The day began with Shawn DeAngelo Walton asking God for a favor. 

And as the strains of gospel music greeted people as they gathered in an historic Southwest Atlanta neighborhood Saturday to strategize on ways to address food insecurity as the government shutdown delays Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits for local families, the entrepreneur’s prayer for the rain to hold off was answered. 

Gathering at Walton’s garden in Ashview Heights for the Southwest Atlanta Neighbors Agricultural Plan emergency meeting, local urban farmers, grassroots organizations, concerned neighbors and Atlanta University Center college students sat around tables and tuned into the livestream to heed his call to discuss the state of the agricultural landscape and brainstorm ways to create sustainable faith-based food systems. 

The 39-year-old founder of Everybody Eats Together, an agricultural co-op, shared with the 30 people gathered in person and online his transformational goal: grow together, eat together, own together.

“We have the opportunity to put the food sovereignty efforts in our own hands,” Walton told Capital B Atlanta.

After founders of AUC Blooms, UmiFeeds, and Black in the Garden gave overviews of their work, Walton took participants on a short walking tour to highlight the grocery store that he plans to take over in 2027 so that the community can own and operate its own food system.

“We envision it to be a store in which local farmers and neighbors have equity, and give them an opportunity to gain equity by food they contribute, but also the financial change they contribute. We want to utilize a round-up to the nearest dollar method with all our customers so their [money] can be a part of what they are investing in the community.”

Walton’s vision also includes a food hall featuring dishes rooted in the diaspora and a cooperative workspace for entrepreneurs in the agricultural space.  

For Colah B Tawkin — Black in the Garden podcast host and founder of Underground Arborist, a national tree-planting nonprofit — the day’s conversation was personal. 

“I have experienced poverty in my adult life,” Tawkin told Capital B Atlanta. “I relied on food stamps, so it’s not something that I’m removed from. So to know that people are being denied those benefits and that children and families are not having access to food that they should have is always a concern to me.”

Along with Walton, Tawkin is focused on identifying long-term strategies to address the issue of intractable poverty in Atlanta.

“I don’t expect that this is all going to be resolved today in one meeting, but we do have to start somewhere,” she said.

Creating a student food movement

Walton’s garden and produce cart, which has given out free food to the community for the past two years, is strategically located next to M. Agnes Jones Elementary School and within blocks of the Atlanta University Center so the work he does can educate youths and young adults.

“I never want the students at the school and AUC to be out of reach to providing themselves with food and opportunity,” Walton said. 

With a focus on sustainability and wellness, Morehouse College student and AUC Blooms founder Bashaar Fils wants to teach fellow students about plants and help them create their own indoor gardens for nutrition. The junior sociology major from Florida encourages students around the AUC to learn about plant care and how to cultivate gardens and communities that thrive in balance with nature.  

“Now that SNAP has been cut, there are companies giving out canned foods, but my concerns about that is that those canned foods are not as sustainable to our bodies and how it may fill us up, but over time it’s not going to be good to our [physical] health and also our mental health,” Fils said.

For Walton, partnering with AUC Blooms and working with Spelman and Morehouse College interns Reagan Tiller and Ashagre Mehrtens is planting seeds for the future of his food sovereignty mission.

“I see them as the backbone of this movement. The future lies in their hands.”

From backyard farming to community tables

After the walking tour, Walton divided attendees into breakout sessions focused on farming, volunteer opportunities, marketing and mobilization and transportation for people and produce.

At the farming table, four female farmers discussed battling burnout and what crops they can grow this winter to continue to feed people.

Elisha Williams, a local grower and founder of The Cardboard Garden, offered to share compost with fellow growers. The former information technology worker got into farming after asking herself what she would want to do even if she wouldn’t be paid for the work. 

“I was like, ‘If I could play with plants all day, I’d be happy,’” she said. And now her farm, which is just under an acre, thrives in her own yard with an indoor hydroponic system.

“Gardening and growing food is freedom. It’s the Blackest thing you can do. It’s ancestral.”

Patricia Parks, founder of The Vegan Chef’s Garden

Kyarah Barton works with a community garden on Lindsey Street that donates produce to Mimi’s Pantry and to students at the AUC. With the recent SNAP cutbacks, she’s seeing more people in the community coming to the garden to take plants.

“Part of the education piece is you have to show folks how to harvest, because it’s regenerative, it’ll grow again and be able to serve someone else and put a meal on their table,” she said.

Barton wants to continue to support community engagement and education for the English Avenue and Vine City communities.

“They are facing so many environmental challenges historically, and to be young folks coming into that space, it’s important to build up relationships and create educational programs,” Barton said.

Patricia Parks, founder of The Vegan Chef’s Garden, discussed preparing her plants for the coming frost and effective ways to deal with invasive bugs.

“Gardening and growing food is freedom,” Parks, who farms eight raised beds in her subdivision backyard, told Capital B Atlanta. “It’s the Blackest thing you can do. It’s ancestral.”

To learn more about Everybody Eats Together or to support its “From Cart to Corner Store” fundraising campaign, click here.