The 2023–2024 CHFP Fellows and Honorees are shaping a new era in food and agriculture — one where legacy, liberation, and leadership converge.

This year’s cohort reflects a maturing program and a growing movement. From HBCU classrooms to community gardens, research labs to rural co-ops, these Fellows and Honorees are advancing food systems work that is unapologetically Black, interdisciplinary, and future-focused.

The 2023–2024 CHFP class brought together a powerful blend of thinkers and doers: doctoral students pursuing regenerative land management, Master’s candidates focused on policy and food equity, and scholars using data science, nutrition, and climate resilience to serve their people. Each of them is deeply engaged in the question of how we grow, nourish, and sustain our communities — and who gets to lead that process.

Through the continued partnership between Tuskegee University’s Carver Integrative Sustainability Center (CISC) and the Inter-Institutional Network for Food, Agriculture, and Sustainability (INFAS), Fellows received a $6,000 stipend, one-on-one mentorship from INFAS collaborators, and consistent professional development through CISC’s monthly cohort sessions.

Whether presenting at national conferences, collaborating across HBCUs, or designing community-rooted projects, this cohort built on the foundation laid by the pilot year — with more visibility, deeper cross-campus connection, and bolder research pursuits.

In a landscape still impacted by systemic underinvestment in Black agricultural education, the 2023–2024 CHFP Fellows and Honorees remind us: transformation is not just possible — it’s already happening. And it’s being led by students who know where they come from, and exactly where they’re going.