Featured Leader – Erica Hall
In this Featured Leader piece we have the opportunity to learn more about Erica Hall, the current Board Chair and Executive Director of the Florida Food Policy Council and a mover and shaker who seems to never stop! We’re honored to have connected with Erica through the FSLN’s Mentorship Program and Facilitation for Racial Justice Training and are continuously amazed (but not surprised) at all the good work she’s involved in.
Thank you, Erica, for taking the time to speak with us and for your unwavering commitment to economic, health, and food justice work. Erica’s full bio can be found at the bottom of the page – get ready to feel inspired!
Your Leadership Journey
Who are you? (Beyond the job title!)
NYC girl, born and raised, Caribbean girl at heart, lived in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Washington DC metro area, St. Petersburg, FL. Love to travel; love my family and friends. Love to laugh and eat Italian, Jamaican and Creole food.
What inspired you to get involved in food systems work?
While in graduate school, I worked on the Corner Store project in Washington, DC, which became my thesis, working on food justice issues in the Anacostia area of Washington, DC. I attended the Community Food Security Conference in Oakland and in New Orleans, where I met food systems leaders such as Malik Yakini, Dr. Gail Myers, Tanikka Cunningham, Will Allen and others who were deep in this work.
Can you name a person who has had a tremendous impact on you as a leader?
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has probably had the biggest impact on me as a leader. His intersectional leadership was groundbreaking and revolutionary. Though mostly celebrated for his role in the civil rights movement and nonviolent protests, environmental justice, food justice, economic, racial and social justice were common themes reflected in his legacy and still guides the principles of my work now. The day before Dr. King was assassinated, he supported Black sanitation workers who were striking in Memphis, Tennessee. Maybe someone who has been a mentor to you, or someone you look up to. Again, early food systems leaders such as Malik Yakini, Dr. Gail Myers, Tanikka Cunningham, Will Allen and others who were deep in this work inspired me and helped shape my leadership style and have left an impact on my life and this work.
What does food systems leadership mean to you?
Food systems leadership to me embraces the grand challenges of feeding a growing world population through a system thinking approach. It requires an interdisciplinary approach to the fundamental roles in the global food system enterprise as it relates to sustainable and equitable food system. It is intersectional, it is multidisciplined and multifaceted.
What’s your greatest leadership challenge now, and what are you looking for support for?
Unfortunately, the Council has very little money and am in danger of losing our only part time staff person that supports me in running the operations of the Council. If we don’t receive some kind of funding soon, we will have to cease operations in the middle of our most critical stretch of work. Something fellow members could help with. Fundraising, grant writing, Board development and recruitment. Money, money, money.
What are you most excited about in your work?
The intersectionality of the movement. The connections I am making with activists and advocates in the food justice, racial and social justice, environmental justice movements. The community organizers that I’ve met that inspire me to keep going. The young people I mentor at the Youth Farm and around the state of Florida as our next food systems leaders.
What’s something about you (a fun fact!) that not many of your colleagues know or that we wouldn’t expect from you?
My family owns a Bed and Breakfast in St. Croix, the US Virgin Islands.
What have you enjoyed most as a member of the FSLN? What do you hope will happen through this network?
Meeting new people, making connections. I hope this leads to continued networking opportunities, collaborations and funding opportunities.
Reflections on 2020
A lot happened in 2020. What is one lesson or takeaway that you’ll carry with you from this past year?
Like Maya Angelou once said, “when someone shows you who they really are, believe them”. In light of the past 4 years of the Trump Administration, racial and social unrest, I’ve lost quite a few colleagues and who I thought were friends along the way over our political and ideological differences. However, I gained new friends and colleagues due to the same.
COVID is impacting the food system in a number of ways, and in some cases, one can argue that more attention is being paid to the value and resiliency of local and regional food systems. What is one change you’re hoping to see to the US food system as we move into a “new normal,” and how do you think we can get there?
People growing and selling their own food. While in Florida, I have built a powerful environmental, racial, food, climate and social justice activist network which have achieved some small but very important victories like working alongside the City of St. Petersburg Office of Sustainability & Resiliency along with the Healthy St. Pete Initiative team and urban agriculture stakeholders to collaborate on community wide access to food & nutrition. I worked very closely with St. Petersburg District 2 Councilmember Brandi Gabbard and Assistant City Attorney Michael Dema who introduced amendments to the city’s Land Development Regulations making it easier for residents to sell homegrown produce. SB 628/HB 1013 (Urban Agriculture). This is a bill that allows programs like the St. Pete Youth Farm, the Allendale Community Garden and so many other organizations to be able to have land within an urban area to be used to grow produce for the community. I have also worked behind the scenes with Florida State Senator Darryl Rouson, Representative Michele Rayner and Representative Linda Chaney along with the Farm Bureau, Department of Agriculture, Urban Farmers and Agriculture experts, and residents looking to come together to solve our food insecurity issues in our city and across the state of Florida.
Also in 2020 – discussions around and acknowledgement of America’s past and present-day systemic racism. How might those involved in the movement for equitable food systems ride this momentum to create a more equitable and explicitly anti-racist food system?
Continue to learn and listen; continue to engage in Justice, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (JEDI) workshops and trainings. Create opportunities financially, economically, socially, politically, professionally for BIPOC leaders to flourish and grow. Mentor and nurture future leaders by proving tools for success.
Speaking of… when you imagine an equitable and anti-racist food system, what do you envision?
