Who We Are
Who We Are
Our work involves creating educational pipelines to agriculture for Black and BIPOC youth, Land Stewardship, Regional Food Security response, and economic prosperity as a means of gaining sovereignty for Black Oregonians.
Our Mission
Feed’em Freedom Foundation (FFF) ignites and centers Black Agriculturists to participate as owners and movement leaders within agriculture, land stewardship, regional food security response, and economic prosperity. We are Black-led small farm incubator that supports emerging Black farmers to grown and celebrate culturally-specific ancestral foods. Black families have faced unprecedented food insecurity due to the pandemic. Currently, 1 in 5 Black families in Oregon experience hunger, with 18% of Black families experiencing high food insecurity – a statistic that is three times higher than White, non Hispanic families. Our programs build economic strength that flows from our community of food producers directly into the homes of families most in need.FFF grew out of the work of Mudbone Farm, a Black-owned small farm enterprise that grows and celebrates Black food sovereignty. Mudbone Grown has deep connections with BIPOC producers, and we see the Black Community Food Center as the space where we aggregate small producers’ crops and form growing contracts in collaboration with BIPOC processors to build sustainable community wealth.
Our Vision
Food security and food sovereignty are at the foundation of our work. That is why the Black Community Food Center will be
critical infrastructure in the BIPOC food economy, activating solutions and connections that will lead to the growth of
BIPOC-led farms and businesses. The Center will provide community access to a food pantry, commercial kitchen space, and greenhouse. This will be a place
where community-based organizations can host breastfeeding groups, garden education classes, and cooking classes. The
campus also includes a central gathering hub, cold and dry food storage areas, a hydroponic freight farm, and an anaerobic
digester.
The Center is a place of innovation, where we will cultivate community wealth as we connect small producers to institutional markets, build cooperative growing efforts, and create agricultural pipelines for youth to grow greater food sovereignty for our community. It will be a full loop system driver for agriculture, incubating the next generation of food system leaders.
Meet the Staff
Elle (All Pronouns)
Ancestral Liberation Architect
I am a reflection of my Nigerian ancestors whose strength, endurance, and survival breathes life into my soul. I pay homage to my ancestors for the guidance they give me and the paths they continuously create for me. I’m guided by their hands as I practice my full spectrum doula, reproductive justice, and land stewardship work.
I believe it is a human right to know the teachings of our ancestors. Through my work with Northwest Reproductive Justice Collective, we are helping to reclaim, uplift, and affirm ancestral traditions of the past while weaving in creation and liberation now and for our future generations to come. For me, liberation comes in the form of food equity, climate justice, land back, and body sovereignty.
I mirror the visible and invisible souls that were not given the right to show their gender fluidity. I adore human diversity and the variances in nature that are provided.
I’m proud to say I am queer with a uterus and comfortable in my gender non-conforming skin. I believe that every human should be embraced and should feel safe in experiencing the world in a matter that is right for them. My desire is to create positive experiences in reproductive care for Black, Brown, Native, and Indigenous birthing individuals who embrace gender fluidity within our communities.
I believe that when we are community we are stronger than when we are alone. Community is the key to success for black and brown bodies.
Alexandria (Zandi) Saleem
Flowers to the Folks
Zandi is a first generation Palestinian Egyptian artist, florist, and farmer. Zandi is a regenerative flower farmer dedicated to cultivating right relationship with the ecosystems she cohabits. A wedding & events florist by trade, she is intimately humbled by the ways flowers hold space for ritual in life’s most important moments, from joy to grief. Zandi has witnessed how flowers take the place of words when there are none to be said. She began to integrate her social Justice work and floristry in 2020, working with local BIPOC mutual aid orgs to support in community gatherings from grief to celebration across cultures. In 2022 this dream grew even more when she began as a flower farming apprentice through Mudbone Grown. With the support of Feed’em Freedom Foundation, Zandi now runs Flowers to the Folks, and grows flowers at the cooperative farms.
Meet the Board
Shante Johnson
Executive Director
Shantae Johnson is a certified community health worker, doula, breastfeeding peer counselor, farmer and food justice warrior. She is a cultural bridge builder with strengths in community organizing, project management, and program creation with a public health lens. She is a parent, healer, chef, and referee to their six beautiful children.Shantae is the Co-Founder of Mudbone Grown and Feed’em Freedom Foundation. She also sits on Oregon Board of Agriculture and Oregon Food Bank, is the Co-Executive Director of BOLT (Black Oregon Land Trust), Co-Creator of the Black Food Fund, advisor on the Vivian Barnett Fellowship, and sits on the Racial Justice Council of Oregon.
Aurthur Shavers
Jr. President
Arthur Shavers is the Co-Founder of Mudbone Grown and Feed’em Freedom Foundation. He is a farmer with a passion for creating infrastructure. He is also a community organizer, idea implementation generator and professional leather smith. He is a native Portlander with strong ties to the black community. He is creating foodscaping paradises using landscaping and structural innovation.
Dr. April Murphy
Vice President
Dr. Murphy is a Portland, Oregon native who has worked 14 years in Environmental Services with the City of Portland. She attended Bethune Cookman in Daytona, Florida and graduated Jacksonville Theological Seminary where she earned her doctorate. She also went to dental school and knows a thing or two about maintaining a great smile. April enjoys coordinating and organizing events that bring groups together. April serves on the board of the NAACP northwest chapter and is a strong advocate of HBCUs.
Last December, April and her daughter, Heaven, moved to Houston with plans to provide tele-health therapy to patients locally. She enjoys long afternoons in the Museum District and discovering what the city has to offer.
Jami Thanos
Secretary
(Multnomah County)
Alexander Rhodes
Secretary
Alex Rhodes is an environmental professional who works with youth to understand their own connection with nature. He believes in public service and empowering those who are struggling with systemic inequities and that everyone deserves access to quality food and housing. Working at several non-profit organizations throughout the years in Portland, he hopes to bring skills picked up along the way to support the Board of Directors of the Feed’em Freedom Foundation. He is the Co-Secretary for us. We are excited to have Alex on board and what he brings to the table.
Matthew Edwards
Board Memember
Matthew Edwards. He carries on a long tradition of Black soil scientists from George Washington Carver to Plater T. Campbell.Matthew is a native of Nashville TN, graduate of Tennessee State University, and proud member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. Mr. Edwards has always had a passion for conservation of the environment, farming, food equity, and serving his community.
Charles Funches
Treasurer
