Most days, Patrick Brown kneels in the red clay of Warren County, North Carolina, running the soil through his fingers. His roughly 300 acre farm has been in his family since 1865 and has survived crisis after crisis. Now it has another important job to do — affordably feeding families in one of the state’s […]
food insecurity
Posted inBlack Farmers, Community
Why Fresh Collard Greens Are Becoming a Holiday Lifeline in These Communities
SYMONDS, Mississippi. — Robert Jackson hauled a truck two hours away from his farm to his home in Pensacola, Florida, to give away 1,200 bundles of collard greens just days before Thanksgiving. Instead of giving away free turkeys, like most people, he offered free greens and sweet potatoes. It’s the fourth year he’s been giving […]
Posted inFood Access, Politics & Policy
For 30 Years, a Report Tracked Hunger in America. Now It’s Been Canceled
After three decades of tracking food insecurity, understanding the reality of Americans without access to reliable food may become more difficult due to the discontinuation of a federal survey. The Household Food Security Report is an annual, national survey that monitors the severity of food insecurity in U.S. households. The United States Department of Agriculture […]
Posted inRural Issues
The Black Women Driving a Food Revolution in Rural Mississippi
Sowing Resilience: Rural communities across the country are grappling with food insecurity. Schoolchildren, seniors, grocers and even farmers face a food crisis compounded by government cuts and soaring costs. These nine stories reveal how communities are navigating — and reimagining — the systems that have left them hungry. OAKLAND, Miss. — Grocery store owner Marquitrice […]
Posted inBlack Businesses, Rural Issues
Dollar Stores Force Local Grocery Stores to Close. This Woman Opened One Anyway.
Marquitrice Mangham never imagined that she’d open a grocery store in her hometown of Webb, Mississippi. She left in the 1990s after high school. But in 2016, she inherited her family’s farm, splitting her time between the majority-Black town of fewer than 500 people in the rural Delta and her current home in Atlanta. Webb […]
Posted inFood Access, Money
Freddie Gray’s Life Ignited a Movement for Black Food Sovereignty
In death, Freddie Gray’s life sparked a movement. After the 25-year-old was killed in the spring of 2015 by Baltimore police, nationwide, Black folks fought for children to receive the support and resources that he lacked while living. In his hometown, it laid bare how environmental factors — toxic contamination and poor access to fresh […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Gun Violence
The Jacksonville Tragedy at Dollar General Highlights a Big Problem with Dollar Stores
Before killing three Black people at a Dollar General in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday, a white gunman first stopped at a Family Dollar down the road, according to authorities. He left minutes after a security vehicle pulled up and parked in front of the store. That and other information has led Florida authorities to believe […]
Posted inMoney
These Georgia Communities Are Facing Lawsuits for Stopping Dollar General Stores
Although a judge recently threw out a developer’s case against a Georgia county trying to stop a dollar store from opening in a majority Black area, the county’s commissioner says the fight to protect her community isn’t over. Alana Sanders, Newton County District 3 commissioner, told Capital B that residents often have to travel outside […]
Posted inRural Issues
The Movement to Stop Dollar Stores From Suffocating Black Communities
For years, the Rev. Donald Perryman wondered why the formerly thriving Black downtown of Toledo, Ohio, couldn’t get a grocery store. His suspicions were confirmed after a city study found in 2020 that the opening of new Dollar General stores drove other companies out of business, deterring potential grocers from investing there. He, along with […]