 My name is Edwina Fuya work as Intercultural Center Leadership Advisor within Multicultural Affairs. I want to say welcome again to Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King week. This is our day three. And I have the privilege and honor of introducing our keynote speakers, presenters for today. And so Hilltop Urban Gardens mission is to create a sovereign food system and to create economic and racial justice. We are a black queer and trans-led organization that centers the needs of black folks and does work to support and uplift other marginalized communities. We operate through an anti-racist lens to create a community we can all thrive in. Our first presenter, Miriam McBride is an active community activist. For the past two years she has been involved with HUG and is currently working on projects to get youth involved in gardening and community organizing. She is also passionate about seeing the power of black folks being able to reframe their relationship to land and food. Just a little side note fun fact. I used to work with Miriam at Tacoma Community College. She's a former student leader and now she's a community artist. Okay, I'm so proud of you. Also Erin Martinovich is a PhD candidate at Prescott College in the Sustainability Education Program. Evan has been an intern with HUG for the past five years. She is currently working on educating and training white volunteers at HUG with their white folks orientation. The purpose of this orientation is to help white volunteers to better understand their role when working within a black-led organization. And this training teaches white folks about their whiteness and how it impacts the spaces they are in and affects people of color. Future Dr. Evan, I was saying that some earlier. And so, Hyland, can you please join me in welcoming Miriam and Evan? My name is Evan and my pronouns are also she and her. Food sovereignty and create racial and economic justice. And so today we're going to talk about pretty much why we started the work. And that's really about food sovereignty. So we're going to talk about the difference between food sovereignty, food charity and food justice. And then we're going to talk about some of the programs we do in the community. And then one of our campaigns, which is the Land and Housing Liberation, addressing gentrification. And then Evan will talk some about the role that white folks play in our organization and how they can be involved in a way that's, like, equitable. And before we get into that, some background about Hugg. Hugg was started back in 2010 as a project of our founder, Dean Jackson. And through that project, it started off with just they took a packet and their idea and their idea was to, and took home if you ever been there, between the sidewalk and the street side. We have these really big plots of, like, grass. And so they're just, like, curbside grass. And so Dean had an idea that we had all this land we could be growing food on it because there's nothing there and in the summertime it just dies. So they took a packet with their idea of what they wanted to do and took it to the neighbors on their block, which is on South 19th and Ainsworth. And two people responded and said that they are totally okay with them building gardens. And that was the start of it all. They started growing just them on their free time when they got off work and stuff, growing food, and then sharing it back with the neighbors that shared their yard. And now we have our main farm on South 19th and Ainsworth. And then we have 11 other curbside gardens that have been given to us, that have been donated by neighbors in the community. And then we also have some, like, hoop houses and, like, some bigger gardens throughout the neighborhood. And really all this work that we do, it was created to create an alternative food system for folks that are of low income, that are black, that are people of color, and so that they can have access to healthy food. Yeah. And this work is really important in the hilltop community because that neighborhood is a food insecure area. There's one grocery store and it closes at, like, 11 or midnight. And then it opens at, like, 6 in the morning. So there really isn't a lot of options for accessing healthy food in the hilltop community. Okay. So we wanted to kind of explain where hug is coming from within this context of food justice and food sovereignty. And so what comes with that, a lot of people think about, like, food charity. So within these, we want to think about who's benefiting from food charity, food justice, and food sovereignty. Is it long term, short term, who's making money off of this, who's in charge, who's controlling it? So food security is, there's a quote here, food security exists when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life. So people having access to healthy food in their communities is a component of food security. There's some examples of different ways food security can be modeled. Part of food security, a lot of the time is food charity, which is food banks where people go and they get the food that they need because they don't have access to it another way. So some issues with food charity is that it was meant as a temporary fix to the problem of communities not having enough access to food. So we kind of want to change our relationship to how we're connecting people with food. We don't want it to be an emergency response or a temporary thing. We want it more long term. Yeah, and the issue with food charity and food banks, yes, they do serve a community, but it's only for a week in that temporary thing and because it's temporary and doesn't actually solve, get to the root issues of what causes