WINTER RECAP

This winter, our students dove deep into food justice and community-controlled food economies through our place-based curriculum across Atlanta.

We opened the session by connecting Dr. King's vision of environmental and economic justice to how community gardens build neighborhood power and food sovereignty.

We also explored gentrification through neighborhood observation walks, examining how changing jobs, demographics, and development reshape who has access to land, food, and green space in Atlanta — and how nature itself changes alongside neighborhoods. And through it all, there was plenty of movement and joy.

In our food economics sessions, students created price comparison charts in their notebooks, studied the difference between food deserts and food apartheid, and explored cooperative economic models.

This set the stage for our grocery store field trip, where students put their charts to work comparing prices and food access across different types of stores — our main store was Sevananda

Read About Our Trip

They took that same assignment home to investigate their own neighborhoods with their families.

And would it be GrassRoots Middle without hiking (13 miles and counting), playing old school games, practicing football throws, playing tag, visiting local playgrounds and doing all the things that make childhood fun.

The session closed at You Only Live Juice, where students interviewed owner Alisha — a Black woman entrepreneur and food justice advocate — about her business, her vision for community health, and what food sovereignty looks like in practice. Students led the interview themselves, tying together everything they had learned about economics and community-controlled food systems.

This winter, our students didn't just study food justice — they practiced it. More about this session's backpacking camping trip SOON!

All our love,

Mike, Shelby, and the GrassRoots Middle Team