Facing Food Insecurity in Texas: A Conversation with Yvette Blair-Lavallais

Yvette R. Blair-Lavallais is a womanist public theologian, community pastor, ethnographer, and food justice strategist.

Her work focuses on the intersection of food insecurity, famines, displacement, and gentrification of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous peoples. Her doctoral research is "Reframing the Narrative of Food Insecurity: Creating a Faith-Based Policy that Addresses Food Apartheid in the Red Bird Community of Dallas."

 She has presented her work on the systemic injustices of food insecurity at national conferences including the Political Theology Network conference at Union Theological Seminary in New York, Bread For the World's Global Advocacy Summit and "Conversation with the White House," the Rural Women's Studies Association Triennial Conference at the University of Guelph (Canada) and the Leadership Academy at Vanderbilt Divinity School.

An award-winning writer, Rev. Blair-Lavallais is a Public Voices Fellow of The OpEd Project, a 2018-2020 fellow  of Vanderbilt Divinity School's Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative cohort, and a 2017 academic fellow of Princeton Theological Seminary’s prestigious Black Theology and Leadership Institute. She earned her Doctor of Ministry in "Land, Food and Faith" at Memphis Theological Seminary and she graduated Magna Cum Laude from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. 

Rev. Blair-Lavallais is a native of Dallas, Texas, and holds a BA in Journalism from the University of North Texas. She and her husband, the Rev. Carl Lavallais, live in Dallas.

Her new book is entitled "Scrimpin' and Scrapin': The Hardships and Hustle of Women and Food Insecurity in Texas" which you can purchase at her website yvetteblair.com, You can also connect with her at PreacherGirl716 on Instagram and @YvetteRevYBlair on Twitter.