Collective Stories. Real Impact.
UMD’s Community-Engaged Food and Environmental Justice Studies Hub brings together students, faculty, and local residents to explore the connection between food systems and environmental justice.
Rooted in the humanities, the Hub builds community resilience through research, storytelling, and hands-on collaboration — ensuring the benefits of environmental change are shared equitably.
Our Vision
We envision a future for the community where partnerships and relationships are deepened and students are motivated to lead transformative work in their communities.
Our Mission
Through a humanities approach, we are leveraging the strengths of the university and communities while keeping people at the center to advance food and environmental justice
Humanities Focus: While policy and science dominate food systems work, we center people’s lived experiences. Our humanities-based approach uses storytelling, art, and shared traditions to reimagine what justice looks like in food and environmental systems.
Local Urgency: Duluth is becoming a climate refuge. As we face growing environmental risks, our Hub brings together local wisdom and university resources to ensure no community is left behind.
Core Values
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We believe the most meaningful change happens when community members set the agenda. Our Hub centers lived experience and co-creates projects that reflect the needs, hopes, and strengths of local residents. From listening sessions to advisory councils, we’re building relationships rooted in trust and shared purpose.
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Justice starts with understanding. We use storytelling, history, art, language, and culture to uncover deeper insights into food and environmental issues. Our students and faculty learn with and from the community — using humanities-based methods to illuminate hidden challenges and possibilities.
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Food access and environmental change don’t affect everyone equally. We work to address systemic injustices—amplifying the voices of low-income, Indigenous, Black, brown, and underrepresented communities. Our goal is a just and equitable distribution of resources, opportunities, and resilience.
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Our work goes beyond short-term solutions. We aim to reshape systems by shortening food supply chains, rethinking land use, and building shared spaces where community members, students, and researchers can learn, cook, grow, and advocate—together.
