David Schwartz and Anim Steel

2010

David Schwartz and Anim Steel

The Real Food Challenge

http://www.realfoodchallenge.org

Food, Nutrition, Agriculture

The Bold Idea:

Bold Idea: Build a healthy, fair and green food economy by harnessing the political power of youth and the purchasing power of universities to shift demand toward socially responsible farm and food enterprises.

The youngest generation of Americans today will be the first in our history to have a shorter lifespan their parents, thanks to the food they eat. Our food system is driving an epidemic of diabetes and diet-related disease—while also fueling climate change, pollution, and the loss of farmland.

The Real Food Challenge (RFC) seeks to reverse these devastating trends by shifting $1 billion of college food purchases (roughly 20% of market total) to “real food” by 2020. That means shifting food-dollars away from the industrial food system and towards local, sustainable, humane, and fair trade sources. Because of consolidation in the industry, even small changes in institutional purchasing have powerful effects on family farmers and socially responsible food enterprises. The core of The Challenge’s work is inspiring, training and supporting students to lead real food campaigns, so that every university in America adopts a “real food policy.” To measure success, the RFC has developed a Real Food Calculator for auditing institutional food purchasing.

Biography:

With a background in economic development, Anim saw food and agriculture as a way to make a difference in both the US and Ghana, where he was born.  David grew up in inner-city Boston where he witnessed great disparities in rates of diabetes, obesity, and access to healthy food.   The pair met at The Food Project, a nationally recognized program that empowers youth through sustainable agriculture.

David Schwartz

Moment of Obligation: What experiences led to the desire to start your own organization?

For me, the effort to create a truly just and sustainable food economy is personal.  Growing up I lived in two very different communities—one, a mostly Black and Latino neighborhood in inner-city Boston, and the other, a nearby affluent suburb.  Early on I witnessed the intense, and sometimes tragic, disparities between my two homes—the incidence of obesity, diabetes, and lack of access to healthy foods were obvious.  Despite these facts, I found that food—the idea that everyone should be able to nourish their families with food that is good for their bodies, their communities and the earth—was one issue that could consistently draw people together across lines of race, class, and geography.     For many years I dedicated myself to local food security efforts--working in communities to improve access to healthy, fresh, and affordable food.  While emboldened by our work with youth growing and distributing "real food" to real people, I also grew frustrated about our inability to tackle the very structures that created this great food divide to begin with.

Gall to Think Big: What has given you the ability to dream big and take on deeply entrenched social and difficult problems? (Such as experiences, skills, events, etc.)

It wasn’t until I got to college that I figured out how to turn this passion into a vehicle for social change.  If we were to achieve true change, it would take a generation-wide commitment to “real food” and innovative market-based approaches to rebuilding our food systems.  Looking around, I saw the seeds of this transformation on college campuses across the country and the incredible potential of higher ed. institutions to catalyze change at an even greater level.  Moreover, I found that students, because of our creativity, ability to organize in great numbers, and future roles as leaders and decision-makers, held a unique role in leading this change.

New and Untested: What's innovative about your new idea for social change

Our campaign highlights a new, positive lever for collective action and social change.  A typical piece of advice for someone who wants to improve the food system is to “vote with your dollar” by shopping at a farmers’ market or buying organic; it’s a positive, individual act.  There is also a tradition of exercising collective power by boycotting certain goods—grapes in the seventies, fast food more recently (to support Florida tomato pickers in their campaign for higher wages).  What the Real Food Challenge does is to hitch the positive impulse of “voting with your dollar” to the strength of collective action.  Instead of voting with one dollar, we’re voting with a billion. Instead of a boycott, we’re mounting a “pro-cott,” strategically investing in the kind of food system that will advance social, economic, and environmental justice.       Overall, we’re trying to seed the field with a new mindset, knowing that it will take a while to fully blossom.  We want people, particularly young people, to see themselves the way the food industry, in fact does: as a force to be reckoned with. This identity shift from “me” to “we”—the development of economic and political self-respect—is the cornerstone of effective social change.

Seeing Possibilities: What are the most important qualities to be a successful social entrepreneur?

Moving Together--The Real Food Challenge would never have gotten as far as it has if it wasn't for the incredible team of leaders we work with.  Being able to cultivate a diverse and passionate community supporters, thought-partners, funders and comrades in arms has been crucial to our success.  By laying out a powerful vision and strategy for change, paying attention to relationship-building, and encouraging innovation at all levels of the organization, we've been able to rally a broad base and move together as one.

Which musical artists/albums get you going and keep you inspired?

Caetano Veloso, Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z, Cannonball Adderley, Bruce Springsteen, Bobby McFerrin, Fela Kuti

What books do you recommend (pleasure, work and anything in between)?

