For the Tohono O'odham Tribe in southwestern and central Arizona, food is the foundation of health, culture, community, family, and economies. Since 1996, the grassroots community organization Tohono O’odham Community Action (TOCA) has been dedicated to improving the health, cultural vitality, sustainability, and economic revitalization for the Tohono O’odham Nation.

This fall, thanks to TOCA’s new school food enterprise, Desert Rain Food Services, 700 children on the Tohono O'odham Nation will be served healthier school food sourced from local farmers. TOCA received a $300,000 Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) grant to pilot a school food service enterprise that supports healthier eating and a strong indigenous food economy.

The food system works for some, but fails too many of us.  Yet, we already have a glimpse of the possibility of a just and healthy food system.  To get there, we must use a critical race lens to diagnose what is wrong with our current system, assess entry points for change, and determine ways that we can work together to build a better system for all of us.  This report shares an analysis of what it means to build a racially equitable food system – from field to farm to fork – and lays out steps toward achieving that goal.

In this report, CSI Food Equity Fellow Shorlette Ammons describes the realities of current and past food systems from the perspectives of Southern women of color.  Shorlette argues that we can achieve equitable food systems change by: 1) changing the narrative; 2) identifying food systems policy that directly affects women and children; 3) developing women of color leadership to lead the policy change; 4) building capacity and developing organizations; and 5) finding ways to sustain family farms.

This resource library or “tool kit” is designed to provide resources to two primary audiences: those who are considering establishing a grocery store; and existing rural grocery store owners.