Urban Studies 600 Capstone

‘Because of God’s Ideas': Faith & Food in Milwaukee

Colin Flanner

Document Type

Capstone Project

Publication Date

2019

Abstract

This paper’s aim is to highlight a unique example of food justice and community development in Milwaukee’s north side neighborhood of Harambee. All Peoples Church provides free food to community residents via a weekly meal offering and food pantry. During the growing season these are supplied with fresh foods grown locally across the street in a city-owned vacant lot turned urban farm. This paper sifts through the interrelated, yet individually unique concepts in contemporary food systems literature, as well as the notion of beloved community – a concept popularized by Dr. King – as a way to mitigate the issues of the urban crisis. Qualitative data principally facilitates this study, with some quantitative figures included in the introduction and the attached appendices document. The crux of this research project is to analyze the ways faith informs food justice work in faith-based community organizations and how community supported agriculture acts not just as a food producer but also facilitates community connections and resilience.

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