Outcry After Kansas City Farmer's Market Suffers DEI Funding Cut

Amid debate of MAGA funding cuts . . . The plight of an urban farmer's market seems to have sparked more than a bit of local resistance and sympathy from locals. 

Generally, Kansas City residents are supportive of benefits to small farmers and bringing fresh produce to as many people as possible. However, in this instance, DEI branding contributed to a controversial removal of federal funds.

Actually, our blog community was one of the first to note the hot mess . . . But this report does a nice job of summing everything up . . . Check-it . . .

The Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council recently learned its three-year, $165,000 Farmer’s Market Promotion Program award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture had been canceled because of President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting DEI — a strategy the White House says protects Civil Rights and merit-based opportunities in the face of “illegal DEI.”

“I think it’s really a travesty that the words ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ have been hijacked and twisted into something sinister,” said executive director of the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council  Alana Henry, whose nonprofit is focused on revitalizing the community through economic development, educational programming, housing assistance, and activities like its monthly farmers market.

“The aims of these concepts are to make sure that you’re serving as many people as well as you can,” she continued. “That is not just my charge in my leadership role at Ivanhoe — that should be the charge of all of our representatives in government, from the city up to the federal level.”

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

How Trump's win on DEI means fewer fresh foods for KC's east side; USDA rakes back critical grant for farmers market