The Black Church Food Security Network (BCFSN) is a nominally Christian charity with a strong focus on race-based left-of-center activism. The network started out as a vegetable garden ministry at a Baptist church in Baltimore, Maryland and was formally established in 2015. The BCFSN ties its launch to what it calls the “Baltimore Uprising,” the anti-law enforcement protests and riots which took place across the city that year.

While the network started out as the project of a Baptist congregation, it has since secured the backing of the Methodist Theological School in Ohio, a seminary of the liberal United Methodist Church, and of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, a historically Black denomination. Other partners of the BCFSN include the Kataly Foundation, a racial activist grantmaking organization funded by Hyatt heiress Regan Pritzker, as well as the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, both of which also support left-of-center race-based causes. ¹

Members of the BCFSN leadership have been affiliated with far-left organizations such as Democracy Now Productions and outright militant left-wing groups such as the Black Panther Party. ^{2 3} Both BCFSN executive director Heber Brown III and board chair Jamye Wooten have promoted the revision of Christian teaching to fit a left-of-center racial agenda within the academic sphere. ^{4 5}

Initiatives

Black Church Food Security Network helps Black churches start vegetable gardens on their land and host small markets to sell their produce. The network also promotes Black-owned farms and produce wholesalers. ⁶ It also maintains a registry of farms which it encourages its member congregations and its allies to buy from, invest in, and promote. The registry is limited to Black farmers. ⁷

Leadership

Heber Brown III is the founder and executive director of the Black Church Food Security Network, and a self-described “social entrepreneur.” He started the network at the Baptist church in Baltimore, Maryland where he was a pastor from 2008 to 2022. Previously, he was an adjunct professor at the Wake Forest University school of divinity and the Memphis Theological Seminary, a liberal Presbyterian school, teaching classes on left-wing food activism from a Christian perspective at both institutions. He also wrote a book on the subject which had a particular focus on initiatives by historically Black churches. Heber has made appearances ­­on the far-left “Democracy Now!” radio show and commentary site, a project of Democracy Now Productions. ⁸

Jamye Wooten is the chair of the BCFSN board of directors. ⁹ A career activist, he is the founder of the Black Theology Project, a compilation of writings on left-wing race activism and liberal interpretations of Christian teachings. ^{10 11}

Shirley Taylor is a financial administrator at BCFSN. She was previously a member of the Black Panther Party, a radical-left militant organization that was founded in the 1960s and collaborated with other radical-left groups such as Students for a Democratic Society. ¹²

Financials

The environmentalist Claneil Foundation has contributed more than $250,000 to the BCFSN since 2019 from its Emerging Leaders Fund, which supports the projects of apparently promising left-of-center activists. ¹³

In 2022, the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation issued a $150,000 grant to the BCFSN as part of a fund created to support organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic. ¹⁴

1. “About Us.” Black Church Food Security Network. Accessed September 11, 2023. https://blackchurchfoodsecurity.net/about-us/
2. Rev. Dr. Heber Brown, III. LinkedIn. Accessed September 11, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/heberbrown
3. Hilary Douwes. “UD grad student uses lessons from the past to combat food injustice.” UDaily. May 17, 2023. Accessed September 11, 2023. https://www.udel.edu/udaily/2023/may/fighting-food-apartheid-austen-monet-mcclendon-black-churches-farming/
4. Rev. Dr. Heber Brown, III. LinkedIn. Accessed September 11, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/heberbrown
5. Jamye Wooten. LinkedIn. Accessed September 11, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamye-wooten
6. “About Us.” Black Church Food Security Network. Accessed September 11, 2023. https://blackchurchfoodsecurity.net/about-us/
7. “Black Farmer Directory.” Black Church Food Security Network. Accessed September 11, 2023. https://blackchurchfoodsecurity.net/blackfarmers/
8. Rev. Dr. Heber Brown, III. LinkedIn. Accessed September 11, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/heberbrown
9. ^[1]“About Us.” Black Church Food Security Network. Accessed September 11, 2023. https://blackchurchfoodsecurity.net/about-us/
10. Jamye Wooten. LinkedIn. Accessed September 11, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamye-wooten
11. Black Theology Project. Accessed September 11, 2023. https://btpbase.org/
12. Hilary Douwes. “UD grad student uses lessons from the past to combat food injustice.” UDaily. May 17, 2023. Accessed September 11, 2023. https://www.udel.edu/udaily/2023/may/fighting-food-apartheid-austen-monet-mcclendon-black-churches-farming/
13. “Black Church Food Security Network.” The Claneil Foundation. Accessed September 11, 2023. https://claneil.org/grantees/black-church-food-security-network
14. Karen Fitzgerald. “Meyer awards $635,000 to eight organizations in March.” Meyer Foundation. May 19, 2022. Accessed September 11, 2023. https://meyerfoundation.org/news/meyer-awards-635000-to-eight-organizations-in-march/