The Root profiles Chicago food justice activist LaDonna Redmond (via Progress Illinois) — including her Graffiti and Grub store (first covered by Newstips) and a related effort in conjunction with the Washington Park Homeowners Association and Southwest Youth Collaborative to develop empty lots into community farms employing local youth. 

Redmond also has a contribution to the Nation’s recent forum on Food and Democracy — but the most fascinating piece there is from 94-year-old Detroit activist Grace Lee Boggs. 

In her town, a group called Detroit United which defeated a 1988 attempt to develop a casino industry there went on to establish Detroit Summer, an intergenerational, multicultural program involving youth and elders in planting community gardens and painting community murals.  That movement triggered the Detroit Agricultural Network, which now includes 700 community gardens.