FoodLab Detroit is on a roll as it continues to promote the building – and diversifying – of Detroit’s local food economy. They even received a $100,000 grant earlier this month from the Kellogg Foundation to keep up the good work. When compared to the size of other much more attention-grabbing grants with more zeroes attached, it’s true this may not appear to be such a big deal. But in fact, it turns out to be a pretty big deal after all.
The issue of how best to create and manage a local food economy in Detroit has been on the front lines of debate in this city for years, ever since the larger chain stores such as Kroger’s and Farmer Jack’s began pulling up stakes and Chicken Little went on a tirade. There was a period roughly five years ago when Detroit was repeatedly referred to in a variety of publications as a “food desert”, fostering an image of thousands of Detroiters stranded in neighborhoods without adequate transportation and no way to get to a nearby store because no stores were nearby.
Since those early and uninformed days, more than a few stories and blogposts – well-researched and well-documented stories and blogposts – have appeared to refute the urban myth of the “food desert” known as Detroit. And that is a good thing. Because even though it made for an interesting tale that fed into the enjoyable (to some) narrative of Detroit as Desperation City, the simple fact was that it wasn’t true. One of the best refutations of that myth could be found in a January 25, 2011 posting on the blog “Urbanophile”, where it said:
“Because of the events of the last half century, this is a city that journalists and academics love to examine and study. In focusing on the sensational, they often concoct maddening generalizations about what they’ve found here. In the time I’ve lived in Detroit, I’ve come to realize that the most sensational claims and the public perception they create often have little to do with the day-to-day reality of being a Detroiter. This is a complicated city, and even in the most sincere efforts to cull some truth from it, visiting journalists often end up spreading damaging falsehoods.
“One of the most annoying is that Detroit has no grocery stores.”
After which the laboriously researched post goes on to list one erroneous story after another reported by such esteemed (?) publications and news programs as The Wall Street Journal, Dateline NBC, and Good Magazine, all of whom wax authoritative about how you just can’t find food in the ‘D’. Which would be amusing if it weren’t so easy to prove wrong, which raises a number of other questions about agendas that will have to wait.
Still, the issue of who controls the food economy in Detroit, and how that local food economy can become more diverse, remains a valid discussion meriting considerably more attention than what it has been receiving. Fortunately, organizations such as FoodLab (and there aren’t many) are changing the framework of the discussion surrounding Detroit’s food economy to make sure that the issue of diversity and inclusion is not a secondary element but a primary element of the discussion. It’s good to see that their work has begun to receive recognition.
“There is a tremendous amount of value in local ownership,” said Devita Davison, Co-Director and Chief Cultivator at FoodLab, which was founded in 2010. “We ask the question ‘what could entrepreneurship look like if you have people of all colors and backgrounds at the table to guide our work toward a food economy that is diverse, sustainable, and, above all, equitable?”
“In order to create a local food economy here in Detroit that is inclusive, that is diverse, and where we are trying to build toward equity, we have to lower the barriers of entry so that entrepreneurs of color, and entrepreneurs who don’t have access to the kinds of resources to open up a bakery or a restaurant can start a new business. We can lower that barrier of entry to give everyone an opportunity.”
Davison, a native Detroiter, arrived at her current position through rather unusual circumstances. After living in New York City for 17 years working in the food economy there, she lost her home and everything in it to Hurricane Sandy in 2012, after which she returned home to Detroit to move in with her parents and figure out where her life was supposed to go from there. After several days on the couch, her mother said, “DeVita, you need to realize that the Lord did not send those waters to drown you but to move you, and you need to figure out why he wanted to move you to Detroit.”
Within a matter of days Davison had connected with Peggy Brennan, co-owner and co-founder of The Green Garage, a co-working office space located in Midtown, who put her in touch with Jess Daniel, the founder of FoodLab. Daniel hired Davison as a consultant for a FoodLab project called Detroit Kitchen Connect, which partnered young Detroit entrepreneurs with available kitchen space in local churches to offer the entrepreneurs the opportunity to more easily launch their own small food businesses. The church connection was Davison’s idea, who comes from a long line of preachers and deacons.
“If there’s one thing I know, it’s churches,” she said.
Detroit Kitchen Connect was honored in September 2014 by Oprah Winfrey during the second stop of her much-publicized multi-city “The Life You Want” tour which landed at the Palace in Auburn Hills. Winfrey had solicited nominations nationwide for local businesses that were doing good work for their communities. Davison didn’t find out until that evening when she was in attendance at the Palace that Detroit Kitchen Connect would be the recipient of a $25,000 grant to continue her good work thanks to Oprah and whoever had nominated Kitchen Connect. She still doesn’t know who that was.
The following year, Jess Daniel decided to return to graduate school, which opened the door for Davison to step up from the role of consultant and take the reins. A few weeks ago she won a $100,000 grant from Kellogg. Although they are small (a staff of four), FoodLab has 149 member businesses, at least half of which are Black-owned and 70 percent of which are owned by women.
So yes. FoodLab is on a roll. Which is a good thing for Detroit.
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