DeShawn L. Blanding, President

A native of the rural Silver Community in Manning, the county seat of Clarendon County, SC, the descendent of slaves, and grandson of small farmers and sharecroppers/farmworkers, DeShawn brings his lived experiences to his advocacy work. With a passion for social justice in rural development, environmental stewardship, and our food and farming systems, DeShawn has dedicated his career to public service and uplifting the underserved and underprivileged. He is an experienced leadership facilitator, orator, curriculum designer, community and coalition builder, and public policy strategist, analyst, and advocate.

DeShawn saw firsthand how our inequitable agrarian systems harm vulnerable and underprivileged people and historically underserved communities and farmers. These experiences and insight inspired the creation of AgQuity Solutions to improve the extractive economy in rural communities and build thriving communities through systems that support all those impacted by our agroecosystems, i.e. everyone.

DeShawn is also the senior Washington representative for the Food and Environment program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). He advocates for equity, regional/local food systems, and farm and food chain worker protections. Before joining UCS, DeShawn was a senior policy analyst for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture, leading on issues related to civil rights, racial justice and historically underserved farmers, local/regional food systems, agricultural credit, 1890 Land-Grant Institutions, and rural health and economic development. He previously was the policy and strategy specialist for the Rural Coalition and also worked for the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

DeShawn earned his MA degree in public policy (philosophy and social policy) from The George Washington University and a BS in agricultural and environmental systems from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical (A&T) State University. He is a member of the Black Professional in Food and Agriculture (BPFA), the National FFA Alumni and Supporters (former National FFA Vice President), and the historic Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, VA, where he serves as the Environmental Justice co-lead for the Social Justice Ministry.