Since 2020, the local community programme Black Butterfly has emerged as a cultural hub, promoting fresh produce through its sister initiative, Joyful Roots. Founder, Dawn Dublin describes the ongoing challenges faced by the programme, particularly the persistent issue of inadequate funding and the barriers encountered by Black and ethnic minority communities.

THE ROOT OF THE STRUGGLE

Dawn is passionate about grassroots involvement, emphasising that true community development hinges on nurturing relationships. She points out that many minority communities have to fight to establish their own spaces while grappling with systemic obstacles. “Exclusion is the problem right now in this county, especially in this town.”

She feels there is a sense within Black Butterfly that the perspectives of the main players in community work often overshadow those of the actual beneficiaries, and that Black Butterfly needs to work against a ‘white-centric perspective’ that can sometimes divert attention from those in dire need. The organisation has been actively connecting with local creatives and other organisations to ensure that the voices of those directly impacted by their work are being heard.

PROJECTS IN ACTION

Joyful Roots is just one of a range of projects initiated by Black Butterfly. This initiative focuses on promoting urban agriculture and collaborates with local farmers to foster sustainability within the community. Its key idea of establishing community sustainability is the “reimagining of food systems”, so they have sought out “redundant, neglected, or undervalued” areas to develop. She feels, particularly as a Black woman, that the existing systems do not adequately support diverse communities.

One notable effort was the Sky Farm project. This food garden situated on the rooftop parking area behind ESK in Hastings opened in 2020. During the proposal and development phases, local farmers and colleagues expressed support for this innovative approach to food sustainability; the aim was to reduce reliance on food banks and corporate suppliers by sourcing organic produce with cultural significance.

According to Dawn, local funding and enthusiasm was “disappointingly sparse”. Despite aligning with council plans for climate resilience, she often found her ideas overlooked or dismissed. By 2023, the project had stalled after two consecutive years of drought and frequent theft of the produce.

After the closure of Sky Park, Black Butterfly relocated to Hatton’s Yard, close to St Leonards Warrior Square station. This new location aims to produce organic fruit and vegetables and to serve as a multifaceted cultural venue for celebrations and training events. It is also a hub for Dark Matters, a mental health program by Black Butterfly designed to link therapists with individuals from Sub-Saharan and other ethnic communities.

THE IMPORTANCE OF REPRESENTATION

Dawn explains their mission as empowering and uplifting communities. “We aim to create environments where we can connect communities with valuable resources to assist those with lived experiences [of marginalised groups] whose lives have been influenced by social, economic, and political factors.”

Feedback from those who use the space is overwhelmingly positive: “I remember one man started to cry because of the help we provided,” Dawn remembers.

On this journey, they have confronted numerous challenges, particularly in securing sufficient funding from local authorities. Dawn expresses frustration with decision-makers who often seem disconnected from the communities they are intended to serve.

Currently, she is actively engaged in the government’s £20m 10-year Plan for Neighbourhoods initiative and has established relationships with local officials. She has noticed a narrow representation in previous schemes: no community members, grassroots organisations, or neighbourhood representatives were involved, only authority figures. She believes this creates a disconnect between the decision-makers and the projects intended to benefit the town.

Black Butterfly exemplifies the struggle for marginalised communities in their quest for autonomy and sustainability. The good news is that Dawn insists on continuing as a voice that helps shape the lives of local people, particularly those from marginalised and underrepresented backgrounds. 

Worried about how you’ll cope with post-COP26 blues now that two years of anticipation and two weeks of ‘blah, blah, blah’ draws to a close? Your finest form of prevention might just be to stand still, look around you – and celebrate. 

While the minute-by-minute bulletins detailed the creative new ways of corporate greenwashing in Glasgow, closer to home, climate-concerned local citizens were taking hundreds of small steps to move us all towards the seemingly impossible goal of 1.5c. 

Sure, Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty has joined the list of eminent observers of UK life to declare that coastal communities have lots of problems. Add to that the various reports and funding bids, dense with data, proving just how awful a place Hastings is to live, go to school, work and be alive in. 

There’s no room in this article to detail the damage these relentless negative narratives have on our health (both physical and mental), but there is time to give a shout out to those who are investing serious and significant effort in reimagining and rebuilding this town as a positive place with great prospects for a cleaner, greener, more resilient future.

Here’s to our heroes running independent cafes, shops and community spaces who work tirelessly to make eating and shopping as beautiful, meaningful and, most importantly, low-carbon, as possible. Three cheers for Wonderfill, Trinity Refill, Naked Larder, Joyful Roots and Hastings Compost Community. You all need a particular vote of thanks – for all you’re doing to remove plastic, reduce waste and encourage the finest forms of consumer behaviour. 

Dandelion, Kings Road – ethical trading

A round of applause, too, for the people running those oft-ignored businesses that make climate-considerate consumption so much easier: our amazing network of charity shops where purchases do double-duty, helping the charity as well as the planet. (Sad to see another disappear from London Road because of a massive rent increase. Shame on you, landlord!) 

