A presentation given by Sharon Lezberg and Nicodemus Ford at the National Urban Extension Conference, 5/2013, titled "Developing Cultural Competencies for Food Systems Work: Lessons from Detroit". We present a food systems framework and discuss working in Detroit.

1. Developing Cultural Competencies
for Food Systems Work: Lessons
from Detroit
Jeffrey Lewis
Nicodemus Ford
Sharon Lezberg
National Urban Extension Conference, May 2013

2. Community & Regional Food Systems
Project
We promote the development of equitable and sustainable
Community and Regional Food Systems that provide healthy
food for all community members

3. Supported by the
United States Department of Agriculture
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
USDA Award 2011-68004-30044
A collaboration of
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Growing Power
University of Wisconsin-Extension
Michael Fields Agricultural Institute
Wayne State University
and numerous community partners

4. Project Components
• Education
– high school: PEOPLE program
– college: internships
– graduate: practicums
• Outreach
– training
– products
– community engagement
• Research
– CRFS framework
– city studies
– community-based research
• community engagement
projects
• innovation fund projects
• Community Engagement
– Coordination of healthy food
collaboration
– Evaluation of program
success
– Development of Indicators
– Research to support
programs
• Advocacy
– Education about policy
initiatives

5. Food System Framework

6. Food System Framework
System Environment: Economic, Social, and Biophysical Components

7. Food System Framework - Values
These values are adopted from “Whole Measures for Community Food Systems” from
the Community Food Security Coalition

8. Food Systems Framework - Relationships

9. Detroit
• Largest concentration of
African Americans in the
country.
• The city’s lost nearly
200,000 residents.
• In 1950, Detroit was the
fifth largest city. Since its
lost 60 percent of its
population.
• One in three residents live
in poverty.

10. The Detroit Food System
• The capacity for large-scale production is here
with 20 square miles (12,800 acres) of vacant
space in Detroit. Researchers at MSU have
reported that Detroit land has the capacity to
fulfill most of the produce needs of Detroit’s
population — finding that nearly 76 percent of
vegetables and 42 percent of fruits consumed
in the city could be supplied from as little as
2,086 acres of land.
Detroit Food Policy Council . Detroit Food System Executive Summary, 2012-13

11. CRFS Project in Detroit
• Developing a MOU with the Uprooting Racism
Planting Justice organization.
• Responsible for co-designing Monitor and
Evaluation tools.
• Monitoring and Evaluation tools should both
build capacity and assist
• Essential to continue to learn and understand
both the context and meaning

12. What we are learning through our
work in Detroit
• The process evolves over time. We could have planned for
this – directed it – by being really intentional about the time
of observation, listening, and learning.
• Honor the wisdom of the community: The knowledge of
community residents is deep and wise. Listen to it, learn from
it, allow this wisdom to guide action.
• Share power and decision-making. Allow the community to
define the issues and interpret meaning. Encourage the co-
creation of projects and learning
• Create opportunities for co-authorship of project outputs
and presentations

13. Allow time for relationships to develop
If you can, spend time observing, listening and
learning through a full cycle of the community’s
life and work.

14. “Use protracted and thoughtful
observation rather than prolonged and
thoughtless action. Observe the site and its
elements in all seasons. Design for specific
sites, clients, and cultures.”
Hemenway. Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to
Home-Scale Permaculture.

15. Understanding a community food system requires
asking questions about what is truly valued: What
kind of community do we want to live and work in?
Whole Measures for Community Food Systems
Abi-Nader et. al., 2009

16. On the Threshold of
Partnership and Collaboration
Spending time in the
community . . .
… in a thoughtful and
intentional way
. . . to develop relationships -
without an agenda

17. Food Justice
“How do we elevate this idea of food justice to an idea
that it’s a violation universal human rights? In other
words, how do we connect this struggle in Detroit to
the same struggle that is in developing countries
around the world? How do we see the movement in
Detroit connected to a larger movement?”
- Nicodemus Ford

18. Food Sovereignty
Detroit is a rich place full of
cultural and social history.
How are these social
histories – various social and
cultural movements –
formative and important to
the identities, strategies, and
vision of Detroiters?

19. Self-Determination
Food Sovereignty includes control over the
resources of production

20. Web-site: http://www.community-food.org/
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crfsproject
Contact us
Jeffrey Lewis: jeffrey.lewis@ces.uwex.edu
Nicodemus Ford: demusford@me.com
Sharon Lezberg: slezberg@wisc.edu