hunger and lack of access to food, it's not a solution at all because it just continues the cycle and people still have to continually depend on it. You don't get to the food bank and all of a sudden you're good on food for the rest of life. You have to keep going. And so that's the problem. We want to get to the root of the issue and actually have a sustainable fix. And so these here are the three pillars of food security. And so it just kind of breaks down the availability, access, and use. So for food availability, that's sufficient quantities consistently available. So like how we talked about the Safeway that's on Hilltop, it's really, it's like the smallest Safeway in Tacoma and it's only one story and it's like the produce section is like not good. Like most of the time the fruits aren't like edible by the time you go and get them. Like it's a little bad compared to the other stores in Tacoma and that has a lot to do with like redlining and like systematic racism. And like we'll go more about that and talk about that deeper. And then food access is sufficient resources to obtain food for a nutritious diet. So like having like access, like having like jobs and like income to be able to support buying that food or like something, some type of support to get that food. And then that's kind of where our main focus is, is food access. And then food use is the appropriate use based on knowledge of basic nutrition and adequate water. So, and then we also try to do that through like our different education sources that we will talk about. And then we'll talk about what food sovereignty means and which is our goal. So in 1998, I wonder if I remember at the world of, do you know what the conference was? Okay, that's okay. But back in 1998 the term food sovereignty was coined and that came because of in Central America there was a lot of fights going on around indigenous folks trying to protect their land and the way they grow. But there was a large culture of like monocropping that got taken over and like corporations coming in and like grabbing up land. And then, and the issue with monocropping is that that's literally just growing one type of food. And the issue with that is that if you're just growing one food forever, you're going to keep taking the same nutrients out the ground. And then those nutrients are never being replenished. So then the land ends up being unuseful after a certain point in time. And so people were losing, people weren't able to practice their indigenous ways of growing food and like having access to it as easily. And so they coined this term food sovereignty as a response. And then these are the six principles. One focuses on food for people and not like corporations and shipping food out elsewhere and money to values food providers. So that's pretty much like from top to bottom of the food chain. So from like planting and processing and then making to the table, like each person is being valued and then localizes food systems so that the food that's growing in the area is also feeding the people in that area, which doesn't happen a lot of the time. Even here in America, when we grow all this food and then a lot of it gets shipped out or wasted. And then we have folks here at home that don't have any food. And then makes decisions locally so the people that are directly impacted and are also part of the decision making. And so power is being distributed and then builds knowledge and skills. So people aren't just like, oh, there's food. This is where it comes from. But people actually are having the skills to be able to go and like grow or process or hand out so that this, so that it's sustainable so that they can pass it on and keep it and keep it going because everybody has a part and has like a play into it and has something that they're getting back. And then six works with nature, which is something that, which really comes from like indigenous culture and values is like valuing nature and like realize that it's a reciprocal relationship that it's not, oh, then we're going to take what we get, but we have to also give back and take care of the land and take care of our people. And it's all like a full circle. And so these are the six that they came up with. And so to kind of like put some like that like around those questions of like power. So these are just some questions I want to post out to you and like it's okay if you don't know the answers. And so the questions are who controls the seeds? And we can just think like in Washington, who controls the seeds that grows the food? Who controls the land? Who controls the water? Who grows the food? Who distributes it? And who holds the knowledge and makes decisions? Does anybody know any of the answers to those? Exactly, that's the point. Like all we know is that we go to the grocery store and we get these food, but we have no idea where it's coming from. We don't know who's planning it. We don't know what kind of seeds they're putting in the ground, what they're putting on our food or even like how they're treating the people who grow the food. Cause we do technically know who grow the food and it's usually migrant workers and they're usually working for very low wages and being abused. And so, and that's probably the most that we know. And so that's just to show that our food system, like we're really in the dark about it. Like the convenience of it also puts us in the dark. And so whoever owns these systems, they control all the food that we eat, you know what I mean? And so, and that's what the problem is. And so because of that power dynamic that we recognize, we as HUD decided to add in a seventh one that's a working principle and that's examines power