Our food system affects nearly all aspects of everyday life and the various components of the food system are interconnected and interdependent. An equitable food system is one that creates a theory of change in which all — especially those most vulnerable and those living in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color — can fully participate, prosper, and benefit. It is a system that, from farm to table, from processing to disposal, ensures economic opportunity; high-quality jobs with living wages; safe working conditions; access to healthy, affordable, and culturally appropriate food; and environmental sustainability. It is a system that dismantles racial, economic, and other structural inequities in the food system that will allow everyone to participate, prosper, and reach their full potential.
Time for some real talk …
Burn out. It’s a thing, and social change is a long game. Have you found ways to balance taking care of yourself with your commitment to creating more equitable food and social systems?
Not well. I am working at it everyday. I have my boxing bag set up, my treadmill and elliptical and try to use it a few times a week. I just started trying to implement some mediation in to center myself. I also spend a lot of time at the St. Pete Youth Farm, farming, growing food and community and learning about community composting. I am getting stir crazy working from home so I am signed up for swimming/scuba diving lessons in the summer. Hopefully, that will reduce my stress level.
What is one change would you like to see that might encourage more folks to enter and stay in this work for the long haul?
Funding for food systems work. Our organization may not survive without funding for general operating support/costs to keep our Council afloat. For small non-profits like ours, the question of who decides where philanthropic funds should go is key. Foundations and funders need to do more to improve the lives of marginalized people. Funders need to understand that small organizations led by people of color need access to general operating grants, an approach not often taken by foundations. A lot of these organizations like ours are providing community service and community programming, so if these organizations are lost, if they go out of the community, those programs won’t be replaced in all likelihood and that will be a tremendous loss to the community. Also, mentorship and leadership development is critical to nurture a pipeline of leaders ready to step up and lead.
Any words of encouragement or advice to share with your fellow food systems leaders?
Be open, transparent and accountable. Words matter, relationships matter, investing the time and energy into building lasting relationships, collaborations and partnerships are key. I want to leave you with two terms will help to guide your work: Intersectional environmental and radical hospitality. Intersectional Environmentalism is an inclusive version of environmentalism that advocates for both the protection of people and the planet. It identifies the ways in which injustices happening to marginalized communities and the earth are interconnected. The term “radical hospitality can be defined as a practice of putting extraordinary effort and emphasis on making people feel welcome. This concept is often referred to as “radical welcome,” and focuses on breaking down barriers that prevent people from participating in an effort, campaign, or community.
Erica’s official – and incredible! – bio
Erica Hall, M.S. CED, MBA, ARM, has a multi-disciplinary background as a community economic development practitioner, community organizer, environmental justice advocate, Board member, Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) facilitator/trainer/consultant, and Senior Legal Professional with interests in intersectional environmentalism exploring the connection between sustainability, resiliency, food waste, climate change, food insecurity, the built form and placemaking, economic resilience, racial, social justice and equity, housing diversity, and affordability. Erica is currently the Board Chair/Executive Director of the Florida Food Policy Council, a statewide food policy council working to explore and address gaps in the food system in Florida. Erica is also Executive Committee Vice-Chair of the Suncoast Sierra Club, and a member of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) Food Security Advisory Committee. Erica is active in the US Green Building Council (USGBC), American Planning Association, and other environmental, neighborhood revitalization groups working in urban agriculture, food advocacy and policy, community engagement, non-profit management, Board development, environmental justice, neighborhood revitalization, historic preservation, and community economic development at the Federal, State, and local levels in NYC, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Atlanta, and now throughout the State of Florida. Erica was a longtime volunteer with FreshFarm Farmers Market in Washington DC and was an EBT/Snap Outreach volunteer for the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC). Erica previously chaired a DC non-profit, Healthy Solutions, that worked with Community Supporting Agriculture (CSAs), Community Gardens, Brownfield Remediation, food insecurity, and urban agriculture. Erica previously served on the Board of Directors of Groundwork Anacostia River DC, a local non-profit that utilizes environmental restoration goals as a vehicle for community development. Erica is also a Senior Fellow of the Environmental Leadership Program, a dynamic network of 900 of the country’s top emerging environmental and social change leaders. Erica was also selected as co-chair of the Host Committee for Greenbuild, the world’s largest conference and expo dedicated to Green Building. As co-chair, she worked to connect and introduce the U.S. Green Building Council and Greenbuild to International Real Estate Management (IREM) and other real estate groups. The 2015 Greenbuild Host Committee, on which Erica served, has earned the President’s Volunteer Service Award in 2016. She has participated in developing Food Policy Councils in NY, DC, VA, and MD and has been very active in the green building and environmental justice community in the DC area, using her platform to combine leadership and activism. In 2007, she worked on the initial Corner Store project in DC that has since been duplicated around the country. Currently living in St. Petersburg, FL, Erica stays busy on several projects, including advising and working with the St. Petersburg League of Women Voters and the City of St. Petersburg on the development of a Food Policy Council for the City of St. Petersburg. Erica previously served as a workgroup member of the Grow Smarter Strategy, a comprehensive, integrated, data-driven community plan to enhance St. Petersburg’s competitive position and provide quality, diverse economic growth. As a member of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Enoch Davis/St. Pete Youth Farm, Erica helped to define the mission statement for the project, helped guide project direction, while producing some broad actions needed to implement the project.
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Excited to see all that you are involved come to fruition!
Thanks for sharing your journey.