LANSING, MICH – The Michigan Farmers Market Association (MIFMA) is proud to announce that they have been awarded $161,585 in funding through a USDA Agricultural Marketing Program Farmers Market Promotion Program grant. The grant will support the creation and ongoing education of a Market Manager Racial Equity Cohort.
The goal of the Market Manager Racial Equity Cohort is to empower market managers to foster greater understanding with the communities they serve by dismantling systems of oppression and implementing the tenets of the Farmers Market Coalition’s Anti-Racist Farmers Market Toolkit. Grant funds will be used to provide stipends to market managers for participating in the cohort and implementing an anti-racist initiative at their markets.
“The cohort structure is meant to offer a space for market managers to foster relationships and support each other as they work to dismantle systems of oppression at their markets,” says Julia Kramer, MIFMA Assistant Director and co-staff liaison of MIFMA’s Racial Equity Committee. “Our ultimate goal is to create more welcoming community-driven marketplaces and lower barriers to participating in markets.”
MIFMA also intends to create and publish a curriculum for the cohort program and share outcomes from the project with MIFMA members and the broader farmers market sector. The overall goals of this project are to support meaningful impacts in the participating market’s communities and create a program model that can be replicated in other regions and other sectors of the food system.
“To date, our board, staff, and Racial Equity Committee have been intentional about doing the work of racial equity internally first and foremost so that our external work comes from a place of authenticity and accountability,” says Jenny Radon, MIFMA Programs Director and co-staff liaison of MIFMA’s Racial Equity Committee. “We will ensure that both internally and externally, MIFMA is an actively anti-racist organization that makes a committed and transparent effort to advance the cause of racial equity in the farmers market sector and in the Michigan food system as a whole.”
To learn more about MIFMA’s Racial Equity work to date, click here.
MIFMA places equity at the forefront of supporting the viability of community-driven marketplaces so that they can connect ALL consumers to local farms and businesses, and has committed more than $22,000 in matching funds from our internal budget to support these efforts. We depend on the generosity of local food champions like you to fund this vital work. By donating to MIFMA, you can directly support the anti-racist training, professional development, and cohort activities of Michigan farmers markets. Learn more and give here.