relationships to ensure equity in the food system. And the reason for this is it was creating responsive for the need to really understand the power structure and understand on a local, national and then global aspect because this work that we're doing, it really is a global fight. And there's people that have been doing it, especially in Brazil, they've been doing this work for a long time. Like, and like all the way down to like Australia with the indigenous folks there, like it's like worldwide and it's a serious issue. And so examining the power relationships helps us to understand where we are and what we can do because it's a whole system. So food justice also fits into food sovereignty. They're often a lot of times combined or people think of them very similar because they're both aiming to do the same things. So food justice was organized as a response to experience and consequences from food injustices. So a lot of the time, food justice work focuses on farm worker rights, getting living wages for farm workers and food workers and growing food in more urban spaces to increase access to healthy foods. Oh yeah, and the people that coined the term was via compensina. I'm sorry, I just wanted to be a creditor. Yeah, and then so now we're going on to like the work that we do in like our different programs. So the so Miriam at the beginning kind of explained how hug is set up. We call it our urban farm network is all of our sites combined together, create this urban farm network. So neighbors share portions of their yards. They can decide what size they want to share. Hug manages the land and grows the food. All that we ask of the homeowner or renter is that they let us use their water on their site so we're not having to bring in our own water. So do we know how like total acreage? I don't know, but I thought we were like half a fourth of an acre. Yeah, I think we're at a fourth of an acre and then we just got access to a half acre of land that we get to grow medicines on. So we're gonna be growing. Yeah. So I think over the summer we distributed close to what was it, two tons? Two tons of produce in hilltop in an urban area which a lot of people don't really think that something like that is possible, but it is. So another major component of our urban farm network is hug grub and that's our community farm stand that we do in the summer months. June usually goes from June to beginning of October. It's every Saturday. And so we have volunteers harvest produce Saturday morning and then later in the afternoon it is shared back out to the community. And so we really focus on using the language of sharing and not giving because we're asking in exchange for the produce what is your time, talent or treasure that you can share with the community or with hug. So can you volunteer with us? Can you volunteer somewhere else? Are you able to like knit blankets or quilts and share that with your neighbors? And then treasure, do you have something that you can give to hug or to someone else? Or we do accept donations if that is your preferred method of sharing but it's not required. Money is not required to get produce. And the produce is not just for like folk and hilltop. Like it's for anybody in the community. Like you come all the way from out here and if you wanna get some free produce not free, share produce. And the reason for this is because we are really working to create an alternative system that is anti-capitalistic and that actually benefits everybody. So we try, this is one of our ways that we implement anti-capitalist ways that benefits everybody. And these are pictures from hug drive. And it used to be on Sundays. That's why that sign says Sunday. Yeah. A couple of years ago. Yeah, we were doing it for a while. Yeah, and we could be used to do it at our farm stand where our main farm was. But in the beginning of January last year we got our first office building which is also like a very like culturally historic site on a hilltop that like holds a lot of like memories also like traumas for people. And so we're now in that space and we now hold our farm stand right out there. And so it's nice. Okay. And then one of our projects that we do is the Black Mycelium project. It's one of our only programs that are centered just for black folks. And the reason behind it and like the space is for black folks to be able to reconnect to the land because through slavery and because of slavery and from being stolen from our original place, there's a lot of trauma that black folks have with the land. And a lot of times when people, you tried to sell black folks while gardening or like working in the land, it's like I ain't no slave no more. Like you know what I mean? Like there's like that mentality. And like everybody is because we forgot that we, like our ancestry, we were connected with the land. And like honestly a lot of like organic farming, a lot of like tools came from Africa. And like I'm just not learning like so many like farming like inventions and like techniques and like systems have been created by black farmers like in the South and also in Africa. And so like we are land workers, like we have a relationship with land and this is all about reconnecting and like re-knowing the land. And then through that we have a bunch of different things. So we have, we're gonna be doing food classes. So folks income and learn how to prepare food that they can get right out of the garden. And then also learn how to preserve. We've done some preservation classes and then like the food classes are like foods that are culturally relevant. So like folks can learn how to make greens. What was that? I think we did like sweet potatoes and then we did something