Help grow FIG's Food Security Program

FIG is a grassroots collective of people committed to transforming the food system. They are chefs, farmers, organizers, educators, butchers, bakers, media makers — food workers of all kinds, all along the food chain.

This holiday season I’m raising funds to continue growing their Food Security Program. In collaboration with the incredible trans-led community organization Colectivo Intercultural TRANSgrediendo, FIG’s Food Security Program delivers fresh produce and prepared foods to TRANSgrediendo’s members, powered by aligned food businesses, farm partners and volunteers in the FIG network. 

I'm committed to helping FIG raise at least $5,000 which will support their ongoing food security work over a period of four months. Every donation, large or small, makes a difference and moves FIG closer to their fundraising goal. I hope we can go even higher!

Raising $5,000 by end of year will enable them to invest in:

COMMUNITY: increase the number of folx served

FOOD: support a “winter share” of foods outside of the growing season (i.e. root vegetables, eggs, dairy)

INFRASTRUCTURE: invest in infrastructure to support Transgrediendo building out their side of distribution (i.e. fridge and freezer to hold food longer)

LABOR: more sustainably compensate FIG members working “low bono” or pro bono to coordinate and deliver produce

Each week, FIG works closely with farm partners like Brooklyn Grange, and Rock Steady to source fresh, seasonal, culturally relevant vegetables for the TRANSgrediendo community, as well as other items including pantry staples and prepared foods by FIG member businesses including 1:1 Foods and Pixie Scout. 

FIG coordinators and volunteers pack out 75 shares each week, lovingly hosted by the Pixie Scout kitchen in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, then delivered to TRANSgrediendo in Jackson Heights, Queens, where member-organizers there lead a community distribution out of their office. 

We redistribute all additional surplus to local community fridges, mainly Classon Community Fridge right around the corner from Pixie.

FIG envisions a food future for all people where equity, sustainability, and community control are baked into the recipe. At it's core, FIG prioritizes mutual survival and success. From March 2020 to date, FIG delivered fresh produce and prepared foods at the equivalent of more than 80,000 meals, to people across four boroughs, in collaboration with half a dozen community organizations, and more than two dozen food business and farm partners. This project seeks to expand this important work in bringing quality food to people that need it.

Over the 2021 growing season, FIG delivered 70 grocery shares a week to TRANSgrediendo, a trans-led organization in Jackson Heights, Queens that is led by and serves current and former sex workers, providing support to its members in areas from health and wellness, to political advocacy, to food distribution. 

Brooklyn Grange, the leading rooftop farm organization, is FIG's primary farm partner, providing hundreds of pounds of fresh vegetables this season at donation and at cost. BKG’s support of FIG is part of a larger ecosystem, too: it’s network of farms also supports several other community-led organizations in Brooklyn ranging from donations of plant-starts to community gardens to fresh food.