Setting tables for community food sovereignty: Building a food sovereignty toolkit

This reflective essay outlines the collaboration between a university and community partners to develop a community-based food sovereignty assessment (CFSA) and toolkit, and the challenges and key insights that were gained. Our core re­search question was to explore how we could develop and deploy the concept of food sover­eignty in an industrialized, urban environment. Using community-based research (CBR) methods that included photo elicitation, field observation, community meals, focus groups, and GIS mapping workshops, we worked with two underserved, food-insecure communities in Tampa, Florida, to develop an understanding of their assets and needs. All partners in the research team have worked with the two communities for over four years, and reflect on the successes and challenges of commu­nity-based research on food sovereignty. Commu­nity insights helped identify gaps in urban agricul­ture education, which helped craft a community-centered curriculum around urban agriculture that ultimately resulted in the creation of a food sovereignty toolkit.