else. I think we did cornbread too or something like that. And so yeah, so like food that's like, that feels good to us, you know what I mean? And so like it's just a space for black folks. And then we also have, like we talked about our medicine gardens that we're gonna be that we're gonna start. And our medicine gardens is directly in collaboration with Canoe Journey Herbalists and they're a group, an indigenous group that does grows medicines year round for the annual canoe journey that happens up and down the coast. And so we're one of the sites that grows food with them but we're also working on a deeper relationship and growing medicines for the whole community. We're working on apothecary and all that, which is super exciting. And then we also have events. One of our events are black earth and that happens right on earth day. And it's like the same thing, black center space and there's space for like folks that are, that are black folks that work in like healing. And so, and they come out. So like we have like black doctors and people that do like natural like skincare and products and all those things. And like somebody that comes in does a juice bar. Last year we had this drum, this African drum circle there. And it's just a space like for black folks that like you don't really get a sea often that's like centered around health. And like, and it's just, it's just like a really nice healing space. And like we open it up with like calling it our ancestors and like just like we really want to practice ways, different ways that we get to show up in different ways that we get to practice our indigeneity as we find it and search for it. And so yeah. And so this year we have our first task force. So we have a large group of people. So we're going to do some dope work. And then we have a couple of youth programs. The last two summers, we had a Qtipot Queer Trans People of Color Youth Summer Program. The first year was, we had it in coordination with one of the, like it was the Science Art Maths Institute, Sammy. Yeah, Sammy. And so students were able to get like a science credit. They were able to learn about gardening. And then this year the youth were able to be, work with the indigenous folks. We went down to the canoe journey like site where like after they paddled in and we were able to like help with the medicines there and like learn more and like hand out tea. And so like they were able to learn a lot of skills and like also learn some leadership skills along the way. And it was a really dope program. And then this year we're starting a youth organizing program. I'm piloting that one. Right now we're looking for a planning team. And so the goal is to be able to get brown, black and indigenous youth involved in working in the medicine garden and then also like gaining skills to become youth organizers. So like learning about direct action and like campaigning and like just so that folks can feel empowered and like in that being that youth organizing, being around like land, water and food. And then also like that includes like gentrification in our neighborhoods. So just a skill of youth. And so that's when it's coming up. And then these are some of our past youth programs. We've been a long time coming. And then our, another most recent program, campaign initiative, I think we're saying initiative that we're doing is the land and housing liberation. So back, a couple years back, I think like two or three years back, we began doing, we had, what was it? Like a team of people? Yeah, a team of people that began, that did some like surveys. Community based participatory research. Ph.D. all. And so they did like the surveys for the neighborhood and like we're already clear that gentrification was starting to have a play and affecting folks. And so when they wanted to go back and reach back out to these folks, they were all gone and they couldn't find anyone. So that just showed that there's something that we needed to do and an issue to be addressed. And so a lot of research was done about gentrification. And then after that, we decided that gentrification is this huge monster and it can feel super overwhelming. So we decided to focus on anti-displacement because that's what the real issue of gentrification is is that people that have been in this neighborhood for decades, for like generations are being moved out or being priced out, even if they own their own homes, like they're still being priced out because the property tax is raising. And so we wanted to focus on the displacement and anti-displacement and keeping folks in the neighborhood. So our goal for our land and housing liberation work is to protect, preserve and increase black home ownership and Hilltop. And so it's a team of us doing this work and leading this work. And the way that we want to approach it is very community-based. Like we want folks in the community to be leading this work because a lot of times in Tacoma, when there's agencies leading this work, it's for their own benefits. And then they ask for like community support and people come and show up and then don't get anything in return and they'll end up being displaced. So we really are focusing on like community-led organizing because that's what's going to be sustainable. Yeah, and I would say that part of the research that we gathered around serving community members was asking about how they access food, how they felt their access to food was. And we found that if people don't have secure housing and aren't able to stay in their own community, then it doesn't really matter if they have access to food. So we need to first focus on getting secure housing for them and affordable renting or ownership and then we