A six-figure vote of confidence is a Big Deal for any nonprofit. For four-year-old FoodLab Detroit, it represents breakthrough support from a major foundation.
The local network of 145 small businesses and entrepreneurs gets a $100,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Mich., to help finance its mission of encouraging "a food economy that is diverse, sustainable, and, above all, equitable.”
Devita Davison, co-director of FoodLab Detroit: "There is a tremendous amount of value in local ownership.”
FoodLab announces its selection, which it learned about last spring, on Sunday at its website. The revenue "will help FoodLab improve business support services and grow opportunities for member businesses and new entrepreneurs," a statement says.
The nonprofit, based in Midtown, offers technical assistance, field trips and business development workshops. It also hosts pop-up dinners and monthly community forums, promotes Grown in Detroit items and provides Detroit Kitchen Connect food preparation space as a business incubator.
The new one-year grant is intended "to enable the organization to achieve its mission of supporting a diverse community of food businesses and allies working to make good food a sustainable reality in Detroit by providing general operating support, " according to the western Michigan foundation.
"Women- and minority-owned businesses . . . constitute the majority of FoodLab’s membership," the local group its says in its news posting.
“There is a tremendous amount of value in local ownership,” said Devita Davison, co-director and chief cultivator at FoodLab. “We ask the question ‘what could entrepreneurship look like if you have people of all colors and backgrounds at the table?' "
That mission dovetails with the foundation's anti-poverty focus.
"Our support of FoodLab Detroit works to ensure the number of workers with children who attain or retain permanent jobs increases, allowing parents to provide for and support their families,” the philanthropic group's Michigan programs director, Ali Webb, says in the nonprofit's announcement.
-- Alan Stamm
