Zedé Harut: Stability With Dignity

Harut with her two children. Photo Sarah Whiting

“‘No’ is simply not an answer for me. There’s always a way and always a solution.”

Zedé Harut, the founder and executive director of Seeds Worth Sowing, created the organization in 2020. It was a solution to what she calls a lack of rapid response support for low-income families that does not come with judgment, critique, or barriers in order to receive basic necessities.

What started as a grassroots effort in 2020 became a formal organization in 2021. The idea came to Harut during her first pregnancy. At the time, she was in a bad place financially, which left her struggling to pay for rent and utilities.

In need of help and support, Harut contacted her local government agencies, but found the experience to be both dehumanizing and traumatizing. After leaving an in-person interview, Harut told herself, “I never want to feel like this again. I will start an organization to ensure that another mother will never feel this way either.”

The families that Harut serves are primarily single mothers living at low-income or poverty levels. Drawing on her fluency in Spanish, she supports immigrants from Spanish-speaking communities, as well as families facing financial hardship, clients with language barriers, and individuals struggling with mental health and substance abuse.

The organization is known for providing rapid response and mutual aid funds to individuals and families. Harut describes the program as “noninvasive,” created from her own negative experiences of seeking support and resources in the past.

She indicates that state-funded programs like hers operate under strict compliance, but gaps — like oversight split between agencies — have in the past left openings for misuse, as happened with the Feeding Our Future program during the pandemic.

Many people leading organizations in today’s America “are overwhelmed with the sheer increase in inquiries, applications, and need. But the legitimacy of these programs has never been in question,” Harut says. “It’s important for the state to stop honest taxpayer money from going to personal gain, but at the same time ensure those most impacted are given clear alternatives so that their care and stability don’t collapse.”

The direct aid her organization provides to individuals and families is used to pay for late rent or to provide support when an individual is sick or injured. “We have a contract with the Minnesota Department of Health to support low-income Black American women to help them stabilize their housing,” says Harut.

Harut hopes to expand the organization’s cohort healing session, which involves clients meeting as a group to discuss why they are dealing with housing instability and ways they can address those issues.

The majority of funding for Seeds Worth Sowing comes from monthly donors. The organization has been awarded some grants, but donors keep the work sustainable.

Housing for the Homies

Harut recently created Housing for the Homies, a resource that helps people navigate the affordable housing system and connect with social service programs. To create the platform, she compiled information and resources about affordable and accessible housing into one place as a tool for navigation.

“Housing for the Homies is about breaking information down in a digestible way for people to understand,” explains Harut. The website features information about housing options, terminology, and how to access housing. “I want people to use these tools themselves and not have to wait for someone to explain something or do it for them.”

On August 1, the Minnesota Department of Human Services announced its intent to terminate the Housing Stabilization Services program. Harut knows this will harm a lot of people, and wrote about options on her website — such as connecting at the county level and accessing mutual aid programs.

Generations of Change

Much of Harut’s inspiration comes from being the daughter of Angela Dawson, a fourth-generation farmer who is the cofounder of 40-Acre Co-op. “My mother is such a resilient woman. I vividly remember us going to food shelves and thrift stores to sustain our family. Seeing her be resourceful has influenced my ability to be creative and strategic in the work that I do today.”

As a child, Harut accompanied her mother to what is now Northside Fresh, a network of over 60 community members, organizations, and businesses committed to building a more self-reliant, just, and connected food system in North Minneapolis.

“That area has always struggled with food apartheid — not having fresh food or groceries readily available. She was always part of the initiative to address that,” shares Harut. “Seeing her be part of solutions is definitely why I do what I do today.”

During the pandemic, Harut spent several years farming. “It’s always been clear to me that food accessibility is not equal for everyone. When I moved onto a farm while pregnant with my daughter, being involved in growing food and doing the labor of harvesting, preserving, and selling gave me a unique perspective. I began to understand how reconnecting with the land requires intention. It takes effort to see the land as something not limited by our enslaved past.”

Over time, rising farming costs for equipment, ventilation systems, electricity, food storage during harvest, shipping to urban areas, and land access made it difficult for Harut to sustain the farming work. “We’ve paused services temporarily to get our money together to be able to do it again. One thing that’s not talked about in growing food is that it is very expensive,” says Harut.

Harut’s two children are four and five, and are often by her side when she is working. She says that being humiliated when she was a young pregnant mother “gave me the fuel to do what I am passionate about, and I do it with my babies beside me.”

Learn more about her programs: housingforthehomies.com, seedsworthsowing.org

Harut asks Minnesotans to be aware of local programs that address the immediate needs of those who are underserved in their area. Support local organizations as a monthly donor, “whether the organization is addressing unstable housing, food insecurity, mental health issues, or addiction issues — because all these factors impact the success and liveliness of a community.”

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