can focus on the food. And Dean always says like this really cool thing that imagine what black folks could do or like people in general could do if they didn't have to worry about food and housing. Like literally the, like it's limitless, like folks could actually focus on what they want to achieve and like passions and all that. And like these are basic necessities. So this is what we need to be addressing. And then some more about the black and indigenous solidarity. We started working closer with the indigenous folks. And so we just want to continue to build our relationship with black and indigenous folks, especially because the land that we're on is belongs to the Piyallup tribe. And it's their land and we want to acknowledge that we are taking up space there. And then we also want to acknowledge that we're all being moved out. So we need to be working together because if like working apart doesn't help anybody and like gentrification and like all these things, all these factors just move so fast. So we need to have each other and we need to work together. And so I started through the medicine gardens and then so we'll start doing classes together now on teaching folks how to like actually like pick up these medicines and like how to like use them and all that. And like eventually have the apothecary that we run together and then yeah, the classes. And so like that's the building relationship. And then that's also gonna show up with the youth organizing program so that it's just, we're just trying to do it, yeah. So I created a white folks orientation in collaboration with Dean Jackson, the executive director of HUG. And I was asked by them to create this. And the purpose of this orientation is to inform white folks on how their whiteness impacts the work that is done in food justice organizations and how to work effectively within organizations that are led by people of color. An issue is that often when white people who have learned about their white privilege, they continue to perpetuate systems of white supremacy. And so a lot of people that come to work with HUG, a lot of white volunteers, they have a beginning understanding of what their whiteness means, like what white privilege is, but they still continue to have problematic encounters or other issues within working within a person of color led organization because white people aren't used to that and don't really understand how that is different. So, HUG wanted an orientation for white volunteers to help white people better understand their role and responsibility when working within a food justice organization. So on this slide I just put a few of the topics that are discussed within the orientation. So we talk about food justice through an anti-racist lens. What does food justice look like through an anti-racist lens? Participants become informed on food justice through an anti-racist lens and why this is important. And so we talk more deeply about how white people can come from anti-racist lens within the work because a lot of the times that's not explicitly stated. Same thing with whiteness within alternative food. I don't think I have enough time. That needs to be unpacked a lot of the time. Alternative food is seen as a very white thing. It's very dominated by white middle class people. So we discuss that because that's also another reason why white folks come to HUG because we're growing food and they're like super excited for sustainability and growing food in your own community and things like that but they don't really understand how often those spaces are dominated by white people. And then another topic we have is explicitly going over how to work in a person of color led organization like going over step by step certain things that white people need to be aware of and practice doing to work more effectively within a person of color led organization. So we talk about ways that people of color experience racism differently and specifically how anti-blackness is a big issue in Tacoma. Knowing how and when to step back in spaces, practice more listening and less talking, less jumping forward and having the idea or the answer and letting other people speak up. And a big one is choosing to believe people of colors, lived experiences, things that people of color explain or might say is happening to them. A lot of the time white people don't believe it or like, oh, that didn't really happen or you misunderstood them. So we're focusing on just listening more and accepting other people's realities. And then another thing that we've learned throughout the years is that because we are building gardens in a gentrifying neighborhood that our gardens become attracted to the neighborhood to the point where we've literally had to ask rental companies to stop putting our farms and our gardens in their pictures to promote people coming. And so we also realized that we are a very small part of having a small part in the way the neighborhood is gentrifying and so we need to be doing all these things to address that and because folks in gardens are like, oh, I'm gonna be part of it, but then, and that's all good, but then the way they show up ends up putting a burden on the folks of color to be like, oh no, stop, no, this is a good girl, all that. But so that's why we have Evan and also Lori who does the white folks training because it takes such a huge load off of us and it's great, they come, they're at our events and all that, it's just great, it's amazing. And then here's some ways you can get involved if you'd like to get involved. So in March, we start our weekly volunteer hours and they happen every Saturday from 10 to one and then you just meet at our main garden on stop 19th and