"><lottie@emeac.org></a></td>
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<th valign="BASELINE" align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap">To: </th>
<td>Lottie Spady <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:lottiespady@hotmail.com"><lottiespady@hotmail.com></a></td>
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<div><span class="Apple-style-span"
style="font-family: 'lucida grande',tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.michigancitizen.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=8468&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1070&hn=michigancitizen&he=.com">http://www.michigancitizen.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=8468&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1070&hn=michigancitizen&he=.com</a></span></div>
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<div><font class="ecxApple-style-span" color="#333333"
face="'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif"><br>
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<div><font class="ecxApple-style-span" color="#333333"
face="'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif"><span
class="ecxApple-style-span"
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px;"><font
class="ecxCH1"
style="font-weight: bolder; font-size: 18pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Corporate
or neighborhood?</font><br>
<span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;"><font
color="#333300"><b style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial;">Urban
farmers question the mix<br>
</b><br>
<b>By Eric T. Campbell</b><br>
<u>Michigan Citizen Newspaper</u><br>
<br>
DETROIT — Long standing members of the urban agriculture community in
Detroit have initiated a new coalition to rally around food security
issues. <br>
<br>
On April 5 they met in Shed five at Eastern Market to establish food
policy actions that would address Mayor Bing’s plans to ‘right size’
the city. Now that city planners have proposed commercialization of
Detroit’s urban agriculture potential, local activists want to know
what type of local economy will emerge? One that empowers, educates and
nourishes citizens? Or one that takes advantage of a surplus labor pool
to form a new community of sharecroppers?<br>
<br>
The Detroit Food Justice and Urban Agriculture Strategy Team first
convened in December with the mission of creating an open forum for
addressing food security issues. <br>
<br>
According to members, they hope to craft a common agenda in the form of
a proposal which seek funding for various projects. They want to build
on years of work in the field of urban agriculture in Detroit and
continue to support the city’s Food Policy Council. <br>
<br>
Members include representatives from the East Michigan Environmental
Action Council (EMEAC), Detroit Black Community Food Security Network
(DBCFSN), Earthworks, Detroit Evolution Lab, Great Lakes Detroit
Bioneers, Rosa Parks Institute and the Sierra Club Detroit, among
others. <br>
<br>
According to Lottie Spady of the EMEAC, the Food Justice Strategy Team
is attempting to, “examine the current food system through a social
justice lens and create a movement around food security issues in the
city.”<br>
<br>
Those issues include hunger and malnutrition, adequate diet and access
to healthy foods, urban agriculture projects and citizen education. <br>
<br>
The April 5 meeting focused on grassroots organizations and ways to
sustain themselves as the Mayor negotiates behind closed doors with
corporate agriculture interests. Group discussions focused on issues
such as making good food choices; food in the neighborhood; racial
disparities in the food system; and jobs and entrepreneurship.<br>
<br>
“There’s so much interest in Detroit, but a relatively small number of
people are still making decisions on behalf of the population,” Spady
told the Michigan Citizen. “We’re creating alternatives to other ideas
that are being proposed.”<br>
<br>
Corporate farming is one that has garnered the most media attention.<br>
<br>
John Hantz, of the multi-million dollar financial services firm the
Hantz Group, is in negotiations to secure 40 acres at the site of the
Michigan State Fairgrounds. He’s proposed a commercial urban farm that
would be the largest of its kind. The Hantz Group also claims it will
use 70 acres of underutilized land on Detroit’s near east side for
during Phase 1 of its agricultural plan.<br>
<br>
Long time gardeners in that neighborhood fear that corporate farming
means pesticides and practices opposed to the organic systems that
thrive on east side plots.<br>
<br>
“What about the bees?” asked one Farnsworth St. urban gardener. Bees
fly within a four mile range and what happens when they feed on crops
raised with pesticides.<br>
<br>
Other corporate projects under consideration include the Majora Carter
Group’s meetings with city officials about a large-scale hydroponic
greenhouse.<br>
<br>
The Detroit Food Justice Strategy Team is looking at these large scale
initiatives coming to Detroit and trying to define the difference
between a corporate model and a model rooted in social justice. <br>
<br>
“The two don’t peacefully coexist,” Spady said.<br>
<br>
Between June 2006 and March 2008, the DBCFSN’s Public Policy Committee
worked with city council members and Wayne State’s Dr. Kami Pothukuchi
to develop the City of Detroit Food Policy Council. <br>
<br>
The policy council, in a detailed mission statement, outlines a number
