Date Approved
4-14-2025
Graduate Degree Type
Project
Degree Name
Social Innovation (M.A.)
Degree Program
School of Community Leadership & Development
First Advisor
Dr. Joel Wendland-Liu
Second Advisor
Dr. Azfar Hussain
Academic Year
2024/2025
Abstract
This master’s project explores food justice initiatives taking place in Grand Rapids, Michigan through a case study of five food access organizations: the Kent County Food Policy Council, Access of West Michigan, Community Food Club, Kids’ Food Basket, and Feeding America West Michigan. Using content analysis, this research examines programmatic efforts by these organizations, looking at the language used to describe them and understanding how these organizations’ work upholds neoliberal structures embedded within the charitable food system and/or disrupts this structure. By understanding what an organization considers a contributing factor to food insecurity and food injustice, this research presents a holistic view of how organizations seek to advance food access in underserved areas that primarily impact BIPOC and low-income communities. The results reveal that each organization believes in food accessibility for all yet pursue different pathways to achieving this, particularly as it relates acknowledging and addressing systemic racism and oppression as barriers to food access. Using a definition of food justice and a theoretical framework that positions trends within the food movement space, this research contributes to an under researched area of food justice momentum, suggesting that food justice is not necessarily a shared goal among food organizations in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
ScholarWorks Citation
McKellar Raymer, Jessi, "The Possibilities of Food Justice within a Neoliberal Food System" (2025). Culminating Experience Projects. 553.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/gradprojects/553
