About this Event
Rural & Urban Food Sovereignty: Black Communities Taking the Lead will explore how Black farmers, growers, and food leaders across both rural and urban landscapes are reclaiming control over their food systems and shaping the future of equitable agriculture. This panel will highlight the interconnected struggles and triumphs of Black communities working toward food sovereignty—from multi-generational family farms in rural areas to community gardens, urban farms, and cooperative markets in cities.
Through candid dialogue, panelists will examine the historical and ongoing barriers that have impacted Black access to land, capital, and markets, as well as the resilience and innovation that have emerged in response. The conversation will center the leadership, cultural knowledge, and grassroots strategies that are driving systemic change, with attention to how rural and urban movements can collaborate to strengthen local economies, preserve cultural foodways, and address food insecurity.
Attendees can expect to hear firsthand perspectives on:
By bridging rural and urban experiences, this panel will offer a comprehensive look at how Black communities are leading the charge toward a future where food sovereignty is not just an aspiration, but a lived reality—rooted in self-determination, equity, and cultural pride.
Schedule
5:30 - 6 p.m. - Opening Reception & Networking (Light refreshments will be provided by DC Central Kitchen)
6 - 7:30 p.m. - Moderated Panel Discussion with Audience Q+A
7:30 - 8 p.m. - Networking
Virtual Option Available
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Series Host: Dr. Mya O. Price, Assistant Professor, Global Food Institute
Opening Remarks: Tambra Raye Stevenson, Founder/CEO, WANDA: Women Advancing Nutrition, Dietetics and Agriculture
Panelists:
Tambra Raye Stevenson is a 5th-generation Oklahoman with agricultural roots and a former Future Farmers of America member. She is the founder and CEO of WANDA: Women Advancing Nutrition, Dietetics, and Agriculture, educating, advocating, and innovation from farm to health through the power of women and girls. This Fall WANDA launched NOURISH: Maternal Food as Medicine to support doulas and birth workers and the WANDA Scholars to grow the pipeline of Black college women in agriculture and nutrition. Featured by Forbes, NPR, and The Washington Post, she was invited to the White House in 2023 to advance a Food Bill of Rights. She has served on the DC Food Policy Council, Tufts Food and Nutrition Innovation Council, Milken’s Food as Medicine Advisory Board, and USDA’s NAREEE Advisory Board. She previously held roles at HHS, Commerce, USDA, and the DC Mayor’s Office, where she launched the District’s first Women and Girls Wellness Conference and advanced equity initiatives.
Recognized as a National Geographic Traveler of the Year for reconnecting to her Fulani roots through food, Tambra has spoken across Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, and South Africa, bringing African food heritage into global conversations on health and sustainability. She also serves as the North American Representative to the African Nutrition Society, strengthening transnational collaboration in nutrition and public health.
As a PhD candidate at American University School of Communication, she teaches media and researches wasted food communication and Black women’s belonging in online health communities. The Tufts alum is an author, speaker, and strategist whose initiatives to build healthier, sustainable and equitable food systems. She graduated from Oklahoma State University in Human Nutrition and Spanish where she became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. She is a mom of two teens--Elliott and Ruby-- residing in Washington, DC.
Dion Dawson is a food-fighting social entrepreneur, philanthropic leader, and founder focused on health equity through an innovative and logistical lens. Dion's penchant for challenging the solvency of food insecurity through the stabilization of the supply chain has reinvigorated the traditional food distribution model and been met with worldwide attention. With data-driven operations, consistent quality, and a deep commitment to a resident-informed process that meets residents and recipients where they are, he prioritizes the end-user experience.
Dion is the Chief Dreamer of Dion’s Chicago Dream, a nonprofit social enterprise combating food insecurity through logistics & last-mile delivery in the U.S’s Midwest region. His system provides fresh produce to the door steps of food insecure recipients and has provided millions of pounds of fresh produce annually to the Chicago region food system, with numerous community jobs created and one powerful movement.
Cicely Garrett is the Co-Executive Director for National Black Food and Justice; a coalition of Black-led organizations working towards cultivating and advancing Black leadership, building self-determination, institution building and organizing for food sovereignty, land and justice.. She also is a Creative Strategist and Social Entrepreneur adept at providing thought leadership and consulting on strategy, design thinking, racial equity, environmental justice, food sovereignty, and community wealth building. She was previously the Deputy Chief Resilience Officer for City of Atlanta's Mayor's Office of Resilience and Food Systems Innovation Manager at the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Cicely holds a B.S.B.A. degree with a concentration in Finance and New & Small Business Management from Georgetown University and a Master of Public Policy degree with a concentration in Nonprofit Management from The George Washington University.
Qiana Mickie is New York City’s inaugural Executive Director of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Urban Agriculture. Under Qiana’s leadership, the office aims to advance urban agriculture and equity to actively address climate, health, and food disparities in the city’s natural and built environment. By collaborating with interagency leaders as well as the breadth of urban agriculture stakeholders, Qiana has developed innovative initiatives to foster healthy, culturally relevant food production, increase agriculture education to students, and bolster green space access for all in the city. She released NYC's first urban agriculture report in 2023 and launched the NYC Urban Agriculture Data Explorer Hub, a free, public interactive mapping tool and dashboard in 2025.
Qiana is also the Founding Principal of QJM Multiprise and the former Executive Director of Just Food. For over 13 years, Qiana has also worked on local, state, federal, and international policy on issues such as food sovereignty, land stewardship, and environmental justice. Qiana has a B.S. in Marketing from Hampton University and received her Food Hub Management certification from the University of Vermont. She currently serves on the USDA Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production Federal Advisory Committee and the International Council of Urgenci.
Ashley C. Smith, a native of Lexington, KY, co-founded Black Soil: Our Better Nature, an agribusiness with a mission of reconnecting Black Kentuckians to their heritage and legacy in agriculture in August 2017.
Under her leadership as COO, Smith rebranded the company to Black Soil KY to reflect its broader impact in agriculture regionally, nationally and globally. Currently, as Executive Director, Smith leads the one-of-a-kind Black woman-owned agribusiness which specializes in procurement, sourcing, grant writing and education for Kentucky Black farmers, chefs and makers representing less than 1.4%.
Smith has brought forth barrier breaking inclusivity to Kentucky agriculture and its local food system by centering Black farmers and elevating their visibility and perpetuation of Black farming and land ownership. An award winning and nationally recognized company, Black Soil KY has invested over $1.5 million into Kentucky’s tiny, yet mighty Black farming sector since 2017 through strategic partnerships, product placement and cooperative economics.
Her industry leadership includes the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Agribusiness Industry Council, Kentucky Black Farmers Conference founding organizer, Kentucky Black Farmer Fund founding member, Team Kentucky Medical Cannabis Workgroup, and farming consultant to agriculture coalitions and alliances in Indiana, Tennessee and Mississippi.
Smith holds a Bachelors of Arts in Sociology from the University of Kentucky. She is the proud mother to fraternal twins, Caroline and Trevor, Jr.
Learn More and RSVP Here.
