TED Community » Duron Chavis
About Me
Perhaps one of the hardest things for me to do is to talk about myself. Crafting a legible narrative to explain how one got from point A to point B is an adventure; especially when we consider that as human beings we are about as non linear as it gets. Toss in the fact that you want to keep the reader’s attention and not be verbose and you get a couple dozen revisions to the same painting of a picture that accurately depicts who you are and what you do. So what I did was try to chronicle the last couple of years so that you could get a picture of what it is I do.
I started my career in community advocacy as first a volunteer then an employee of the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of VA. I worked as a museum coordinator developing programs and conducting guided tours for groups of all ages and backgrounds. In 2003 I founded the highly acclaimed Happily Natural Day festival as a grassroots effort to supplement the summer jazz concert that was held annually at the institution. A resounding success; the festival has inspired Africans from all over the globe to reexamine their relationship with their health in a holistic way. The festival is a weekend long experience held annually in both Richmond VA and Atlanta GA that focuses on cultural awareness, health, wellness and social change which features exhibitors, workshops, interactive panel discussions and performing artists from around the globe. I have worked with innumerable community activists, scholars and organizations from all over the country as a result of the decade Happily Natural Day has been in existence.
I have received numerable accolades for my work. I served as an cultural ambassador in 2007 at Adornment London; the largest expo for the Black cultural and creative sector in the UK coordinating partnerships and marketing for the seminar Beyond Image: Emancipation through Self-Discovery. I served in 2011 as a Clean Air Ambassador on behalf of Earthjustice and the Hip Hop Caucus, as one of 50 representatives from all over the United States who advocated on Capital Hill to defend our right to breathe healthy clean air. I am an alumni of Leadership Metro Richmond’s class of 2011, received Style Weekly’s Top 40 Under 40 award in 2010, was featured as Richmond Free Press’s Personality of the Week and most recently was nominated for the 2012 Golden Trowel Award by Tricycle Gardens for my work around urban agriculture and food access.
Presently I am engaged in coordinating innovative and dynamic initiatives around the topics of poverty, urban agriculture and food security in a culturally relevant way. In 2009 I launched the Richmond Noir Market, a Saturday farmer’s market targeting low income communities located in what the USDA has designated as food deserts in Richmond Virginia. I currently serve as a facilitator on the topic of poverty in the Richmond Region by way of Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities and Hope in the Cities; an organization that tackles issues of race, reconciliation and responsibility through interactive dialogue. I also coordinated the development of the McDonough Community Garden in 2012, an urban agriculture project under the Richmond Grows Gardens program. The McDonough Community Garden promotes sustainable food growing, horticultural therapy and environmental stewardship.
I currently serve in the Economic Support and Independence Division of Richmond’s Department of Social Services specializing in benefit programs. I envision Richmond DSS evolving and adapting to the needs of the most marginalized of Richmond citizens specifically in the area of creating pathways to self sufficiency. By way of synergy, I believe that RDSS can move away from its traditional role of administering palliatives to the cities poverty problems to engaging the systemic wealth disparities and its associated pathologies in a direct and innovative way. Through partnerships with for profits, non profits, other social service institutions and social entrepreneurial businesses; I am convinced that the city of Richmond’s Department of Social Services has a pivotal role to play as a hub of first contact for the majority of individuals below the poverty line. My current work around the issues of urban agriculture as a means of poverty alleviation fits succinctly into the agencies goals of fostering a healthy community and developing economically independent clients.
- Location:
- United States, Richmond, VA
- Current organization:
- McDonough Community Garden
- Past organizations:
- Happily Natural Day, Richmond Noir Market
- Current role:
- Coordinator
- Gender:
- Male
- My website links:
- McDonough Community Garden, Happily Natural Day, RVA Gardens
More About Me
I'm passionate about
Urban Agriculture, Eliminating Poverty, Holistic Health and Wellness
An idea worth spreading
I believe that we should create sustainable urban farms in low income communities and teach youth and adults how to grow food and establish farmers markets that accept SNAP benefits and WIC to create micro - economies of financial support that are also synergistic to increasing healthy lifestyles. At these urban farms annual harvest festival should take place featuring lectures and workshops on holistic health, cultural awareness and social change, live music and healthy food options. This interplay of social activity; annual events and ongoing urban agriculture projects with associated markets would boost the communities wellness exponentially.
Talk to me about
urban agriculture, african centered festivals,
People don't know that I'm good at
graphic design - print and web media
My TED Story
I was born in Richmond Virginia. My city has a poverty rate of 24% and is majority black. Like most black boys I wanted to be a rapper and took the name Manifest as a moniker. My dad sold drugs for a living and my mom married a military man; which as a result I attended elementary school overseas in Germany and came back to the United States at the age of 12.
