Supporting Healthy Black Agriculture

Returning to the earth to heal from our past.

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Alex with volunteer
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Volunteers working on getting the beds ready!
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Houseplant Giveaway 2021
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Kids helping out!
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Proud Artist, we call this piece, "Strawberry Identification Sign"
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Creativity at it's best!
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Harvesting garlic
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Ruthanna watering some thirsty plants

Supporting Healthy Black Agriculture

Through advocacy, transformative education, collaboration, and connecting to nature, Supporting Healthy Black Agriculture (SHBA) addresses the root of health disparities and inequalities in our community while providing the space and opportunity for healing for Black families.

SHBA is a 12-week leadership workgroup series designed to empower and inspire breakthroughs and transformation in Black communities.  Our workgroup teaches the basics of growing your own food as well as the entrepreneurial benefits/opportunities in the agriculture field. Our mission is to bring sustainability back into agriculture while providing bonding time and healing space for Black families and opportunities for community members to learn about agriculture from the black experience. To make our work more impactful, we dive into the many societal pressures that keep Black people from pursuing agricultural careers such as land access, culturally relevant training, Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (PTSS), and many more.    

The new Cohort will begin May 2023.

Agriculture and White Supremacy

SHBA is designed to bring about positive, permanent shifts in how we define and understand the ways white supremacy racism impacts our food systems. Shifts that are the direct cause for a new kind of freedom and POWER – the freedom to acknowledge and accept our painful history with agriculture, and the personal power to do something about it. Thus, impacting the confidence with which Black people live their lives and feed their families.

Utilizing the framework of Dr. Joy DeGruy’s post-traumatic slave syndrome, Urban Triage’s transformative education model looks at the seemingly insurmountable obstacles that Black people have faced and are facing as a result of the ongoing and persistent trauma associated with existing within the context of white supremacy racism.

Our framework focuses on adaptive behaviors that were developed as a result of the trauma – both positive and negative – that have allowed Black people to survive and often even thrive. The design of our framework for SHBF moves Black people from being recipients of services (traditional nonprofits) to individuals with agency, autonomy, and self-efficiency that support and empower their leadership and personal development.

COHORT 2 Details

SHBA workgroup inspires and empowers breakthroughs & transformation within Black families. It is a chance for parents and children to learn and grow together through nature, agriculture practices, team building, and healing exercises. Our workgroups are Saturdays 10 AM - 1 PM, every week for 12 weeks. The first 2 hours of class will be outside in the garden and the last one hours will be a lunch and lecture, held in our training space. 

There is a $50/week stipend for parents and a $25/week stipend for youth

Classes begin on Saturday May 14th, 2022

COHORT 3 Details

SHBA workgroup inspires and empowers breakthroughs & transformation within Black families. It is a chance for parents and children to learn and grow together through nature, agriculture practices, team building, and healing exercises. Our workgroups are Saturdays 10 AM - 1 PM, every other week in the field, and every other week via Zoom from 12 PM - 2 PM, excluding holidays, for 12 weeks. For the weeks we are in the field, the first 2 hours of class will be outside in the garden and the last one hour will be a lunch and lecture, held in our training space. 

There is a $50/week stipend for parents and a $25/week stipend for youth

Classes begin May 2023

If you are interested in joining us next summer for the SHBA Cohort 3, please sign up on the waitlist below. We will reach out to all interested parties a few months ahead of the start date.

Join Our SHBA Cohort 3 Waitlist

DONATIONS NEEDED Support Black Families  in growing their own food and learn the basics of agriculture and advanced techniques. We are short few things, please see full wish list below! SHBA WISH LIST HERE

Drop off Items Monday-Friday 11AM to 4PM 

2312 S Park St Madison WI 53713

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED for Supporting Healthy Black Agriculture (SHBA)! As a volunteer you will have the opportunity to work outside this summer and witness growth both in nature and in the families participating in this innovative and rewarding program! Volunteering starts 05/02/2022. Sign up today!

Farm Business Development

It is our goal at Urban Triage to support our Black Wisconsin Farmers as they strive to build financially stable wealth-building farm businesses with resources, programming, and support. We hope to lower the barrier to entry for Black Farmers to be successful in agriculture. If you are a Black Farmer or Entrepreneur in Wisconsin looking to improve your Farm Business, click HERE!


Submit a Request

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