Mission
GRITS (Growing Resilience in the South) is a 501c3 organization with the mission to improve the health and well-being of communities and to promote a more equitable food system through education, advocacy, and narrative change.
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Goals
Use storytelling and Film as a tool to connect shared concerns with greater systemic issues impacting our food systems.
Cultivate spaces to advance civic engagement and collective efforts to identify and address issues impacting the local food system.
Promote narrative change by dismantling dominant narratives that demonize black southern food culture.
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This mission of GRITS is being led by Food Activist and Registered Dietitian, Sadé Meeks. Born and raised in Mississippi, Meeks understands the historical and unique cultural connection to food there. She also recognizes that communities have become disconnected from the foods that sustained previous generations and our ancestors. Consequently, over the last 60 years, there has been a rise in chronic disease, and African Americans are leading the statistics. Meeks recognizes that social determinants of health, which in most cases is just a euphemism for systemic racism, contribute to these health outcomes. GRITS’ mission is to resist these attacks on our health by equipping individuals and communities with the tools to do so. Through reconnecting to food, improving food literacy skills, and bridging the gap between culture and nutrition, we can be empowered to make healthy and sustainable food choices.
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“I am African American, and for the majority of us, this is the genesis we freely share with the New South as we did with the Old”
Michael W. Twitty