The Rooted East Knoxville Collective is restoring Black food sovereignty by cultivating collective care of community and land. They work to end food apartheid through self-determined growing practices, culturally-grounded food education, cooperative leadership, and ecological stewardship. Rooted East strengthens community power by centering ancestral wisdom, honoring food as sacred, and building a just, local, nourishing, and regenerative food system led by the people of East Knoxville.

Rooted East imagines a future where food is healing, heritage is foundational, knowledge moves freely, and where every household flourishes within a food ecosystem system shaped and stewarded by the community.

This work is done primarily through their Home Garden Program, community-based urban agriculture, a bartering and trade market, and educational classes that cover topics around gardening, food preservation, cooking, and other skills that build community sovereignty.