Celebrating Black History Month: Black Leaders Driving Change in Their Communities

This Black History Month, we want to celebrate by uplifting the voices of Black community leaders who are bringing good health and new opportunities to their neighborhoods. From spearheading new urban farming networks to helping raise a generation of kids who are informed, thoughtful and brave about race, these changemakers are showing us what it means to create healthier futures for all.

The man affectionally named “Farmer Chippy” by his community didn’t begin his career with aspirations of starting an urban farm in Baltimore. Instead, Richard “Farmer Chippy” Francis spent years working as a biomedical field service engineer, repairing important equipment used by medical professionals to make diagnoses.

While the job allowed Chippy to travel and meet plenty of new people, he became distressed over the persistent health problems he witnessed in clinics, hospitals and urban care facilities. In particular, he was concerned by the lower quality of life experienced by youth in many city communities.

“I realized I was doing preventive maintenance on equipment when I wanted to be doing preventative maintenance on humans. And that’s how I became an urban farmer,” Farmer Chippy shared with a grin when he spoke with Rite Aid Healthy Futures staff earlier this year.

Farmer Chippy at Plantation Park Heights Urban Farm.

Drawing on his childhood in his native Trinidad, where farming was a community and familial practice, Chippy laid the foundation for an urban farm that would bring fresh food and green spaces to Baltimore City. Alongside a group of dedicated Caribbean-American citizens looking to reinvest in their neighborhoods, Chippy founded the Plantation Park Heights Urban Farm.

Plantation Park Heights is many things, including a market, farm, urban farming resource center and second home for the city’s Caribbean communities. In addition to all those titles, it’s also a favorite haunt for youth from the surrounding community.

Through Plantation Park Heights Farmer Chippy and his team have driven real impact for citizens of Baltimore. Not only does the organization grow and distribute food while engaging youth and families, but its influences reach beyond its own borders.

In 2022, efforts led by Farmer Chippy and Plantation Park Heights succeeded in restarting a local farmer’s market, whose closure after 11 years had been a blow to many locals. Now rebranded as The AgriHood Baltimore Farmer’s Market, the event returns regular access to local foods, vendors and socializing to the community.

For Farmer Chippy, the revitalized market is just a small example of the vision he holds for the city.

“I dream that Baltimore will be packed with beautiful gardens, clean food, clean water, clean air and a thriving marketplace shared and supported by the community,” he said.

Hear more from Farmer Chippy in his Bite-Sized Insight video.

Andrew Grant-Thomas describes himself as a “long-time racial justice guy,” and that’s the truth. Looking at his history, you’ll find he’s contributed to the efforts of countless impactful projects and organizations over the years. That list includes the Harvard Civil Rights Project, the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity and the Proteus Fund, a national grantmaker committed to advancing justice through democracy, human rights and peace.

During his time working for racial justice, Andrew has learned a lot. But looking back, his kids have been one of his largest inspirations. As a parent, Andrew was dedicated to raising his two children to be thoughtful and informed about race, but he quickly noticed a large gap in the resources that would help parents like him and teachers do so. Alongside his life and business partner, Melissa, he decided to try to fill that gap.

Images from Drawing Differences, an EmbraceRace virtual activity.

In 2016, Andrew and Melissa founded EmbraceRace, a nonprofit committed to addressing two critical challenges: that race remains one of the most persistent divisions in the United States, and that caregivers looking for ways to mend racial divisions and educate youth have few places to turn. And while a growing body of research shows that children can develop racial biases by kindergarten, at the time almost no national programs focused on engagement with kids younger than middle school aged.

With these challenges in mind, EmbraceRace set out to provide parents and teachers with the tools to raise kids who are thoughtful and brave about race. EmbraceRace offers a variety of grounded and approachable resources, such as webinars, children’s books, action guides and community forums – with more resources emerging all the time.

Their resources have become critical to educators and guardians, particularly as violence and persistent cultural tensions leave Americans looking for ways to take action and educate their kids. In 2021 alone, EmbraceRace webinars garnered over 68,000 views.

For Andrew and his team, it’s all about taking steps that will bring change in his children’s lifetimes, not in the next century. EmbraceRace plays a crucial role in that process, educating kids young and giving them the space and resources to learn about topics that can be uncomfortable but are hugely consequential for their lives and their communities.

Of the organization’s name, Andrew shared: “We went with EmbraceRace because we wanted to push back against the idea that race is something to be avoided, or that we should or could be ‘color-blind.’  We wanted to say, ‘No, we're going to embrace it. We're going to be honest about it. We're going to be explicit about it. We're going to grapple with it bravely.’”

