Launched by Food Tank and the James Beard Foundation, the first annual Good Food Org Guide identifies and celebrates more than five hundred United States-based groups who are cultivating a better food system, including these eight from Michigan.
Cherry Capital Foods helps farmers in Michigan source and distribute their produce to local markets, and educates its consumers about the farms from which they are buying their food. Cherry Capital Foods also partners with independent school districts in Michigan to provide local food in schools.
Detroit Black Community Food Security Network
Detroit Black Community Food Security Network was formed in 2006 to mobilize members of Detroit’s black community in actively addressing their own food insecurity challenges. The network believes that the most effective movements grow organically within the communities they are designed to benefit. The Network currently operates three organic urban farm sites, various local food policy initiatives, and a cooperative food-buying program for community residents.
Detroit Food Justice Task Force
Detroit Food Justice Task Force is a collaboration of organizations led by people of color that share a vision of a food system that is effective, economically just, and healthy. The specific policies endorsed by the organization, called the Food Justice Principles, include launching a campaign for food sovereignty, rejecting the use of GMOs and other means of corporate control over food, and hosting collective community meals in an effort to combat racism.
The Greening of Detroit is a resource agency that builds a better ecosystem in Detroit, MI. The Greening of Detroit’s projects include planting over 81,000 trees in Detroit, offering classroom lessons to the city’s youth, and an urban agriculture initiative that offers apprenticeship programs to youth and adults alike.
Keep Growing Detroit envisions a food system in Detroit, MI where all the city’s residents eat locally-grown food. The organization distributes seeds and vegetable transplants to community members, offers classes on urban farming, teaches youth about agriculture, and builds a network among the city’s gardeners.
Michigan Organic Food and Farm Alliance
Michigan Organic Food and Farm Alliance generates public awareness about the dangers of an industrialized food supply. The organization empowers eaters to choose organic foods from local sources, which helps the community and small farmers alike.
Michigan Urban Farming Initiative
Michigan Urban Farming Initiative empowers Michigan’s urban communities by introducing them to sustainable agriculture. The organization uses urban agriculture as a platform for improving education and community while reducing socio-economic disparity.
Michigan Voices for Good Food Policy
Michigan Voices for Good Food Policy is a grassroots movement that supports policies providing opportunities for rural and urban farmers and expanding access to healthy locally grown food. The organization works with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition as well as other Michigan food groups to invest in beginning and minority farmers, make healthy food more available to Michigan residents, and spur agricultural economic growth.
