dara cooper

About Dara:

With roots in numerous cities including Chicago, Atlanta and Jackson, MS, Dara is an activist, organizer, writer, and movement vibe curator. She is the co-founder and former executive director of the National Black Food and Justice Alliance (NBFJA) where she currently serves as strategic advisor. NBFJA is a coalition of Black-led organizations developing Black leadership, advancing Black-led visions for just and sustainable communities, and building institutions for Black food and land sovereignty. A founding member of the HEAL Food Alliance, Cooper also served on the Movement for Black Lives policy table and leadership team helping to write and launch the Vision for Black Lives. Dara currently serves as a member of the Kataly Foundation’s Environmental Justice Resource Collective, helping to distribute approximately $75 million to BIPOC environmental justice organizations around the country. She also served as an advisor for Solidaire’s $14 million Black Liberation Pooled Fund.

Dara is the former director of the NYC Food and Fitness Partnership based at Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation in Brooklyn, NY where she established one of the first farm to early care programs in the city. Prior to this work, Dara worked with Sheelah Muhammad and other leaders to launch and expansion of Fresh Moves (Chicago), an award winning mobile produce market with community health programming, which quickly became a nationally recognized model for healthy food distribution and community based self-determination and empowerment.

Dara has a feature in and helped to curate Bryant Terry's Black Food book, has co-authored an article with Dr. Ashanté Reese, “Making Spaces Something Like Freedom: Black Feminist Praxis in the Re/Imagining of a Just Food System," and has written a food hub report published by Race Forward among other writings.

SEE more here

contact dara

Current offerings:

Strategic Advising (note: must have established, clear goals to get to strategy)
Facilitation - I can help you get to those clear goals.
Coaching - especially interested in young people of color in new leadership positions
Vibe Curating/DJing.

Check my latest offerings: DJ Dandara at www.djdandaravibes.com

HEAL "JEDI Council" Co-Founders Reunion:

HEAL Website

Race Forward Releases New Report on Food Hubs, Racial Equity, and Self-Determination in the South
Authored by award-winning and visionary activist Dara Cooper, 'Reframing Food Hubs' offers race-explicit solutions for achieving equity in our food system.

April 5, 2018 (New York, NY) -- Leading racial justice nonprofit Race Forward: The Center for Racial Justice Innovation today released a new report Reframing Food Hubs: Food Hubs, Racial Equity, and Self-Determination in the South. Authored by award-winning food justice activist Dara Cooper, Reframing Food Hubs shares stories, insights, lessons, and recommendations for transforming the field of food systems work, dismantling structural inequity, and creating racially equitable food outcomes for all.