Natilee McGruder – Reflections on Time with the Wallace Center

August 24, 2020 — At the end of July, we bid farewell to our dear friend and colleague, Natilee McGruder. Natilee joined Wallace in the summer of 2019 as our first Communications Officer. Given her many gifts, talents, and passions, Natilee was quickly pulled into a lot of important facets of Wallace work, in addition to her leading our internal and external communications.  

In her time with Wallace, Natilee developed and vastly improved our internal and external communications systems, led the development of internal standards and processes, and trained staff. She also provided significant leadership during our 2020 NGFN Conference, which included active social media coverage and leading our video and photography teams. Additionally, Natilee facilitated the staff in the development of Wallace’s racial equity commitments and worked with the team to more effectively operationalize Wallace’s racial equity commitments into all facets of the Center’s work.  

Prior to her departure, we sat down with Nailee for a farewell fireside chat.  

As it related to the COVID19 pandemic: Given the extraordinary circumstances that we’re in right now, combined with the mobilization efforts to prevent farmers’ livelihoods from collapsing and people from going hungry, what do you think we have an opportunity to accomplish in the “COVID era” that we wouldn’t have otherwise?  

Right now we are reaping what we have sown as a nation. COVID-19 has amplified the consequences of years of genocide, land and wage theft, slavery, targeted disinvestment, the war on drugs and a legacy of racially motivated domestic terrorism. We have the opportunity to be honest with ourselves about the outcomes of the norms and policies we have allowed to flourish throughout our food system.  

We also have the opportunity to stand in solidarity with farmers and other workers in the food system, to elect and financially support community-minded BIPOC leadership at local and national levels, and to frame the architecture of the next farm bill around the fact that increasing infrastructure and support for locally grown, processed and prepared food is critical for us to thrive together across the country.   

Looking ahead at the next decade, what are your hopes for the US food and ag sector? What are the key things you’d like to see change and how? 

In the next 10 years I would like to see our extractive, globalized food system transformed into a network of equitable, community-based local food systems to include:  

• More funding for cooperatively owned food businesses and communal lands for growing food.  
• More funding and centering of outdoor education as the base of all school curricula — if we root our children in the land and teach them the lifelong skills of growing, preparing and preserving food along with respect and appreciation for being in nature, they will be the motivated leadership we need to transform the food system and address climate change.  
• Funding for food banks, SNAP and WIC programs to coordinate with farmer cooperatives, markets, local food incubators and commercial kitchens to provide culturally relevant, prepared foods made from fresh local produce for food insecure families while supporting and connecting local farmers, chefs and other food system workers with those same dollars.  
• Community assets like churches and schools using their commercial kitchens and peoplepower to teach and engage community members in food preparation and preservation, to support local farms through purchasing and gleaning and to steward and distribute community food grown on their properties.  
• I would like to see Congress prioritize all of the above measures with strong protections for the health and safety of all workers and ample funding for community food programs and BIPOC producers. 

The Wallace team would like to once again thank Natilee for being a valuable member our team and we wish her the very best. We look forward to collaborating with Natilee in the years to come!