Description
Many individuals and organizations, including here in Vermont, have worked tirelessly on addressing racism broadly and specifically within the food system for decades. We encourage you to elevate their work, galvanize support and educate yourself. This is, by no means, an exhaustive list of resources, so please reach out if you have additional resources to add.
Resources in this Collection
Vermont Racial Justice Organizations
Peace & Justice Center
Since 1979 the Peace & Justice Center has been a leader in social justice activism in Vermont. Our Board and Staff work with community members, local businesses, non-profit organizations, activists, and volunteers to help all Vermonters achieve self-sufficiency and shared prosperity. Our Center is open to the public and offers a social justice library and a community meeting room space.
Migrant Justice
Migrant Justice's mission is to build the voice, capacity, and power of the farmworker community and engage community partners to organize for economic justice and human rights.
Justice For All
Our mission is to pursue racial justice within Vermont’s criminal justice system and beyond through advocacy, education, and relationship-building.
Rutland Area NAACP
The Rutland Area branch of the NAACP is dedicated to the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminating race-based discrimination in Vermont.
Windham County Vermont NAACP
The Windham County Vermont Branch of the NAACP is dedicated to serving the needs and promoting the social, economic, political and inter-personal power of people of color and their allies living in our county. We hope you can be part of that mission too.
Black Lives Matter of Greater Burlington
Black Lives Matter of Greater Burlington (BLMGB) is an unofficial chapter of the national and global #BlackLivesMatter movement. Greater Burlington is loosely defined as north to Milton, east to Jericho, south to Richmond, and west to Burlington.
I Am Vermont Too
I Am Vermont Too project shines a light on the experiences of POC across Vermont. The project is opportunity for reflection and dialogue for people who may unaware of their perpetuating racial stereotypes and harm. POC are invited to post photos.
Rise Upper Valley
RISE! is a POC, Black and Queer led grassroots organization working diligently against the violently oppressive actions of Police and ICE. We are working to provide aid to our members who come from communities affected by police brutality and ICE raids.
Vermont Racial Justice Alliance
The Vermont Racial Justice Alliance advocates for the implementation of State and local policy with of our collective strength, voice and leadership. We also provide a variety of community forums, panels and lectures to enable community members to gain an understanding of the issues and provide input and perspective on important related policies.
Showing Up Racial Justice Middlebury
SURJ moves white people to act as part of a multi-racial majority for justice with passion and accountability.
Central Vermont Showing Up for Racial Justice
SURJ is a national network of groups and individuals working to undermine white supremacy and to work toward racial justice. Through community organizing, mobilizing, and education, SURJ moves white people to act as part of a multi-racial majority for justice with passion and accountability.
The Root Social Justice Center
The Root Social Justice Center is a Vermont-based, POC-led nonprofit organization focused on racial justice organizing, community advocacy, and relationship-building programming. We are led by our Root Collective and our Collaborative Directorship team who help the organization maintain the integrity of our beliefs, purpose, and vision.
Association of Africans Living in Vermont
The AALV helps new Americans from all parts of the world gain independence in their new communities through a range of integration services, including bridging case management, workforce development, behavioral health awareness, and interpreter services programming. With support from our multicultural, multilingual staff, our clients are able to smoothly transition to living and working in Vermont.
Champlain Area NAACP
The mission of the Champlain Area National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination.
Support BIPOC-Owned and Centered Organizations, Farms, and Food Businesses
Vermont BIPOC-Owned Businesses
A crowd sourced Google doc of Vermont Black, Indigenous, and People of Color-owned businesses to support.
Clemmons Family Farm
The Clemmons Family Farm is one of the largest African-American-owned historic farms in Vermont today.
Strafford Creamery
Strafford Creamery produces certified organic milk and ice cream in Strafford, Vermont.
Black Farmers & Urban Gardeners
Black Urban Growers (BUGS) is an organization committed to building networks and community support for growers in both urban and rural settings. Through education and advocacy around food and farm issues, we nurture collective Black leadership to ensure we have a seat at the table.
Northeast Farms of Color Land Trust
Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust brings together a diverse skill sets in Cooperative Development, Climate Justice, Food and Land Sovereignty, Farming, Education, Herbalism, and Indigenous and Disaporic ways of honoring the land to build a land trust with clarity of focus, intentionality, and lived experience that centers the voices of QTBIPOC Farmers, Land Stewards, and Earth Workers.
Black Food Folks
A fellowship of Black professionals in food & drink, promoting and supporting one another for mutual success.
Land Loss Prevention Project
The Land Loss Prevention Project (LLPP) was founded in 1982 by the North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers to curtail epidemic losses of Black owned land in North Carolina.
National Black Food & Justice Alliance
National Black Food and Justice Alliance (NBFJA) is a coalition of Black-led organizations working towards cultivating and advancing Black leadership, building Black self-determination, Black institution building and organizing for food sovereignty, land and justice.
Soul Fire Farm
Soul Fire Farm is a BIPOC*-centered community farm committed to ending racism and injustice in the food system.
