About Us

Our Misson

Our Mission

The Coalition for Food and Health Equity builds power within communities through sustainable, community-grown cultures of health.

We place hunger within the larger context of racial health equity, working to end hunger, improve health, and advance economic equity within historically marginalized communities.

Our Vision

Building resilient communities of health through integrated health and nutrition services rooted in a politic of racial liberation and economic justice.

Our Pillars & Our Roots

Founded in 2020 by Dr. Leeja Carter, The Coalition for Food and Health Equity is a Black and woman-led nonprofit organization that places hunger within the larger context of racial health equity, working to end hunger, improve health, and advance economic equity within historically marginalized communities. Our pillars are the core and drivers of our work:

UpRoot.

We address the root causes of health inequity by identifying the ways structural oppression marginalizes communities and impedes health.

ReImagine.

Through innovative, community-focused dreaming and data-based execution, we re-imagine community health, steeped in care, respect, trust, and reciprocity that leads to sustainable, transformative and racially liberatory change.

ReBuild.

We build cultures of health through interdisciplinary, equity focused approaches that are honed in on local economies, tap into community assets to build power within these communities. At the core of this model is the intersection of community and data-driven innovation that activates the transformative power of local food and health systems that ripple into the wellness and revitalization of communities.

Our Programs include:

Pals
and
Produce

Rapid Response Hunger Relief Program

Sanfkofa

STEM
for
Good

Our Programs

Meet the Team

Dedication. Community. Passion.

Leeja Carter, Ph.D
CEO & Founder

Dr. Carter has presented internationally as well as published peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and popular articles on topics related to feminist sport psychology, black feminist politics, social justice, feminist leadership, gendered racism in sport, inclusion, and diversity. In 2019 she published, Feminist Applied Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice, an edited text addressing intersectional feminist, womanist, and black feminist praxis in sport psychology. In 2018 she was awarded the Fulbright Specialist Scholar award and served as a Visiting Scholar at London South Bank University (LSBU) on the “This Girl Can” project where she consulted on the center’s work addressing cross-cultural barriers to exercise engagement amongst racial and ethnic girl’s residing in the region.

Dr. Carter received a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University, a Post-Master's Certification in Exercise Science from California University of Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. in Kinesiology with a concentration in the Psychology of Human Movement from Temple University. She is the (Past) Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP)'s Diversity and Inclusion Executive Board Division Head and an AASP Fellow.

Visit www.LeejaCarter.com to learn more.

CEO & Founder

Dr. Leeja Carter is a Fulbright Scholar, feminist changemaker, and expert on inclusive and equity-focused practice in health and wellness. Dr. Carter's work has been featured on CNN’s Connect the World, Black News Channel, Salon.com, Self Magazine, Livestrong, Bustle, Women's Health, Pride Magazine, Beauty INC, and Psychology Today. In 2021, Dr. Carter quite literally jumped: she walked away from a 15 - year career as a professor to articulate her applied research and sport psychology practice centering Black women’s health, community health and wellness into her non profit the Coalition for Food and Health Equity where she holds the position of Chief Executive Officer. At CFHE, she toils in racial equity, health, and access often and brings her wide range of skills in research, health and sport equity, development and leading to accomplish practical goals with visionary reach. In building CFHE, she created the Ujamaa Cafe and Ujamaa Well programs: revolutionary food and wellness innovation and access programs that address food and health access, affordability, social service needs, and local small business economic growth. In addition, evolved the Hunger Project program to fulfill the needs of clients across the state of New Jersey, with improved food and delivery quality and soon to the Greater Philadelphia region.

Team Members