During my senior year at George Wythe High School, I was shot three times in an attempt to perform poetry at a local block party. I went on to graduate in the top ten of my class and went to college on scholarship. While in school I got involved in activism; which I found was my true passion. I organized events and demonstrations to raise awareness on campus. Went I left college, I went back to my home town and started working for the Black History Museum of Richmond VA and from there I started Happily Natural Day a festival dedicated to holistic health, cultural awareness and social change.
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Stephen Ritz: A teacher growing green in the South Bronx
13:59 Posted: Jul 2012
Views: 484,731 | Comments: 129
TEDCred score: 0.00 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.
A comment on Conversation: Should people be uninvited from TED talks due to not being Nonprofit?
Karen Young-Washington
Today I have redrawn my participation in the TED X event scheduled for Feb 16th. The only regret I have is that I should have had done it sooner.
Tanya Fields was also asked to participate in the event to give her take on the racist system of marginalized people in the South Bronx as well as the struggles she has endured to provide quality food for her family. Tanya called me last month to say that she was dropped from the event because she did not have a 501C3. I found out later it was based solely on hearsay. That people were afraid of what she might say or do. How many times have we been the victims of hearsay?
I had to look deep within myself as a black women; who in the very beginning of my activism was portrayed as loud, ignorant, ghetto and boisterous and see the parallel. That was in the 1980’s, this is 2013. The fear of a strong Black woman persists. I stand by Tanya in her effort to tell it like it is. Why must we be asked to sugar coat the evils of racism, or teach people not of color how to behave or react?
This was a wakeup call for me (thank you Beatriz) and so many other people who have been following the thread of this conversation along social media.
A reply on Conversation: Should people be uninvited from TED talks due to not being Nonprofit?
A reply on Conversation: Should people be uninvited from TED talks due to not being Nonprofit?
A comment on Conversation: Should people be uninvited from TED talks due to not being Nonprofit?
" The simple truth might be that she is just not qualified to speak at this level." wow - that is a bold assertion. What would make you say that? What do the qualifications look like? Does that have anything to do with her non profit status?
A reply on Conversation: TED is EVIL. Here's the proof.
A reply on Conversation: TED is EVIL. Here's the proof.
This was after I posted the message on the COMFOOD listserve last night. Would you be satisfied with such a response?
Me not being satisfied asked for more clarification saying and I quote:
I am speaking particularly regarding her not being non profit - especially with the work that organizations like Ashoka and Echoing Green are doing around social entrepreneurship. With the rise of B corporations and social entrepreneurs - i thought we all understood that being non-profit was not necessarily a disqualifying issue to you dynamically changing the community and the sister has a fiscal sponsor for her project - which is quite normal - particular for individuals who do not have the staff or financial means to manage a non profit and support themselves and families.
She has not responded. Nor has the Glynwood Institute
A reply on Conversation: TED is EVIL. Here's the proof.
I am not sure where the conference industry room is. I mean if they can benefit from it can you show it to them? I think it is an important discussion to be had.
A comment on Conversation: TED is EVIL. Here's the proof.
To The Food Justice Community:
We have embarked upon a new year of opportunities, of hope, of love and also of struggles, obstacles and conflict. I write this letter to make sense of a recent experience of disappointment and I share it because I believe it can be instructive for those of us who care about building a strong and inclusive food justice movement. This story provides a lesson about unaccountable power and privilege within the food movement, and how it perpetuates divides. Writing this story allows me to vent and move on. Most importantly, it is my hope that sharing this story will enable me to co-create with you a new and better “ending” that builds our collective power.
Let me cut to the chase. I was abruptly disinvited from being a featured speaker at the TEDxManhattan Changing the Way We Eat conference coming up in February. The reason given was that I had not yet received my non-profit status and the Glynwood Instittue for Sustainable Food and Farming, which “curates” the conference, could not be sure that I had a track record to back me up. Of course, I had already provided references and other information as part of my application, and there was never any mention of non-profit status as a criteria for eligibility. I heard from another speaker that I may have been disinvited based on little more than someone bad-mouthing me (why do we tear each other down!), perhaps they said I’m contentious or make people uncomfortable. Did the Glynwood Institute not bother to check my references the first time around? Did they not do their due diligence before inviting me? The BLK ProjeK is a work in progress, but we’ve accomplished a lot. A big non-profit organization like the Glynwood Institute can choose to not to associate with my little pro-Black, womanist, ..... Read More Here: https://www.facebook.com/notes/tanya-fields/uninvited-from-tedx-manhattan-my-open-letter/10151266073003318