Azores and it's gonna be every week once March starts and then if you're a block, you can join a black mycelium project. Can they sign on that, their names? Yeah. Okay, yeah. So how would these really going around if people wanna like put their information down if you wanna know more information? But yeah, the black mycelium project is a way folks can tap in either being part of the task force team or just showing up to like our events and we're gonna start doing at our meetings, we're gonna start doing skill shares. So we're at our last meeting we did, we learned how to make incense together and so we're gonna have like open invites to those. So for folks wanna come and our meetings are usually on Saturdays as well. And then if you wanna be like a long time volunteer and you're white, then you can contact Evan. I think we have our email contacts on the next one. And then if you wanna be part of that or just do the training just for yourself just to get that information, then you can also do that. And then we have, this is from our last presentation but we do have a bulletin coming up on February 9th. But if you just wanna come out and support it's gonna be in Tacoma at Narrows Plaza. But I know Tacoma is kind of a ways, so it's all good. And then that's my email, if you can't see it but it's tug operations at Gmail. So if you have any questions or wanna get involved or wanna know how you can learn more then just contact me, that's my email. And then if you wanna know about the training and wanna get in touch with Evan, it's just hugvolunteer at gmail.com and just H-U-G volunteer at gmail. And yeah, that's all. All right, can we give it up again for Miriam and Evan? And so it looks like we have about, we do have a set time for Q and A between 10 and 1030 but it looks like we have some time if students in the room have some questions, so much amazing work. Yeah, a question? So you can also jump in. It's practically this practice where, I wish we had a map, but literally, even if you have a go to Tacoma, if you go to where like 6th Avenue and look across the street, there's Hilltop and then there's the North End and you can just see visibly the differences and that's because that was very on purpose. They have the property areas that are literally redline and they're based off of like desirability and like, oh, this is like a good heritage like by property or not and those practices are based off race. Like literally, I think it's like, if you have like more than like 10% of like black women neighborhood, like the property value like drops and like, and that idea of redline that was created a while ago is still very present and Tacoma, like you can literally see the difference like in the schools and the foods, like we have one store in Hilltop and then go to the North End. They have like three different stores. Their Safeway stays open 24 hours and like the schools are different, the roads are different, all of that. And then that also shows up in gentrification because as like, because the area is like has lower value people that are being moved out of Seattle because they are like definitely gentrified out. Like people that are usually like middle class are coming here because even that's too expensive for them. So they're coming to Tacoma, which then pushes people out here out and then because those who are moving in and then like buying houses that are being sold at higher prices, then the property tax goes up and then people are being moved out. And so like that like area changes too. Yeah, so redlining was a practice that was started by realtors and bankers. I don't remember exactly one, but I think it started after World War II when vets were coming back and getting their benefits. And so there was an increased need for housing and a lot of the white people would get the loans that they need at the proper rates while black people and people of color would get higher rates or get denied loans or not get the things that they were promised. And so a lot of white people were funneled into certain neighborhoods. So those areas became more white and then all the people of color were forced into other neighborhoods because those were the only places that they were able to afford. And there's actual maps that they used where certain neighborhoods were outlined in green as good, yellow as acceptable, blue was more risky and then red was do not invest in this neighborhood. And so when there's neighborhoods that are redlined those areas do not get as much economic investment from the city or from other people. So there's disinvestment from the schools, from the housing, from everything. So it declines. And then what's now happening at Hilltop is because there was such a decline for a while. Now corporations and housing businesses are able to buy up the land and what is it called? Revitalize the neighborhood. Revitalize the neighborhood. And so everything is now, the prices are now skyrocketing and that's what's increasing the rent for renters and property values for homeowners and making it unaffordable for them. So redlining is pretty much just legal segregation. Yeah. And the thing about Hilltop too is like, Hilltop one was the first neighborhood in Tacoma and that was because the port and it was literally made up of working class folks like not just black, it was immigrants, it was folks that come from the East Coast. It was just folks of color that were working. And then I like how you used the word disinvestment because that's what happened at Hilltop. Like the city of Tacoma just completely had no interest in investing into that part of the city which ended up leading to that. And then also like the shipment in of like drugs and like guns