Food justice leader Ladonna Sanders Redmond to deliver Carleton convocation before Empty Bowls

Community activist, food justice leader, cooperative organizer, public speaker, and historian Ladonna Sanders Redmond is coming to Carleton! Her convocation address, “Food + Justice = Democracy: The Table, the Ballot, and the Future,” will take place on Friday, May 15 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Her talk will be immediately followed by this year’s Empty Bowls event.

In her convocation, Redmond will ask what it means to build a democracy where everyone can eat, belong, and shape the conditions of their lives. Redmond’s answer will focus on the connection of food access to civic participation, racial justice, cooperative economics, and community power, which are key areas of her expertise. Her talk offers both a warning and a vision: democracy cannot survive on an empty stomach, and the future depends on what we are willing to build together.

Redmond’s career has long revolved around racial justice, public health, cooperative economics, and democracy. Well before “urban agriculture,” “food deserts,” and “food justice” became mainstream public language, Redmond was converting vacant lots on Chicago’s West Side into urban farm sites, organizing community-based food access projects, and building models for neighborhood food sovereignty. Today, Redmond works as the principle and founder of her consulting practice, which supports nonprofits and mission-driven businesses to build more equitable, accountable, and community-centered institutions through governance, intercultural development, organizational culture, equity strategy, community engagement, and the relationship between cooperative values and daily practice. Redmond is also an intercultural organizational development consultant and coach with Columinate as well as a qualified administrator of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). Her cooperative leadership includes serving as vice president of the Seward Community Co-op Board, president of the National Black Cooperative Association, secretary of the National Cooperative Business Association, and a board member of the Minneapolis Urban League. Through this work, she helps advance democratic ownership, cooperative governance, racial equity, and community-rooted economic development.

Redmond’s career has primarily focused on public health issues ranging from substance abuse and violence prevention to food justice. She has successfully advocated for Chicago Public Schools to eliminate junk food, has launched urban agriculture projects, helped start a community grocery store, and co-founded the Chicago Food Systems Collaborative. She also founded the Campaign for Food Justice Now, which addresses inequalities within the food system, particularly surrounding issues of race, class, and gender. Her TEDx talk, “Food + Justice = Democracy,” continues to be a blueprint for understanding the symbiosis of food systems, equity, and democratic life.

In 2009, Redmond was named one of TIME magazine’s Responsibility Pioneers, a Green For All Fellow in 2007, and a Food and Society Policy Fellow between 2003 and 2005. She has also been recognized by Food Tank as a Food Hero and has spoken nationally on food justice, sustainability, race, and democracy, including at TEDxManhattan, Bioneers, and public programs connected to King Corn. Her work and analysis have been featured in, cited by, or covered by major media outlets and public platforms including The Washington Post, PBS/Chicago Tonight, The Nation, TIME, Food Tank, the Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, CNN, Al Jazeera, and Essence magazine.

Redmond earned her master’s degree in cooperative management from Saint Mary’s University and is currently pursuing graduate study in history at Harvard University, with a focus on Black women’s resistance, historical memory, cooperative economics, and public scholarship.

This convocation will also be live streamed — please register in advance to receive information on how to attend via Zoom. Carleton convocations are free and open to the public. Find upcoming events and archived recordings (including in podcast form) on the convocations website. For more information, including disability accommodations, call 507-222-5461 or email nponder@carleton.edu.

After each convocation address, Carleton hosts a luncheon with the speaker. Convocation luncheon is held in the Alumni Guest House Meeting Room (unless otherwise noted) from noon to 1 p.m. and is generally limited to 30 people. If you are interested in attending, please RSVP on the convocations website.