"21 Individuals and Organizations Building Stronger Black Communities and Food Systems"
"These 21 organizations and individuals represent a small portion of the efforts underway to fight racism and inequality and to build stronger Black communities and food systems, and I hope you’ll join me in supporting them."
"Want to See Food and Land Justice for Black Americans? Support These Groups."
Food justice is racial justice. As the nation rises up to protest atrocities against Black people, here are some organizations working to advance Black food sovereignty.
List of Black-Owned Food Businesses Around the United States
Lists of Black-owned food businesses around the country.
"A list of resources amplifying Black chefs and food producers, Black-owned businesses, and organizations helping the food insecure during protests and COVID-19."
In solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement we have compiled a list of resources amplifying Black chefs and food producers, Black-owned businesses, and organizations helping the food insecure during protests and COVID-19.
Take Action
Wealth Redistribution for BLACK People in Vermont
One of the EASIEST ways to support Black life, Black joy, Black safety, Black community— is to give your money to Black people. This is a requirement. To give generously, regularly, and with humility.
BIPOC Land and Food Sovereignty Fund (Vermont)
Help us purchase land for Black and brown farmers in Vermont!
Reparations in the Northeast
The food system was built on the stolen land and stolen labor of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian and people of color. Members of the Northeast Farmers of Color Network are claiming our sovereignty and calling for reparations of land and resources so that we can grow nourishing food and distribute it in our communities.
Donate to a Bail Fund, Mutual Aid Funds, and Racial Justice Organizers
Split a donation to all the bail funds, mutual aid funds, and activist organizations listed on this page, or allocate specific amounts to individual groups. Then be sure to share this page once you're done.
30 Day Anti-Racism Challenge
A 30 day anti-racism challenge created by an activist and student leader at Essex High School (Vermont) to help people continue the momentum of hte movement that seems to be emerging in this country.
FSNE Racial Equity Challenge
The 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge (aka the Racial Equity Challenge) is simple! You (along with thousands of other people across the US) commit to deepening your understanding of, and willingness to confront, racism for twenty-one consecutive days. At the very least, the Challenge will raise your awareness. But for many participants it goes beyond that and changes they way they see and interact with the world.
Education
FSNE Racial Equity Challenge Resources
A collection of resources used during the FSNE Racial Equity Challenge. Topics range from Overviews of Race and Racism to Food Systems Specific to Conversations with Children and more.
"A Reading List For Learning About Anti-Black Racism and Food"
Violence and injustice meet Black people in every sector of life; the food and cooking arenas are not exempt. Black people experience racism and exploitation on farms, in restaurants, and in grocery stores. This racism is systematic, ingrained in centuries of discrimination and disempowerment.
"The Case for Reparations"
Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.
7 Anti-Racist Books Recommended by Educators and Activists
Many anti-racist educators and activists say that to truly be anti-racist, we have to commit ourselves to the ongoing fight against racism — in the world and in us.
"Why is Vermont so Overwhelmingly White?"
This episode on Brave Little State, the history of Vermont’s whiteness — both racial and cultural — and stories from people of color about what it’s like to live here.
Afros & Knives
Welcome to the Afros and Knives podcast, an interview podcast that celebrates the Black women working and leading in food, wine, and hospitality.
"Strafford Organic Creamery Keeps On In Vermont's Troubled Dairy Industry"
Earl Ransom is, according to agricultural census data, part of a tiny demographic group: He's a black dairy farmer in Vermont.
"Trump Administration Must Stop Ignoring States’ Discrimination Against Land-Grant HBCUs"
If the Trump Administration is looking for a bipartisan cause to open lines of compromise with a soon-to-be Democratic House of Representatives, then a good place to start would be addressing the discriminatory practices of states refusing to fund historically black land-grant colleges and universities.
"Racial Justice Work in VT Webinar Follow Up"
It is our hope that people will choose at least one group to get involved with a long term commitment. Most of these groups need member, volunteers, and donors. Please give deeply of your time and resources. More people need to do more
Whetstone Magazine
Whetstone Magazine debuted in the spring of 2017 with the mission of championing food to expand human empathy. Whetstone works with a team of global creatives representing over a dozen countries. As a minority-owned publisher, we’re proud to say this venture is led by a team of women and people of color. We believe that diversity isn’t just noteworthy, it’s what makes our work so essential. When the gatekeepers are diverse, so too are the stories, its tellers and their experiences. This diversity accelerates our collective knowledge and empathy. Whetstone is unequivocally and gratefully a better publication because of it.
Racial Equity Tools
Racial Equity Tools is designed to support individuals and groups working to achieve racial equity. This site offers tools, research, tips, curricula and ideas for people who want to increase their own understanding and to help those working toward justice at every level – in systems, organizations, communities and the culture at large.
Why are there So Few Black Farmers in America?
In 1910 black farmers made up 14% of all farmers. Today they make up fewer than 2% and own less than 1% land in rural America. Land access for all is a social justice issue. We need to support black farmers so that they have the resources they need to keep and grow their farms and land-based businesses.