Bury the Chains ~Adam Hochschild  Freedom is a Constant Struggle ~Clayborne Carson  An Omnivore's Dilemma ~Michael Pollan  Stuffed and Starved ~Raj Patel  Agrarian Dreams ~Julie Guthman  Roots for Radicals ~Edward Chambers  The Revolution Will Not be Funded ~Incite!  The Joy of Cooking ~Rombauer, Becker & Becker

Which websites do you visit often (work and/or personal)?

http://www.ciw-online.org  httpl://www.slowfoodusa.org  http://food.change.org/  http://www.grist.org/kingdom/food  

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Real-Food-Challenge/104560196245144  http://www.google.com/reader/bundle/user%2F07932542246025827638%2Fbundle%2FFood%20Stuff

What advice or quote do you keep close to your heart as a social change leader?

"There is no social change fairy.  There is only the change made by the hands of individuals" ~ Winona LaDuke, White Earth Land Recovery Project

Anim Steel

Moment of Obligation: What experiences led to the desire to start your own organization?

Originally, I wanted to be an astronaut.  I studied Astrophysics in college. I had an internship at NASA.  But while I was applying to engineering school, I took a job in college admissions, and I visited of high schools all around the country.  The differences in opportunities were sickening.  What community you’re born in shouldn’t determine your chances in life, your education, your health.  I wanted to change that.    It was a trip to Hawaii that taught me the power of food for change.  People think of Hawaii as paradise, but there are a lot of places there that are hurting with poverty, illness, and lack of opportunity—just like in Boston and in Africa and other places I had lived.  It was in one of those communities in Hawaii that I met Kukui and Gary.  They were starting a farm. Their vision was to create jobs for youth, produce healthy food for the community, and bring back pride in native Hawaiian culture.  They helped me realize that good food could be a powerful vehicle for community development and healing injustice.

Gall to Think Big: What has given you the ability to dream big and take on deeply entrenched social and difficult problems? (Such as experiences, skills, events, etc.)

When I was 16, my father gave me a copy of the Autobiography of Malcolm X.  At that time, I was still trying to figure out where I fit in to American society--a biracial kid who had come to the US from West Africa.  As a white guy from a Midwestern suburb, there wasn’t a lot my dad could give me in terms of black culture.  But he did give me knowledge.  In the Autobiography and other books I found the role models I needed: smart, strong African-Americans who stood up to change things for themselves and others.    Ultimately, I get a lot of my values from my family. My parents met not long after Ghanaian independence, and each in their own ways, they’ve spent their entire lives fighting poverty in Africa. All of my grandparents were teachers, and so are my sister and aunties, and other relatives.  So I guess I absorbed a belief that individuals and people can be better than they are.

New and Untested: What's innovative about your new idea for social change?

Our campaign highlights a new, positive lever for collective action and social change. A typical piece of advice for someone who wants to improve the food system is to “vote with your dollar” by shopping at a farmers’ market or buying organic; it’s a positive, individual act. There is also a tradition of exercising collective power by boycotting certain goods—grapes in the seventies, fast   food more recently (to support Florida tomato pickers in their campaign for higher wages). What   the Real Food Challenge does is to hitch the positive impulse of “voting with your dollar” to the strength of collective action. Instead of voting with one dollar, we’re voting with a billion. Instead of a boycott, we’re mounting a “pro-cott,” strategically investing in the kind of food system that will advance social, economic, and environmental justice.

Seeing Possibilities: What are the most important qualities to be a successful social entrepreneur?

--Being wide open to people and ideas.  Often, creativity is the act of applying something from one context in another or finding links between two seemingly different things.  Certainly, the inspiration for the Real Food Challenge came from several directions     --Try, learn, try, learn, etc. When I worked at the Food Project in Boston, I learned the importance of taking intelligent risks in order to keep finding what works and what doesn't.

Which musical artists/albums get you going and keep you inspired?

--Lucky Dube: a South African reggae artist; beautiful music.  A voice of conscience.  It was heartbreaking when he was killed in a car-jacking a couple years ago.  --Bob Marley  --Wil Bullock (Time for Change)  --Jennifer Johns  (Heavyelectromagneticsoularpoeticjunglehop)

What books do you recommend (pleasure, work and anything in between)?

--Outliers: The Story of Success (by Malcolm Gladwell)    --Next of Kin: My Conversations with Chimpanzees (by Roger Foust).  An amazing true story that shifted my world view.     --Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire’s Slaves (by Adam Hochshild).  The story of the first social movement in modern history.  A truly inspiring book.    --Guns, Germs, and Steel (by Jared Diamond)    --The Watchmen (by Alan Moore)

Which websites do you visit often (work and/or personal)?

-- www.wbur.org.  I often get news from here.  Perhaps the best public radio station in the country…  -- www.thefoodproject.org   and www.maoorganicfarms.org    These are two organizations that inspired me and continue to do so.  I like to see what’s happening.  Also some good resources there for youth-food projects.    --www.fifa.com  for soccer and World Cup news.

What advice or quote do you keep close to your heart as a social change leader?

--The Ghanaian (Akan, specifically) concept of Sankofa is close to my heart. Sankofa is a bird that is moving forward while looking back.  To me it means, “know your roots so you can move forward.”  I am pretty future-oriented, but I try to do so while grounded in the past—my own and others.  I learn a lot from my elders and history.     --From my grandfather: “Never lose your interest in people.”