BIPOC Farmers Hub empowers growers

The Making A Difference Foundation (MADF) continues to bring revolutionary ideas and programs to Tacoma. In the spirit of feeding people now and raising up leaders for tomorrow, MADF’s BIPOC Farmer’s Hub is proving to be a most innovative project that the South Sound will benefit from for years to come.

Led by MADF founder, president and CEO Ahndrea Blue and her sister Ahmbur, the hub gives technical assistance to BIPOC farmers, producers and other hunger relief partners through practical and necessary mentoring for business planning and creation, marketing and development, invoicing and accounting, nonprofit formation, food safety training, grant preparation and writing, reporting and evaluation, and resource development.

“I birthed it at the height of COVID,” said Ahndrea, who is also the founder of Eloise’s Cooking Pot Food Bank. “I was looking to buy food, the farmers had food but not a place to sell it, so it worked out. We were then able to purchase their food and in doing that, I realized that they didn’t have strong business acumen which puts them at a disadvantage. I have a business background; I can help their business be very profitable.”

The program includes three cohorts of learners, more than 25 farmers and some doing other business in the food security system. Ahndrea said she and Ahmbur intend to make them Inc. 500 companies in the next 24 months. As ranked by Inc. magazine, an Inc. 500 company is among the top 500 fastest-growing private companies in the United States.

“Our goal is for everybody coming into the cohort that we selected will have the capacity to do at least a million dollars in one year of sales. In the 24 months, that’s the goal we’re working toward, and we walk that out with them to help them get there,” Ahndrea explained. “They are an incredible group of people, and they all have the capacity to do a million in sales easily.”

Tera Williams and Keshia Ulibarri both are in the hub program. They have experience in managing community gardens but now they themselves are looking to get into farming to set up a great opportunity for their children and those that are on the advisory board of their nonprofit Cousin Collective that started during the COVID era.

According to its website at cousinco.org, programs include a range of initiatives designed to promote sustainability and community engagement. From community gardens and education initiatives to waste reduction and recycling programs, Cousin Collective works to support hyperlocal circular economies and build community resilience in the face of environmental and social challenges.

“We are out there doing the work and would like to be able to do good within our community, but they need to have control over something in their lives and see that their work matters in the world and understand the benefit of doing work like this,” Williams explained. “It’s more important to us that we’re setting something up so that they want it versus us just doing our thing.”

Williams and Ulibarri currently are working two acres of land in Pierce County for farming purposes and now they want to kick it up a notch for a bigger operation and that’s where the BIPOC Farmers Hub comes in.

“Right now, we’re figuring out what kind of business structure we need to have to reach our goals – what the next steps we’ll have to take to get there and all the plans we need to have in place,” Williams said. “We’re refining, tightening, making sure there are no loose ends. With our structure in particular, we need to have a succession plan because the whole point is that we’re creating this so that our kids are able to take it over if they want to and figure out how they want to have a role in that moving forward.”

Another hub participant is Joy Promise. She comes with a lot of experience in farming and the food industry. A recently retired chef, she kept going in her field through her Eagle’s Nest Community Kitchen (eaglesnestkitchen.org) project teaching culinary arts skills to displaced homemakers, people that are coming out incarceration and young people, for example – “the basics to get their foot in the door,” as Promise said.

COVID hit soon after she started the program, so she pivoted to distributing food to people at risk of going hungry and she’s still doing it.

“I fight food insecurity with my mobile pantry. I pick up food, about 3,000 pounds a week, and deliver it throughout King County, Lewis County, Snohomish County and now we’re working with an organization in Pierce County,” she said.

She got involved with the BIPOC Farmers Hub to gain more knowledge in growing food, focusing on Georgia collard greens, cabbage, okra and black seed watermelons. With this produce, she can feed her friends and family, folks in need in the broader community, and even supply fresh, homegrown vegetables to Eloise’s Cooking Pot.

“I enjoy the fact that we have a safe place where we can learn from each other’s ancestral information, from other Black farmers – the techniques and skills that were passed down,” Promise said about the hub. “A Black farmer right now is a dying breed. At one time, Black farmers dominated in the United States, but I like it now with different cultures, farmers coming from Africa and all over with different styles to farm. I love the energy and the space that’s provided for us to do it.”

That Ahndrea and Ahmbur have the hub up and running now is good timing given the Trump Administration’s threats to funding food programs and toward the future of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits that so many rely on.

“People need to continue to have quality food. They’re worried and we’re worried but we’re committed at Eloise to making sure that the people are not going to feel it,” Ahndrea said. “We’re not going to limit their food or reduce the quality, and we’re going to trust God that he’s going to continue to provide and abundance of food.”

Anyone looking to apply for a spot in the BIPOC Farmers Hub can learn more at themadf.org/programs/bipoc-farmers-hub.