Sagdrina Jalal

Anti-Racist Toolkit for Farmers Markets Lead Technical Advisor/Facilitator

Sagdrina Jalal’s work thrives at the intersection of food, community, and innovation. Born and raised in Savannah and a graduate of the University of Georgia, Sagdrina became the founding executive director of the Georgia Farmers Market Association (GFMA) in 2013. In this role, Sagdrina’s impact has been felt across the state in communities large and small. The Just Food program she initiated offers a community-led sliding scale farmers market/CSA hybrid to places  with limited access to fresh, local produce. 

With a proven track record of success, Sagdrina was elected to serve as a board member for the national Farmers Market Coalition, a 2018 Well-Being Impact Area Advisor for the Community Foundation of Atlanta, an advisor for Tuskegee University’s Organic Farming Project, a participant in SoulFire Farm’s Black and Latinx Farmer Immersion program, and a fellow in Center for Civic Innovation’s Food Innovation Fellowship program.  She was also chosen to participate in CARE USA’s first Growing Solidarity fellowship where she traveled to Côte d’Ivoire  to share and learn with both International representatives from CARE’s global health initiatives and Indigenous leadership in a local village.

Today, Sagdrina serves as the Senior Director of Partnerships and Programs at the Center for Civic Innovation in Atlanta. Here she creates and facilitates fellowship programs and builds community connections across several aspects of social entrepreneurship and civic engagement.

Sagdrina’s commitment to equitable local communities can also be seen in her family life.  She is the daughter of the late Civil rights advocate Attorney Sage Brown; a decorated Vietnam veteran who was hand-picked by Civil rights leaders to desegregate Chatham County Public Schools. A mother of 3, the foundation laid by Sagdrina’s ancestors continues.

Sagdrina is also known to invite friends and neighbors over to sample the Gullah Geechee dishes of her childhood. “You’d be surprised how effectively folk can work together when a delicious, homemade meal is shared.”

As someone who consistently brings diverse communities together to solve shared problems, Sagdrina understands that authentic engagement requires reverence and commitment. Her approach to project and program design, development and implementation reflects her commitment to meeting community members where they are, and from there, guiding them to where they want to be.  Sagdrina has found her space in the good food movement; at the intersection of food and community and brings her expertise and leadership skills as the head Facilitator of the Antiracist Toolkit for Farmers Markets work group.