When Deryck Toles was drafted into the NFL in 2004, he thought he’d started a new chapter in life that would be far removed from the troubles of his youth. But after an injury ended his career just two years later, Toles was forced to leave behind the Indianapolis Colts and head home to Warren, Ohio, where his childhood had been filled with many of the challenges that come with growing up in a low-income area.

Deryck’s parents grappled with substance abuse, and he spent much of his time with his grandmother. Often, he took part in raising his siblings. Deryck reflects that the safety of his surroundings and his family regularly concerned him, and he remembers feeling angry and seeking insecure as he grew up. When football caught his eye, he hoped it might offer him a path to more significant opportunity. But just two years into his professional career, fate stepped in.

Upon returning home to Ohio after leaving the NFL, Deryck Toles found himself depressed. Football had become an identity; without it, he was left searching for something new. It wasn’t until Deryck realized the power of his degree from Penn State and experiences in professional football that he began to dream up something new.

Deryck took the troubles of his childhood and his passion for change and reflected on how he could support kids and youth from similar circumstances. He began visiting local students monthly to talk about their futures and even lend help with homework. When one student noted that he wanted to go to college but was unsure how to get there, Deryck had an idea.

That idea was Inspiring Minds, a nonprofit focused on children’s health and education. Four days a week, Inspiring Minds provides students with a place to study when school ends. An enrichment program engages kids during the summer, too.

Inspiring Minds covers five focus areas: education; career and college readiness; exposure to new experiences, health and wellness; and personal development. For Toles, each focus area connects to his own story. Armed with the motto that “Anything’s Possible,” Inspiring Minds has served as a beacon of hope in Warren, a city wracked with gun violence and drug use. It’s also given Toles something bigger than himself: a purpose after football.

So far, more than 2,500 students have been impacted by the organization’s programs, and every Inspiring Minds student has graduated high school.

Dreaming up innovative programming that combines education and urban agriculture isn’t a new task for Hanifa Adjuman, the education and outreach director at the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, a community-based nonprofit that works to build food security, food justice and food sovereignty for Detroit’s Black residents.  

Before her role with DBCFSN, Hanifa taught for 12 years at Nsoroma Institute, a small Africa-centered academy in Detroit. There, food security had always been an integral part of every class, and the school’s garden held a special place in the curriculum.  

As first, a third grade, and later a middle school teacher at Nsoroma, Mama Hanifa saw first-hand the positive impact that green spaces have on youth and their communities. She relished the time students spent in the garden planting, harvesting and discovering the natural wonders held within the space.  

“I remember how I would have to take my middle-schoolers kicking and screaming into the garden. But then when it was time to go in, they’d always ask, ‘Do we really have to go in now?’ And that is a reminder of the magic of nature,” she shared with us recently.  

Sadly, the school closed in 2014, but not before its curriculum and programming laid the groundwork for the founding of The Detroit Black Community Food Security Network. 

Founded in 2006, DBCFSN continues to blend urban agriculture and youth education, though it has since outgrown the single school garden at Nsoroma and now operates a seven-acre organic farm in Detroit’s Rogue Park. Hanifa joined the organization in 2011, and as education and outreach director for the organization, she is responsible for the educational youth programming that is central to the mission of DBCFSN.  

The primary youth program, Food Warriors, engages students after school as well as a Saturday community program, in activities designed to teach them all aspects of the food system – from food justice and environmental awareness to agriculture techniques and healthy food preparation. In 2022, over 100 kids and teens participated in the Food Warriors program.

The organization also brings its work directly into schools by hosting food-security presentations and activities with classrooms in local schools and community organizations, which not only engage students but demonstrate techniques and tools for educators as well.  

Mama Hanifa shows Rite Aid Healthy Futures staff a local DBCFSN school garden.

“Although Food Warriors is primarily an after-school program, our goal is to infuse garden education and nutrition throughout the curriculum. Part of our approach is showing the staff how the garden can be infused into every subject area,” Mama Hanifa said. “The teachers also get an opportunity to see how it’s done and not feel intimidated.” 

Mama Hanifa’s years as a teacher mean she has a keen understanding of the challenges educators face, and the resources that are meaningful to them when it comes to adding new material to their lessons. As a result, DBCSFN provides classrooms with helpful materials that include lesson plans, with important curriculum standards already identified for teachers.  

Propelled by a love for teaching and a passion for urban agriculture, Mama Hanifa is always looking for ways to grow and improve the organization’s programming. That doesn’t just mean for kids. After a recent survey provided to parents at one of the program sites indicated an overwhelming interest in healthy food preparation and preservation, she was given permission by the school’s administration to host parent workshops for the remainder of the school year focused on the garden and nutrition.