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What is our ecclesial response to food insecurity? The church cannot stay silent on this nor pray it away. People of faith must be ecclesial disruptors of the systemic injustices that cause food insecurity, especially for women in Texas. This book explores food insecurity through a womanist theological lens, using Genesis 1:29 as the foundation.
Listen to Rev. Dr. Y explain the term "scrimpin' and scrapin'."
It debuted as the #1 new release in Christian Liberation Theology on Amazon dot com.
Non-signed print copies and E-books can be purchased on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Books, Thrift Books and several online bookstores.
In Dallas, copies are available at Pan African Bookstore and Connection in Oak Cliff.
Reverend Doctor Yvette (pronounced “why”-vette) R. Blair-Lavallais (lah-vuh-lay) is the 2024-25 Equity Research Fellow with Feeding America, one of the largest hunger-relief organizations in the United States. Yvette is a licensed pastor and ordained elder in The Methodist Church. She has served in pastoral ministry for almost 15 years in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, including the honor of having served as the first woman in the role of senior pastor at First Christian Methodist Church in the Red Bird area of Dallas.
She completed the two-year Women in Ministry cohort at Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey and holds a certificate in Executive Leadership. Currently, she serves on the ministerial team at Greater Garth Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Dallas. Dr. Blair-Lavallais is an advisor and adjunct professor at Memphis Theological Seminary where she teaches courses in the Land, Food and Faith doctoral program. She also serves as the Cohort Mentor.
A womanist public theologian and food justice strategist, she earned a Doctor of Ministry from Memphis Theological Seminary, in May 2022. Her work focuses on the intersection of food insecurity, famines, displacement, and gentrification of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous peoples. Her doctoral research project is “Reframing the Narrative of Food Insecurity: Creating a Faith-Based Policy that Addresses Food Apartheid in the Red Bird Community of Dallas.”
She is the recipient of the 2023 Dr. Henry Logan Starks Outstanding African American Alumna Award at Memphis Theological Seminary for her faithful ministry and distinguished service. The award is named for Starks, who was a professor at MTS, and a community and civil rights leader. Recipients are recognized for contributing to their communities in ways that are consistent with the Starks legacy.
Dr. Yvette also received the 2022 Juanita Craft Humanitarian Award for her visionary leadership in bringing national attention to food insecurity in Texas. The award is presented by The State Fair of Texas in conjunction with the Juanita Craft Museum. Craft was a civil rights leader, and field organizer with the NAACP, and in 1944 she became the first Black woman in Dallas County to vote in the Democratic Party primary. The award honors recipients who embody Craft's spirit of service and commitment to bettering the community.
Rev. Blair-Lavallais is a 2022 inaugural cohort fellow of the Texas Folklife Program's Community Folklife Fellowship where her focus is on cultural traditions in our foodways.
Dr. Blair-Lavallais' latest book, a 2022 summer release, Scrimpin' and Scrapin': The Hardships and Hustle of Women and Food Insecurity in Texas Through a Womanist Lens, is an expansion of that work. The book invites readers into the conversation about the root causes of food insecurity through a faith lens. It debuted as the #1 new release on Amazon and as the #4 bestseller.
An international speaker on food justice issues through a theological framework, Rev. Blair-Lavallais has been a featured panelist for Bread For The World’s Global Advocacy Summit, Conversation with the White House and she has presented her work on the systemic injustices of food insecurity at conferences including the Political Theology Network conference at Union Theological Seminary in New York, Rural Women’s Studies Kitchen Table Talk to Global Forum at the University of Guelph in Canada, and the Leadership Academy at Vanderbilt Divinity School. Her work has also been included in the UN Food Summit and Pan African Women of Faith Ecumenical Empowerment Network.
An award-winning writer, Rev. Blair-Lavallais is a Public Voices Fellow of The Op Ed Project, a 2021 Engle Institute of Preaching fellow and a 2017 Black Theology and Leadership Institute fellow of Princeton Theological Seminary. She is also a 2018-2020 fellow of Vanderbilt Divinity School’s Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative cohort. She earned a Master of Theological Studies and graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2013 from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. She also holds a BA in Journalism from the University of North Texas in Denton.
In 2018, she was named Person of the Year by Texas Metro News for shattering the silence on clergywomen abuse. She is featured in the award-winning film, Shattering the Silence - Documentary, produced by WOW Films.
Rev. Dr. Yvette R. Blair-Lavallais is a native of Dallas, Texas. She and her husband, the Rev. Carl M. Lavallais, live in Dallas.
Let's connect: Yvette@yvetteblair.com
Keynote speaker. Guest preacher. Lecturer. Workshop Facilitator. Book me for your next event. It will be an authentic, transformative, and engaging experience designed for your audience.
Whether it's preaching, leading a conversation on liberation theology, or giving a lecture on food justice, climate change through an ecowomanist lens, or addressing systemic injustices through a faith lens, let's talk about your specific vision.
From the pulpit and college campuses to conversations on Capitol Hill and speaking at conferences, I offer an engaging and conversational style experience that informs, transforms and resonates with audiences.
Contact me at Yvette@yvetteblair.com to plan for your upcoming event.
Click the button below to go directly to my workshop page for ideas. Remember, we can develop a topic specific for you.
Check out these sites to learn more about my work.
Listen
The Folklorist Next Door Podcast: Food, Family and the Stories
Food and Faith Podcast: Facing Food Insecurity in Texas
Unleashed Podcast with Eva Melton
Fully Yours: Tilling Land, Tilling Justice with Eva Englert-Jessen
Somewhere in the Middle: Fighting Against Food Deserts
Food As a Human Right
Watch
Texas Mobile Institute: The Politics of Food ~ Health Disparities and the Epidemic of Food Insecurity in TX (a partnership with Vanderbilt Divinity School's Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative)
I Was Just Thinking with Norma Adams Wade
Collective Grief in The Book of Ruth
Unleashed Podcast with Eva Melton
Read
Food Is Political: How Food Apartheid Is Deeply Impacting
Bread For the World's Black August: Food Freedom and Liberation
Visible Magazine: Wading in Womanist Waters
Freedom: Juneteenth and Politics at the Cookout