and that and gang yep. That also like heavily impacted the folks there. I wish one member, Todd has like grown up in Hilltop all their life. And so the way they described it was like in the 80s it was like nice, it was like vital. Like it was like a vital community and like there was like black fairs going on at the park. There was like parades. Like it was an active black community that was like healthy and functioning. And then in the 90s when like all the shipment of all those things came in the community just ended up being filled with a lot of trauma. And especially the building that we are now in like it used to be right now it's like separate it's two separate stores but it used to be one building. And it was like a marketplace. It had a meat market on one side and then like a regular market. And then Todd would talk about how like she would go there every day like on the way to school cause the school is right down the street. And it was just like a safe haven like people even during when all like the 90s hit when all that hit like it was still a safe haven like people were able to come there like to be protected from the cops but people were also like lost their lives on the corner. Like so it was like and it was also considered the heart of Hilltop. And so before we moved in it's been empty pretty much empty. The market has been closed down for a really long time. And there's always people who are always walking by with their ideas of like oh like and their members of the space and what it could be. And also I talk fast so tell me to slow down. Sorry. And so now that we're in that space like it's really meaningful impactful because we're now creating like a space for like healing to happen and like regrowth and creation and like community to be rebuilt. And like I don't, I can't say that we're, we can make Hilltop back to what it was because it's so different now. Like gentrification was so different. The people that are in the neighborhood is different. And so we have to acknowledge that as we continue to grow as well. Oh, actually I want to cause we want to get in practice of this. So if there are any folks of color that have a question I would like to answer your question first. We want to be in practice of sending in folks of color. So anyone of color would have a question then I can go ahead and answer it. I will get to you. Hi, I have two questions. Yeah, go ahead. So one is the housing liberation. I can't remember the full name. Land and Housing Liberation. Yes, Land and Housing Liberation Program. And can you talk a little bit more about that about how you empower black homeowners? Like what resources do you give them? What kind of people do you have to a specialist to give them the information that they need to sustain and stay? And then are those resources free to them? How do you, who do you get to come in and are they paid to do that work? And then the second question is can you also talk more about the white allyship program? And then what are the aspects that are most important when you are creating a white allyship program? I'll take the first question. So the Land and Housing Liberation team is made up of folks that are from the community and that have been affected by displacement. So everyone on the team has felt those issues and so are coming from a place of knowing. And so right now, as far as the way we spread information, so we just at our MLK event on Monday, we, one of our organizers did a presentation on the gentrification and how it's not, because a lot of people think that, oh well, you just can't afford it because you're not working or you don't make enough. It's you. But then we did a presentation on the larger system of it and the impact and all that. And so we're definitely trying to educate folks on what's going on. And then something that is in the works, I don't want to go too deep into it, but we are working on what's called a community land trust and some background information on that. Community land trust, we're started by black farms in the South. I believe it was in Georgia. And so the way it was started because in order to protect farm land and be able to be in community, and so we are working on that as a resource for folks to be able to maintain ownership of their homes. And so the way that works is that a CLT buys, so you have your house and so when you own your home, you own the house and then the land that it's on. And so a CLT would buy the land that your house is on and then you'd keep ownership of your home. And the way that, what that does is alleviate the price because a lot of times, depending on where you live, the house can be up to half of what you're paying for. So then you end up, your cost of your mortgage and all the ends of going down significantly, which allows you to be able to stay there. And then a CLT is also community ran. So if you own a home within the CLT, then you are automatically part of the board and the leadership makeup. And then you have direct control of what happens and then you create all the rules for it all together. And so it's very much community based. And so that's what we're working on growing and then getting folks into it. So yeah, so we're really creating those foundations for folks right away that you, there's something that can be done right away. And then also just having these conversations with folks so that they also know and are getting the skills to be able to talk about this and show up. And there's a lot of work that's happening to come outside of us around land and housing as well. So working collaboration is important. So what were you specifically looking for, like information on the white folks training? Like, yeah. So I actually