Yonnette Fleming Explained

Yonnette Fleming
Birth Place:Guyana
Nationality:American
Occupation:Urban farmer
Known For:Food justice

Yonnette Fleming (born 1968) is an American urban farmer and community earth steward based in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Fleming is part of the environmental movement, her work focusing on urban community gardens and black farmers.[1] [2]

Early life

Yonnette Fleming was born in Guyana. Her family worked with indigenous communities, growing coconuts, sugar, rice, and other crops.[3] She immigrated to New York in 1983 from Georgetown, Guyana.[4]

Career

Yonnette Fleming joined Hattie Carthan Community Garden, located at Marcy and Lafayette in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, in 2003 while working on Wall Street. In 2008, she left her Wall Street job in order to commit to herself to community resilience and food. In 2009, after an "uphill battle" with the city, she established the Hattie Carthan Community Farmer’s Market in a reclaimed lot next to the main garden.[5] In 2010, along with Karen Washington, Fleming cofounded Farm School NYC as an educational hub to "teach community members how to create their own localized food systems".[6]

Fleming is currently the vice president of the Hattie Carthan Community Garden and her work addresses food security and food justice concerns.[7] [8] She teaches inter-generational workshops including cooking, urban farming, herbalism, and plant medicine while focusing on the needs of the community. Within her workshops, she calls on participants to think on how structures of oppression have impacted their own lives and how to confront them.[9] [10]

Fleming is also a member of the Farm School's advisory board where she teaches a food justice course.[11] In addition to her work as a food advocate, Fleming is an ordained minister, plant and sound medicine practitioner, reiki master, and herbalist.[12] Fleming sees farm work "an essential part of healing from the trauma of racism". She cites several students she has taught going on to create action groups in their local schools to discuss food sovereignty.[13]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Top Five Black Farmers, Black Farming is back on the rise!. 6 May 2016. Bbnomics.com. https://web.archive.org/web/20160826010419/https://www.bbnomics.com/top-five-black-farmers-black-farming-back-rise/. 2016-08-26. dead. 2016-08-01.
  2. Bed-Stuy's Hattie Carthan Community Garden · The Natural Farmer. The Natural Farmer. en-US. 2019-04-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20190427013850/https://thenaturalfarmer.org/article/bed-stuys-hattie-carthan-community-garden/. dead. 27 April 2019.
  3. Web site: How a Former Wall Street Worker Invested in Fresh Food for Her Community. Chrisman. Siena. 14 May 2015. Civil Eats. https://web.archive.org/web/20160728145034/http://civileats.com/2015/05/14/how-a-former-wall-street-exec-invested-in-fresh-food-for-her-community/. 2016-07-28. live. 2016-07-29.
  4. Web site: 'We're not just building for us, but for those who are coming after'. Silver. Laura. New York Daily News. 28 October 2008 . 2019-04-27.
  5. News: Yonnette Fleming: Green-thumbed foodie makes the human garden grow. Abruzzo. Shavana. The Brooklyn Paper. 12. 2012. 2024-06-01.
  6. Web site: Food justice advocates didn't set out to save the climate. Their solutions are doing it anyway.. Oglesby. Cameron. grist.org. 2023-10-23. 2024-06-02.
  7. Web site: Hey, Mr. Mayor, Brooklyn's community gardens don't deserve a date with the wrecking ball. BrooklynDaily.com. 2016-08-03. https://web.archive.org/web/20160924073308/http://www.brooklyndaily.com/stories/2016/4/all-britview-community-gardens-2016-01-22-bd_.html. 2016-09-24. dead.
  8. Web site: Extension - Southscapes Spring 2011 - News - Alumni & Friends at CAES - UGA. Cindy Tucker. University of Georgia. https://web.archive.org/web/20150908121821/http://www.caes.uga.edu/alumni/news/southscapes/spring11/extension.html. 2015-09-08. dead. 2016-08-03.
  9. Web site: Yonnette Fleming. Farm School NYC. en-US. 2019-04-27.
  10. Book: Beyond the Kale: Urban Agriculture and Social Justice Activism in New York City. Reynolds. Kristin. Cohen. Nevin. 2016. University of Georgia Press. 9780820349503. en.
  11. Web site: Yonnette Fleming. Jfc2016.topi.com.
  12. Web site: The Urban Bush Educator Project - About Us. Urbanbusheducator.com. 2016-08-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20160507225343/http://www.urbanbusheducator.com/About-Us.html. 2016-05-07. live.
  13. After a Century In Decline, Black Farmers Are Back And On the Rise. Penniman. Leah. Yes!. 2016-05-16. 2024-06-02.

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