Dara Cooper

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AFFILIATION: National Black Food and Justice Alliance

TITLE: Senior Advisor

LOCATION: Georgia

LANGUAGE: English

EXPERTISE AREA: Agriculture Policy, Black/African-American Communities, DEIJ, Environmental Justice, Food Justice, Just Transition, Land Justice, Sustainability

ABOUT THE EXPERT:

Dara Cooper is an activist, organizer, writer, and movement vibe curator. She is the co-founder and former executive director of the National Black Food and Justice Alliance (NBFJA) where she currently serves as Strategic Advisor and volunteers with NBFJA Blackademics. NBFJA is a coalition of over 40 Black-led organizations developing Black leadership, advancing Black-led visions for just and sustainable communities, and building institutions for Black food and land sovereignty.

Under her leadership and with an amazing team, she helped to grow over $7 million in collectively governed resources, worked with members to launch a “Resource Commons Council” to collectively govern resources to protect and grow Black sustainable land space, establish a Blackademics arm (founded by leading Black farmer scholar, Dr. Monica White) to organize academics to support community-based research needs, partnered with FAMU to establish a Center to train the next generation of sustainable farmers and land stewards, and helped to write groundbreaking legislation including the Justice for Black Farmers Act which later led to Emergency Debt Relief for BIPOC farmers (that was passed but later challenged by white supremacists).

CONTACT:

Contact Dara Cooper HERE.