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Dion Dawson
Rural & Urban Food Sovereignty: Black Communities Taking the Lead
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Join the next installment of the Black Farmers and the Food System: Stories of Resilience and Innovation, led by series host Dr. Mya O. Price and co-hosted by GW’s Global Food Institute, GW’s Equity Institute, and GW’s Department of History.
This series will educate, inspire, and motivate students, faculty, policymakers, farmers, and other stakeholders who want to elevate the impact of Black farmers in their community.
Rural & Urban Food Sovereignty: Black Communities Taking the Lead
Black farmers, food leaders, and community advocates will share how they’re transforming food systems from the ground up. From rural farmlands to city gardens, panelists will highlight the innovative strategies, cultural traditions, and grassroots movements driving food sovereignty in Black communities. Join us for an inspiring conversation on reclaiming land, shaping policy, and building a more just, sustainable, and self-determined future for all.
Virtual option available.
Series Host: Dr. Mya O. Price, Assistant Professor, Global Food Institute
Panelists:
- Dion Dawson, Chief Dreamer, Dion’s Chicago Dream
- Cicely Garrett, Co-Executive Director, National Black Food and Justice Alliance
- Qiana Mickie, New York City’s inaugural Executive Director, NYC Mayor’s Office of Urban Agriculture
- Ashley C. Smith, Executive Director, Black Soil KY
PANELIST BIOGRAPHIES
Dion Dawson is a food-fighting social entrepreneur, philanthropic leader, and founder focused on health equity through an innovative and logistical lens. Dion's penchant for challenging the solvency of food insecurity through the stabilization of the supply chain has reinvigorated the traditional food distribution model and been met with worldwide attention. With data-driven operations, consistent quality, and a deep commitment to a resident-informed process that meets residents and recipients where they are, he prioritizes the end-user experience.
Dion is the Chief Dreamer of Dion’s Chicago Dream, a nonprofit social enterprise combating food insecurity through logistics & last-mile delivery in the U.S’s Midwest region. His system provides fresh produce to the door steps of food insecure recipients and has provided millions of pounds of fresh produce annually to the Chicago region food system, with numerous community jobs created and one powerful movement.
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Cicely Garrett
Cicely is the Co-Executive Director for National Black Food and Justice; a coalition of Black-led organizations working towards cultivating and advancing Black leadership, building self-determination, institution building and organizing for food sovereignty, land and justice.. She also is a Creative Strategist and Social Entrepreneur adept at providing thought leadership and consulting on strategy, design thinking, racial equity, environmental justice, food sovereignty, and community wealth building. She was previously the Deputy Chief Resilience Officer for City of Atlanta's Mayor's Office of Resilience and Food Systems Innovation Manager at the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Cicely holds a B.S.B.A. degree with a concentration in Finance and New & Small Business Management from Georgetown University and a Master of Public Policy degree with a concentration in Nonprofit Management from The George Washington University.
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Quiana Mickie
Qiana Mickie is New York City’s inaugural Executive Director of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Urban Agriculture. Under Qiana’s leadership, the office aims to advance urban agriculture and equity to actively address climate, health, and food disparities in the city’s natural and built environment. By collaborating with interagency leaders as well as the breadth of urban agriculture stakeholders, Qiana has developed innovative initiatives to foster healthy, culturally relevant food production, increase agriculture education to students, and bolster green space access for all in the city. She released NYC's first urban agriculture report in 2023 and launched the NYC Urban Agriculture Data Explorer Hub, a free, public interactive mapping tool and dashboard in 2025.
Qiana is also the Founding Principal of QJM Multiprise and the former Executive Director of Just Food. For over 13 years, Qiana has also worked on local, state, federal, and international policy on issues such as food sovereignty, land stewardship, and environmental justice. Qiana has a B.S. in Marketing from Hampton University and received her Food Hub Management certification from the University of Vermont. She currently serves on the USDA Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production Federal Advisory Committee and the International Council of Urgenci.
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Ashley C. Smith
A native of Lexington, KY, Ashley C. Smith co-founded Black Soil: Our Better Nature, an agribusiness with a mission of reconnecting Black Kentuckians to their heritage and legacy in agriculture in August 2017.
Under her leadership as COO, Smith rebranded the company to Black Soil KY to reflect its broader impact in agriculture regionally, nationally and globally. Currently, as Executive Director, Smith leads the one-of-a-kind Black woman-owned agribusiness which specializes in procurement, sourcing, grant writing and education for Kentucky Black farmers, chefs and makers representing less than 1.4%.
Smith has brought forth barrier breaking inclusivity to Kentucky agriculture and its local food system by centering Black farmers and elevating their visibility and perpetuation of Black farming and land ownership. An award winning and nationally recognized company, Black Soil KY has invested over $1.5 million into Kentucky’s tiny, yet mighty Black farming sector since 2017 through strategic partnerships, product placement and cooperative economics.
Her industry leadership includes the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Agribusiness Industry Council, Kentucky Black Farmers Conference founding organizer, Kentucky Black Farmer Fund founding member, Team Kentucky Medical Cannabis Workgroup, and farming consultant to agriculture coalitions and alliances in Indiana, Tennessee and Mississippi.
Smith holds a Bachelors of Arts in Sociology from the University of Kentucky. She is the proud mother to fraternal twins, Caroline and Trevor, Jr.