Culture
Utica Locals Tackle Food Desert Woes With ‘Homegrown’ Festival
Sipp Culture is planning the Homegrown Utica Festival as part of local efforts to tackle food insecurity in Utica, a Mississippi food desert.
Aliyah Veal
November 15, 2023
Sipp Culture is planning the Homegrown Utica Festival as part of local efforts to tackle food insecurity in Utica, a Mississippi food desert.
Experiencing the loss of a sibling for the first time after his sister—one of nine siblings—recently passed away following a heart attack, Roscoe Barnes III
South Arts selected Sipp Culture and the B.B. King Museum to receive $300,000 over three years, in partnership with the Ford Foundation.
Although the costs of meat and other products have risen over the last year, Stamps Super Burgers Operations Manager Phil Stamps II has negotiated with multiple vendors to keep the store’s menu prices unchanged.
Jeremy Knott, once a student of Dr. Will Smith’s at Callaway High School, worked alongside Smith as a teacher and administrative intern at Utica Elementary and Middle School. He is now the principal of Crystal Springs Middle School.
The Turners created ‘Sipp Culture as a way to foster community development in Utica, which was once a thriving community, but in recent years has seen the loss of its schools, industry and, finally, its grocery store. Join co-founders Donna Ladd and Kimberly Griffin this week as they discuss food insecurity with Carlton Turner on MFP Live this Thursday, April 14, at 6 p.m.
“Meet, Greet & Eat” is a no-contact community meal for Utica residents to learn about “Equitable Food Futures,” a project to address healthy food access in rural Mississippi. Sipp Culture Director Carlton Turner wants to “complicate the narrative” beyond the need for a grocery store to growing fresh food.
The Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting conducted data analysis showing that coronavirus deaths are twice as high per capita in Mississippi’s poorest counties. The death rate rose to 3.3 times higher when compared with counties where the per-capita income was at least $25,000.
In the seven years since the Holder decision, Mississippi has closed 6% of its precincts, a total loss of 120 polling places across the state. The two counties that have experienced the largest precinct loss since Shelby County vs. Holder are also the two most populous counties in the state: Hinds and Harrison, each with a population well over 200,000.
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