Gold stars, too, for St Leonards Clean Water Action Group, Strandliners, Surfers Against Sewage and the UN Association of Hastings and Bexhill for all your efforts to save our seas by pushing for water quality measures and utility companies that place people and planet over profit. 

Well done to the local Zoomers (you know who you are) who have just spent three days online, participating in the Hawkwood Centre for Future Thinking’s Climate Action Lab, inspired by the words and work of international leading lights like Daniel Christian Wahl, Mike Berners-Lee and Vandana Shiva. You’re stars for taking the time to learn more
about regenerative economies, revitalising relationships and taking responsibility so that the whole town can be enriched, inspired and energised. 

While borough and county council officers, councillors and local citizens rarely come together, here’s to all who lowered the illogical boundaries between them and found time to travel to Sheffield to see how a city can transform its roads into 1.3km of spectacular, climate-resilient gardens – bringing Hastings’ Garden Town one step closer to reality.

Three cheers for Hastings Commons and its continued mission to restore the Observer Building and forge new ways to regenerate whole sections of this town, experimenting with new ways to imagine place, relationship, work and belonging. Here’s to all the inspiring initiatives that are calling Hastings Commons ‘home’ – from responsible retailers like Cheese-on-Sea and Aura Que, to regenerative initiatives like ReWeave and the Library of Things. 

Jess Steele at the opening of the Common Room

Last week the new Common Room (part of the Commons) hosted its first ‘Food-for-Thought’ potluck supper, to restore that age-old habit of ‘companionship’ sharing food (and gossip) together. Here’s to the next one, taking place from 5-7pm on 25 November. 

Still in The Common Room, let’s say thanks to Transition Town Hastings and Energise Sussex Coast for co-hosting a ‘Green Room’ every Thursday. A veritable garden of green, low-carbon ideas and information is growing rapidly. Free energy advice, permaculture workshops, DIY chutney-making, and beginner’s patchwork courses are on the calendar for November. 

Thanks, too, to Hastings Greenways group for getting people out by recently leading a walk to the fantastic low-carbon, straw bale house, while local green goddess, Anna Locke, led a workshop on permaculture at the Marina Allotments. 

And finally, let’s give a big thanks to everyone in Extinction Rebellion, who recently took to the streets to stage a die-in in front of local councillors, for their relentless reminders that the time to act is now. 

Got a little SIMT (Sorry I Missed That)? Don’t be – just slow down, take a deep breath and be grateful to live here. Save your energy for what really matters – don’t waste it worrying. We are privileged to live in a beautiful seaside town, rich with history, and inhabited by people who really are making a difference. 

None of this work is being done on a stage or in the light of a thousand press cameras – but it’s what matters: people with great ideas and tenacity, keeping it local and believing we can achieve great things together. Keep up the great work, all of you. 

• The Common Room is now open Tuesday to Saturday, 12-4pm. 

I picked up a bag of lovely organic veg for only £10 from the Joyful Roots pop-up at Sugarpie Honeybuns café and made this Katsu Curry with it. You can use any vegetables you like and it’s also great with tofu. 

Ingredients

For the sauce:
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
1 small banana, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Coconut oil (or whatever oil you prefer to cook with)
1 tbsp curry powder
2 tsp garum masala
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp chilli powder (or more if you like it hot!)
1 tbsp tomato purée
2 tbsp soy sauce
400g veg stock

For the veg:
1 small aubergine cut into 2.5cm cubes
1 large courgette cut into 2.5cm cubes
1 red pepper cut into 2.5cm cubes
4 tbsp flour
4 tbsp gram (chickpea) flour mixed with 4 tbsp water
and tsp salt until it’s the consistency of double cream
70g panko breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper
Sesame oil

To serve:
Fresh coriander
Rice

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C or gas mark 5. Line a large tray with baking paper.

2. Put flour, gram flour paste and panko breadcrumbs into three separate shallow bowls. 

3. Cut up veg and then dip each piece into first the flour, then the gram flour paste and lastly the breadcrumbs. Place on the tray and sprinkle well with sesame oil. Bake in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes, turning the veg halfway through.

4. Make the sauce. Fry the onion on a low heat until transparent before adding garlic, carrot and banana and cooking for a further five minutes. Add the spices and cook for a minute or so before adding the stock, soy sauce and tomato purée. Simmer until everything is soft. Blend until smooth with a stick blender or food processor.

Serve the vegetables and sauce with rice and some fresh coriander. 

This curry is great with warm sake or a chilled Riesling. Happy Eating!

Joyful Roots is one part of wider community initiative, Black Butterfly, who also run wellbeing and mental health therapy programmes. In the coming year, they will be expanding to offer creative arts projects, cultural education programmes, enterprise hubs, fitness clubs, roller-skating events, a new youth-led project and music programmes.
You can find them at blackbutterfly.org.uk, on Facebook
@blackbutterflyuk and Instagram @blk_butterfly

• Read more about the Joyful Roots project here Community Enterprise Sparks Joy within the Town and the Kitchen