lead an organization called, I lead the diversity equity inclusion part for the organization called Lean In Seattle. And we want to develop a white allies training. And so I was really intrigued when you talked about it, but we want to center the voices of folks of color in our diversity equity inclusion training because we don't want it to be a, we don't want to create like a savior complex. And then we also don't want to put folks of color with their responsibility to always have to show up to educate. And so I'm just wondering what are the different aspects that have been most successful for you in terms of creating it and what's critical? So I'll try to answer the best I can. I would say that so what was really important for creating the white folks orientation was that it was done with Dean and the rest of the hug team who are black people and people of color. Like I'm the only white person on the team. So they asked me what they like told me what they basically wanted to see in it. And then I created the content around that and then was checking in throughout the whole process of creating it, like making sure it was going down the right path and like covering the topics that they felt were the most important and most needed to communicate to white volunteers. So I think that is like the number one thing. And then also that me and another white woman facilitate these trainings and interact with the white volunteers to try to get them to sign up for the training. So it's our responsibility and not the people of color's responsibility to get them engaged. And then also another aspect is that we're always at the events that hug has for people of color. There's always a white folks table. So if white people do come, because there are events, we're not excluding people. We're just, you know, we're centering a certain group of people so everyone can still come. So we have our white folks table with resources and information. And so when they do come, we talk to them about why it's important to have these spaces that center people of color. And I think that also helps. It's got, and then like for me, like I was supposed to be awkward talking about the white folks orientation because like, I was really like, I don't want y'all to feel like y'all can't come like, you know what I mean? And like, including so the way that I've had heard Dean explain it, that was really, really helpful to get an understanding about it is that we are all, like we all are conditioned and socialized within this system of like capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy, all like every single one of us. And we all have biases in that. And in order to not recreate the traumas that we already experienced in the world, we need to be able to review and see how those socializations have shown up in ourselves in order to come to a easier path of healing and solidarity because we literally can't just do it on our own. And but we also can do it in a way that we're continuously harming each other on the way to freedom. So we have to be able to both be at a place where we're understanding ourselves and our impacts. And so that is the main reason for that orientation. Awesome. All right, so we'll just take one more question because I know we're going to transition, people have to go to classes. But then if you can stick around 10 o'clock, 10 30, we'll have more time to spend with Evan and Miriam. So last question. So the gardens, it seemed like they're in like a very public location. Has that presented any sort of like problems like them not being, I guess, secured or anything? And it's so what kind? And so we don't have any kind of fences. We don't lock up our gardens or none of that. We don't believe that you can steal food. We don't believe in stealing food. So our gardens are open to anybody. We have literally these posts that if you want to harvest something, if you don't know how, you can just call us and we'll take you how and show you how. But the gardens are open for anybody. And we've noticed that they've also been like safe places for people, especially our main garden. I think about two years ago during the summer youth program, there were a couple of people that were in like a state of like, what was the word? Yeah, and in the state of mental health crisis and have showed up there and which prompted us to like do like mental health training because, but like they would show up and like just need to be somewhere and like, notice that it's also been a safe place for people. And like we have these hoop houses that like are really warm when it's raining. And so we've also noticed like remnants of people sleeping in there and like, we get it like life's hard. And so, so we don't have any kind of stipulations around that. But we also haven't really had any issues with people like damaging anything really. People seem to be pretty respectful. The only issue that we have is like random trash getting left behind, but it's really, yeah. I mean, once we could we have this group called B253 that did some collaboration with this. Yeah, and somebody had knocked the highs over one time. And so what they did in response was they held this event that was, what was, it was the cutest thing. I can't remember, but it was like something honey, it was really cute. And so like they literally had this like community event where like people can come and learn about the bees and like understand what they're there for. And then like they have like this huge pollock of everything that you could make with honey. And it was like super cool. And like after that, like there were some issues. So it's just like community engagement. Awesome. Can we get one more time for Meira and Evelyn?