Five Black farmers recently received a combined US$72,000 in funding to enhance access to resources and health outcomes for people across Maryland. The funding was a part of the EmPOWERED to Serve Business Accelerator.
The EmPOWERED to Serve Business Accelerator—a collaboration of the American Heart Association (AHA) and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield—is designed to support Black farmers in Maryland. Funds will be used to develop business strategies to address social and economic challenges and ultimately, increase access to healthy food.
Finalists underwent training in business and marketing development to enhance their brand’s story and collaborate with other Maryland Black Farmers. As they moved along in the process, they also had the opportunity to share their stories at an in-person finale before a panel of local business leaders.
“We’re providing them with an opportunity to learn strategies that will allow them to be successful in the future as they go out and propel their business model,” Kimberly Mays, Vice President of Community Impact at the American Heart Association, tells Food Tank. “Part of our goal with the finale was getting them in the room with folks who have the means to connect them with organizations that can continue to fund them.”
Ali Simento, the Founder of Geb-Ra Organics, won first place and received US$35,000 in grant funding. His startup aims to establish an Aquaponics farming complex in Baltimore, Maryland, using recycled shipping containers and implement a training program for public and private schools.
Finalists who received funding through the Accelerator also include Crystal Levine of CodaBax, Ashley Drakeford of The Capital Market, Richard Francis of Plantation Park Heights Urban Farm, and Doug Adams of New Brooklyn Farms.
“This was one of the first times that I’ve had the experience to actually pitch an idea in a business sense and pitching to folks that are looking at it from a business perspective, and we were definitely prepared very well,” Ashley Drakeford, Market Manager of The Capital Market and Finalist, tells Food Tank.
AHA and CareFirst seek to reduce disparities Black farmers encounter in Maryland’s agriculture sector, focusing on enhancing representation and economic involvement, and access to healthy food.
“I have a farm-based business and I would say part of the challenges for Black farmers that are based in Maryland is access to land and access to capital,” says Drakeford. Everybody loves farmers and everybody loves farmer’s markets, but they don’t truly understand what farmers have to go through.”
Less than 2 percent of Maryland farmers are Black and 26 percent of total Maryland farm sales are from Black farmers. Disparities arise from federal programs and policies that exclude Black individuals from land purchases and discriminatory lending practices limiting access to capital.
“This helps fill a gap some of these farmers have, allowing us to add the additional focus on nutrition security and food being one of the key tenants to address access and security for the community,” says Rhonda Chatmon, former Vice President of Health Strategies who recently retired from the American Heart Association.
The farmers participating in the Business Accelerator tend to prioritize social justice in their work, holding the potential to influence behaviors, broaden access to resources, and improve the long-term health of all people in Maryland.
“Most of these farmers sit in areas that are food insecure,” Mays tells Food Tank, “and if we’re able to provide them with funds that can grow and scale their businesses, there is a population right in their backyard they have the ability to feed.”
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Photo courtesy of Erika Fletcher, Unsplash