of actions to address food security in the City of Detroit. The effort
was unique in that grassroots organizers spearheaded a legislative
partnership that led to a substantive statement on food security in
underserved Detroit neighborhoods. The DBCFSN maintains a 2-acre model
farm in Rouge Park which maintains organic vegetable plots, extensive
composting, two bee hives and a year round hoop house.<br>
<br>
DBCFSN Chairman Malik Yakini says that the small, family garden model
has been shown to be the most efficient. Larger companies must work to
empower communities as opposed to just co-opting them.<br>
<br>
“The Hantz Group has yet to engage the community,” says Yakini. “I’m
concerned about that leadership style which includes making decisions
for people and not with them.”<br>
<br>
Yakini adds that commercial farming methods, which may not incorporate
organic methods, are not necessarily ‘green’ or even environmentally
friendly. <br>
<br>
“If you take commercial methods and put them in the city, you still may
suffer from the same results,” Yakini says. <br>
<br>
The Food Justice Strategy Team is ramping up its efforts to define
itself in anticipation of this summer’s U.S. Social Forum. The forum
will be held in Detroit June 22-26. Grassroots organizations from all
over the country will convene at Cobo Hall and food security will be a
prominent agenda item.<br>
<br>
“We have 30,000 people coming to Detroit,” Lottie Spady from the EMEAC
says. “These people are coming to help organize and realize community
projects — projects that will be here long after the Social Forum is
gone.”<br>
<br>
<i>For more information on food security issues, visit
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.detroitfoodpolicycouncil.net">www.detroitfoodpolicycouncil.net</a> or <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.detroitblackfoodsecurity.org">www.detroitblackfoodsecurity.org</a>.<br>
<br>
The Hantz Group farm project can be read about at
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.hantzfarmsdetroit.com">www.hantzfarmsdetroit.com</a>.<br>
</i></font></span></span></font></div>
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<div><span class="ecxecxecxecxecxEC_Apple-style-span"
style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 48px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span
class="ecxecxecxecxecxEC_Apple-style-span"
style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;">
<div><font class="ecxecxecxecxApple-style-span" color="#4f6128"><b>Lottie
V. Spady</b></font></div>
<div><font class="ecxecxecxecxApple-style-span" color="#4f6128"><b>Associate
Director</b></font></div>
<div><font class="ecxecxecxecxApple-style-span" color="#4f6128"><b>East
Michigan Environmental Action Council</b></font></div>
<div><font class="ecxecxecxecxApple-style-span" color="#4f6128"><b>87
E. Canfield, #4500</b></font></div>
<div><font class="ecxecxecxecxApple-style-span" color="#4f6128"><b>Detroit,
MI 48201</b></font></div>
<div><font class="ecxecxecxecxApple-style-span" color="#4f6128"><b><br>
</b></font></div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.emeac.org/"
style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: underline;"><font
class="ecxecxecxecxApple-style-span" color="#4f6128"><b>www.emeac.org</b></font></a></div>
<font class="ecxecxecxecxApple-style-span" color="#4f6128"><b>office:
248-258-5188</b></font>
<div><font class="ecxecxecxecxApple-style-span" color="#4f6128"><b>cell
313-505-3325</b></font></div>
<div><font class="ecxecxecxecxApple-style-span" color="#4f6128"><b><br>
</b></font></div>
<div><font class="ecxecxecxecxApple-style-span" color="#4f6128"><b>Follow
EMEAC for the latest in EJ, Media Activism, Green Lifestyles, and Urban
Nature on Twitter:</b></font></div>
<div><span class="ecxecxecxecxApple-style-span"
style="font-family: 'Lucida Handwriting'; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><span
class="ecxecxecxecxApple-style-span"
style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-size: 12px;"><font
class="ecxecxecxecxApple-style-span" color="#4f6128"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://twitter.com/">http://twitter.com/</a></font><span
id="ecxecxecxecxusername_url"
style="padding: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><font
class="ecxecxecxecxApple-style-span" color="#4f6128">EMEAC</font></span></span><img
moz-do-not-send="true" src="http://graphics.hotmail.com/greypixel.gif"
vspace="9" width="100%" height="2"><span class="ecxecxApple-style-span"
style="font-family: Arial,tahoma,verdana,arial,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">When
youth are able to think critically, analyze their conditions and
develop strategies for changing their society--that is violence
prevention at its core. (Qtd. from "Taking Action - Schools, not
pre-prisons!! <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.thestrategycenter.org">http://www.thestrategycenter.org</a>) </span></span></div>
</span></span></div>
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<div><b><font class="ecxecxApple-style-span" face="Arial"><i><span
class="ecxecxApple-style-span" style="font-size: 12pt;">"Let me say,
with the risk of appearing ridiculous, that the true revolutionary is
guided by strong feelings of love...Above all, always be capable of
feeling any injustice committed against anyone anywhere in the
world."--Ernesto Che Guevara</span></i></font></b></div>
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