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Malik Kenyatta Yakini
is an educator, business owner and activist who is committed to freedom and justice for humanity in general, and African people in particular. He served as Executive Director of Nsoroma Institute
Public School Academy, one of the Detroit’s leading African-centered schools from
1989 - 2011. He is C.E.O. of Black Star Educational Management. In
2006 he was honored as “Administrator of the Year” by the Michigan Association of Public School Academies. Yakini is a founder and Interim Executive Director of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network,
which operates a two acre farm in Detroit and spearheaded efforts to establish the Detroit Food
Policy Council, which he chairs. He formerly served on the Michigan
Food Policy Council. He is a member of the Undoing Racism in the Detroit Food System Facilitation Team. He was
selected as a 2011-2012 IATP Food and Community Fellow. He has presented at numerous community meetings and national
conferences on food justice food security. He was featured in the book "Blacks Living Green." He is a
vegan and an avid organic gardener/farmer. He views the food justice/food security movement as part of the larger struggle
for freedom, justice and equality. |
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Marilyn Barber is the Vice-Chair of the DBCFSN. She is the manager of D-Town Farm. She
initiated several children’s gardens in Detroit including at the Cappuchin Soup Kitchen, Inner City Sub Center and Belle
Isle. As a docent at the Belle Isle Belle Conservatory, she planted the first African Garden and conducts cooking
demonstrations of her delicious greens for the children who visit the Conservatory. She is a Market Manager and Garden Coordinator
for the Marketing Workgroup Committee for the Garden Resource Program. She is an Americorp volunteer as an Urban Agriculture
Intern for the Greening of Detroit. She is a Certified Master Gardener and is currently attending Michigan State
University in the Student Organic Farming Program. She teaches students at O.W. Holmes Elementary School from the
classroom to the garden at Romanowski Park. |
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Charity Hicks
is the secretary of DBCFSN and one of the founding members. She is also the coordinator of the D-Town Annual Harvest Festival every fall. She studies and works on spirituality, medicinal herbs, and Afrikan traditional society/culture. She has her own consulting
firm called Elekevu Consulting. Her most recent work over the past several years has been as a Clinical Research Associate/ Project Coordinator position with a longitudinal health disparities study at the University of Michigan. She has facilitated and trained field listers, interviewers, and data collectors, conducted numerous focus groups, and led community engagement
on the research project all around Detroit. Charity currently is serving with several groups in Detroit which include: Detroit Public Schools Health Council, Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, Detroit Grocery
Store Coalition Steering Committee, Detroit Food Policy Council, People’s Water Board Detroit, Future’s Taskforce of the Community Development Advocates of Detroit and Great Lakes Bioneers Detroit. She is a Master Gardener through
MSU Wayne County Extension (2002) and a member of the Sierra Club and several other environmental groups.
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Ebony M. Roberts, Ph.D., is treasurer of the DBCFSN. She
is also Operations Manager for Black Star Educational Management, and grant administrator for Helping Our Prisoners Elevate,
Inc. Both roles require her to create and manage budgets and report to various governmental agencies. As Treasurer
of DBCSN, she is responsible for maintaining an accurate record of the organization's assets, as well as collecting, recording, depositing
and dispensing monies. She works closely with the Farm Manager to maintain records of all proceeds raised
through the sale of the farm's produce and other products.
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