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Our Work

Neighborhood based. locally driven. regional impact.

Neighborhood based.
locally driven.
regional impact.

Our relationship with the food system, the environment and with each other is an intimate and oftentimes tumultuous kinship that requires critical interrogation of our values.

Local food policy councils everywhere are organized as a stakeholder voice designed to assess the sectors of the food industry ecosystem. This includes how the system informs economic development, healthy families and communities, environmental stewardship and the preservation and viability of farms and farm land, including those in urban centers.

Join Us
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NONE OF US BY OURSELF
IS BETTER THAN ALL OF US TOGETHER.

how we're making it happen

Our Philosophy in Action

Center

Black Women

We are a Black woman led initiative with a targeted universalist approach to systems design. We center the voice and experiences of Black women as a strategy to design a more comprehensive, responsible and sustainable food industry ecosystem that is beneficial for all. We encourage the participation of all people in this work, because all people are needed for this work.

Develop

New Systems

At Zoo City, we are not asking for a seat at the table. We are creating our own table that everyone can eat from.

Locally, we serve as a bridge for farmers and small businesses working under cottage food laws; this allows for more sustainable income, closer community connections, and will lend to the restoration and rejuvenation of vacant land in areas affected by environmental racism.

Regionally, we develop pathways for food sovereignty. We do this by providing food systems literacy to communities with little to no access to education on the food industry ecosystem, primarily in Kalamazoo and Battle Creek.

Nationally, our desire is for our model to be accessible to communities across the country. Although our food system is designed with Kalamazoo and Battle Creek counties in mind, we know that there are other cities and counties around the U.S. that could benefit from an initiative that champions food sovereignty. With this in mind, we aim to share our design model with our neighbors outside of Michigan for them to apply it to their specific, collective needs.

In Action:

  • Provide fresh, healthy produce through our neighborhood-based farm sites.
  • Process, package and distribute our network members’ products (produce and value-added goods) at our regional Food Hub Facility in Battle Creek, MI.
  • Facilitate agricultural training programs, workshops and courses.
  • Foster community and policy innovation at our Community Design Studio

Speak

Truth to power

As a food policy council with the Michigan Local Food Council Network, we have established ourselves as an entity that reflects the interests of those underrepresented across all sectors of the food industry ecosystem. We share these perspectives within the network to inform policies, systems and legislation. 

In Action:

  • Create systemic change with our local food policy council Working Groups:
    • Land Stewardship
    • Intuitive Economies and Disruptive Money Systems (IEDMS)
    • Diaspora Women of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
    • Policy Review (Food, Water, Air and Soil)
    • Emergent Organizing Coalition

 

Our Working groups

Land Stewardship

  • The land stewardship working group is looking at the ethics of stewarding land and land ownership. They also examine our historical relationship with the land and search for ways to honor that relationship. This working group will tend to the specific needs of each site that we steward. This is a team in support of upholding Zoo City values and lending to the collective agenda through urban farming initiatives.
  • The Land Stewardship Chair position remains vacant at this time. 

Intuitive Economies and Disruptive Money Systems

  • This working group will focus on the concept of the conscious consumer. They will study various economic systems as well as underground and shadow economies (bartering, gig culture), and brainstorm about their practical application to our collective system and membership structure. Participants in this working group will evaluate how we participate in the agricultural economic landscape.
  • Co-Chairs: Chaz Rawls and Devon Wilson

Diaspora Women of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

  • The Diaspora Women of the Transatlantic Slave Trade working group is here to celebrate and affirm one another and the land that we steward. This collective will act as a resource for Diaspora women to uplift support, education, and representation in the outdoor industry and in the sustainability field. It is a group that will be a sacred space made for Black women, by Black women.
  • Chair: Remi Harrington, Founder

Policy Review
[Food, Water, Air and Soil]

  • The Policy Review working group will look at legislation and allocations in the areas of food, water, air, and soil. They will form Zoo City’s stance on climate change and conduct open discussions about environmental racism and justice. The ultimate goal of this working group is to work with local institutions to advocate for and develop innovative environmental policy that directly addresses the issues in our region and beyond.
  • Chair: Katie Pearson

Emergent Organizing Coalition

  • This working group will lend its support/input to our strategic partners and other working groups. Emergent organizers will ask what the most pressing issues for our network and community are and look for other organizations creatives to collaborate with. The coalition will serve as a communication bridge between Kalamazoo organizing groups in order to prevent overlap and overuse of resources.
  • Co-Chairs: JaMeelah Williams and Lindsey Palar

Our Team

Remi Harrington

Remi
Harrington

Co-Founder,
Organizer

About Remi

Remi Harrington

Co-Founder, Organizer

Remi is the organizer, administrator and co-founder of the Zoo City Farm and Food Network. Having spent the past seventeen years of her career in advocacy, human services and nonprofit administration, she happened upon urban farming as an act of rebellion.

Remi has a spectacular daughter named Tegan, and she is literally everything.

image_6487327 (1)

Salina
Johnson

Freelance
Consultant

About Salina

Salina Johnson

Consultant

Salina Johnson is a freelance consultant who has decided to lend her many talents to Zoo City’s creation. She has a background in engineering, customer service, and public health services. She is a Michigan native who spent her younger years in the field as the granddaughter of a farmer, and her dedication to this project can be seen in her passion for the work.

Ru Hensley

Ru
Hensley

Co-Coordinator
of Operations

About Ru

Ru Hensley

Co-Coordinator of Operations

Ru was born in Kalamazoo and raised in the Vine neighborhood, and has spent their life thus far focusing on strengthening bonds of community in Kalamazoo. Graduating from LNHS in 2016, they spent three years seeking a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and Gender & Women’s Studies at both GVSU and WMU. Ru has many hobbies and interests, though they are most passionate about making music, art, writing and taking care of houseplants. Above all, Ru seeks to find balance and justice in all things. Their involvement in Zoo City is focused on this ideal: to provide everyone equal access to programs and resources that can improve their quality of living.