Our Commitment to You - A Letter from Bailey Foster

Dear Friends,

At Real Good Kitchen, our mission is to make change through food. This means using the power of food to build community and to create a more just, equitable and inclusive economy. How do we do that? The real answer is we’re not sure yet. But we have some ideas about where to start.

Our project is to build a truly inclusive organization, shared kitchen space and collaborative community. We recognize that this means not being just non-racist, but being actively and vocally anti-racist. To start, our team will read and learn from Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's How to be an Anti-Racist. We would love for you to read and learn with us.

We can make some other commitments too:

• We commit to doing the work to educate ourselves and others in the work of anti-racism

• We commit to hearing and elevating the stories of black folks and other people of color through food

• We commit to intentionally growing a network of community and business partners that is diverse and inclusive

• We commit to building inclusion into our organizational structure, culture and community

• We commit to learning from and supporting our neighbors in East Knoxville

But most important, we commit to being open and accountable on our journey. As a team made up of white, gay and Asian American women, we know we have a lot to learn about how to be an equitable, diverse and truly inclusive company, but as a startup, we think we have a unique opportunity to build something transformative from scratch.

We invite you to come on this journey with us. We’re considering doing some open book discussions and other training programs. Drop us a line if you’re interested. And let us know if you have ideas about what we can do and how we can help build the community we aim to be.

All the best,

Bailey Foster
Founder