SERIES | Community Organizer Gregory Davis Helps Food Justice Take Root in Rainier Beach

While growing up in Compton, California, Gregory Davis learned the role food justice played in creating a healthy community.

"When I was sent to my grandmother's house by my dad to weed her garden, her flower beds, and saw that she had grapes, lemons, and avocados: Was I thinking [about] food justice?" Davis said. "No, I was not. I was not connecting that to any career or any social orientation."

In 1978, Davis left Compton for Seattle at 18 to attend Seattle University, where he became the first person in his family to attend and graduate from college. From there, Davis would focus his organizing efforts on South Seattle, but it wasn't until Seattle Parks and Recreation planned a different use for a horticulture center that Davis thought about putting his hands back in the soil.

"Between the time they decided to repurpose it and [when it happened], the residents got tired of waiting. It became a public nuisance, and folks were there doing their own thing, and the residents just really [thought it was] the last straw and started organizing," said Davis.

Organizing efforts led residents to create Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands (RBUFW) in 2010. When it was completed in 2017, it opened a farm stand that still runs every summer at 9013 Martin Luther King Jr Way S. Since its inception, the farm has produced 20,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables annually and engaged with more than 5,000 community members. It is Seattle's largest urban farm.

In 2015, before the farm was completed, Davis became a founding member of the Rainier Beach Action Coalition (RBAC), which strives to build a thriving and equitable community in Rainier Beach. (RBAC and the food stand share the same address.) As a result of its advocacy and development, RBAC has become a staple in the Rainier Beach community, and Davis is its managing strategist.

Since 2017, RBAC has received almost $5.1 million in grants from the city's Equitable Development Initiative to transform its seasonal farm stand into a year-round, brick-and-mortar Food Innovation Center (FIC), according to a city official. 

And when it comes to food justice, funding is a critical issue. In early July, RBAC shared an Instagram post about cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a federal effort that assists low-income people in purchasing food. According to the post, federal legislation will lead 900,00 people in Washington state to lose SNAP and related benefits.

With its city funding secure, FIC will be RBAC's biggest project. Davis believes the services it will provide and the jobs it will create will transform the neighborhood. It's a belief in organizing that took root decades ago, when he noticed a change in his Golden State neighborhood.

Coming Up in Compton

Davis was a child when he realized his community in Los Angeles was changing. "Having grown up in Compton in the '60s and '70s, the Watts riots were there. When I was 5, the [Black] Panthers were kind of emerging, the Nation of Islam was emerging," he said.

Davis felt a deeper cultural understanding also emerge. "My parents did a good job of keeping me focused with sports and school, specific school enrichment programs and their own history," he said. However, learning about history was not enough to distract him from the reality he faced on neighborhood streets.

Davis recalled how Firestone, a tire manufacturer and an important employer for the Black community in Compton, moved out of the LA area in the 1980s, resulting in a loss of jobs. "We had a situation where folks needed to start fending for themselves, and that's when the drug game got going, that's when the gang activity really got going," Davis said.

Laughing at a memory, Davis recalled a random stockpile of guns that mysteriously showed up in his neighborhood. "All of a sudden there was a surprise freight [car] full of guns right there in the middle of Watts — folks are like, 'How did that show up here?'" he said.

As gang activity increased, Davis saw many young people fall victim to violence. "I've seen a lot of talent just lost because somebody might've been wearing a leather jacket — because early on, that was [gang] regalia — so if you happened to have one purchased by your parents, yeah, it was getting taken."

Witnessing the toll on his community motivated him. "That loss of talent always had me wanting to support the aspirations of others and to be able to make good on the talent that I know is in them," he said.

Where It Would All 'Come Together'

Davis had no plans to pursue organizing, yet when he came to Seattle at 18, he earned his organizing chops at Seattle University, specifically at its Black Student Union (BSU).

His first job out of college was at Junior Achievement, where he coordinated resources for young people to connect with companies for business training. A second job led him to the Center for Career Alternatives in Rainier Valley, recruiting people for employment readiness.

Then came the job that "made all of it come together." Davis worked at Central Air Motivation Program (CAMP) under then-Executive Director Larry Gossett. At CAMP, now called Byrd Barr Place, Davis was appointed director of a program that used an African-centered model of rites of passage to assist young people. Eventually, Davis became CAMP's operations director, and later, he led what is now Urban Impact, which provides services to address the effects of urban poverty.

Davis said that in 1994, then-Mayor Norm Rice sent representatives to CAMP to pitch involvement in the neighborhood planning process, which brings communities together to discuss needs and develop solutions. When it came time to update the comprehensive plan in 2009, Davis said he and other organizers stepped up.

In 2015, organizing for the neighborhood planning process led Rainier Beach Community Empowerment Coalition (RBCEC), where Davis was board chair, to merge with Rainier Beach Moving Forward. Together, they became RBAC, which organized Back2School Bash and Town Hall events. In 2018, after working at Casey Family Programs as a technical assistance manager, he began working full-time at RBAC.

Fertile Soil

The previous year, in 2017, the city announced plans to sell a vacant lot across from City Hall to a private developer. Organizations, including RBAC, petitioned the city to invest the revenue from the sale. "We were like, 'Y'all need to give the money to organizations in a neighborhood so they can purchase land,' and they agreed," said Davis.

In 2017, the city sold a vacant lot across from City Hall to a private developer. The sale, for $16 million, helped fund the city's Equitable Development Initiative. (Other sources, such as the Jumpstart Payroll Tax and sale of the Mercer Megablock, have also contributed to EDI funds.) According to a city official, RBAC received its first round of EDI funding for the food innovation center in 2017, and then obtained funding four other times, amounting to $5,084,999 for the center.

Davis said RBAC's food innovation center will be located on the first floor of the building, with housing on top. Davis also said they are "vetting" housing developers like Homestead Community Land Trust as potential partners for the project, though nothing is set in stone.

After FIC is done, the organization will continue to develop the surrounding property, eventually creating an urban farm and food innovation district, according to Rainier Beach's neighborhood plan. RBAC plans to develop a working relationship with Sound Transit in hopes of one day acquiring old shipping containers to convert into miniature indoor hydroponic farms.

Eventually, RBAC hopes to create a sustainable future for the residents of Rainier Beach through urban farming, which, Davis said, will not only create more jobs but also make fresh, healthy foods more accessible.

In the meantime, RBAC will continue operating out of its Growth Center, which will close in three years. After that, it will be demolished for the construction of the FIC and housing. "The RBAC Growth Center is a pilot for the FIC," said Davis.