Quinn Foster
Black Food Sovereignty Coalition (BFSC) is a mission-impact non-profit organization based in Oregon. They serve as a collaboration hub for Black and Brown communities to confront the systemic barriers regarding food, economic, and environmental inequalities. Their mission is to ignite Melanated communities to participate as owners, movement leaders, and culture bearers within food systems, placemaking, and economic development.
According to census.gov, in Portland, Oregon, African Americans make up 5.6% of the city's population and Latino Americans make up 10.3% of the city's population. According to portlandoregon.gov, the median household income for African Americans is $33,968, for Latino Americans, it is $40,163 and for White Americans, it is $60,801.
Due to the economic and social disparities that people of color face, such as rapid gentrification, the Black Food Sovereignty Coalition believed that the community and the organization could be a part of the positive change that the city of Portland claims to be.
The Grandma's Hands program is a platform for Black grandmothers to share family recipes, and food traditions with future generations, and reclaim their history. The program provides a bag of fresh produce grown by Black farmers and brings everyone together virtually and in person to learn how to prepare the featured recipe. Due to community interest, the program created and planned a Grandma's Hands Cookbook dedicated to Black Portland.
BFSC is an organization that thrives and depends on volunteers and community professionals. Because of the global pandemic, the demands for the program grew, and there was a need for an ethnographer, writer, and editor immediately. I assisted with grant writing and following such, I was onboarded as a freelance ethnographer, writer, and editor.
To connect the older and younger generations of Black Portland together through storytelling, sharing food recipes, collaborative cooking, organizing, and active listening, via Grandma's Hands Cookbook.
For the Grandma's Hands Cookbook Project Quinn:
*The Grandma's Hands Cookbook has been an ongoing project for two and a half years. The project will be completed by Spring 2023.*
The current outcomes are as follows:
A draft copy of a community member's profile for the Grandma's Hands Cookbook.
2022