Hub City Mutual Aid

Building resilience and solidarity across communities.

Mississippi has the highest rate of food insecurity in the nation, and when the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, food insecurity among Black, Indigenous, Brown and low-income communities was further exacerbated in Mississippi. Here in South MS, Hattiesburg Ward 2 lost one of its few grocery stores due to financial hardship, and area small Black farmers were systematically excluded from the USDA's Farmers to Families Food Box Program, which was intended to deliver fresh produce and other food staples to food-insecure families during the pandemic. In response, MRC established the Hub City Mutual Aid Project, partnering with Oseola McCarty Youth Development Center in Ward 2's East Jerusalem neighborhood, a predominantly Black and low-income neighborhood, to establish an organic community garden. Impacted community members, community groups, USM students, grassroots organizations and other volunteers help maintain the garden, and all produce from East Jerusalem Community Healing Garden is distributed to East Jerusalem households. 

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In order to investigate, identify and address the root causes of the systemic inequities leading to food apartheid, crumbling infrastructure and lack of investment in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Hattiesburg Ward 2, we're also engaging in deep, long-term community organizing to build people power and support strategic development of community-led solutions that will promote resilience and equity.

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