David Schwartz and Anim Steel

Introduction

David Schwartz

Grew up in inner-city Boston

Witnessed great disparities in rates of diabetes, obesity, and access to healthy food.  

Felt that everyone should be able to nourish their families with good food for their bodies, communities and planet.

The topic of food was universal and would unite the world- frustrated about world’s inability to tackle the very structures that created this great food divide to begin with.

Dedicated himself to local food security efforts to improve access to healthy, fresh, and affordable food.

Introduction

Anim Steel

Background in economic development

Saw food and agriculture as a way to make a difference in both the US and Ghana, where he was born.

Found the differences in opportunities sickening, that the community one was born in determined your chances in life, education, and health.

On a trip to Hawaii, a stereotypical paradise, he found a lot of places there that are hurting with poverty, illness, and lack of opportunity. In one of the Hawaiian communities, he met Kukui and Gary, who 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.

Realised then that good food could be a powerful vehicle for community development and healing injustice.

The RFC

Aims to “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.”

Seeks to reverse these devastating trends (epidemic of diabetes and diet-related disease—while also fueling climate change, pollution, and the loss of farmland) by shifting $1 billion of college food purchases (roughly 20% of market total) to “real food” by 2020.

Implant a new mindset in the world, knowing that it will take a while to fully blossom.

Want people, particularly youths, to see themselves the way the food industry does: as a force to be reckoned with.

Identity shift from “me” to “we”—the development of economic and political self-respect—is the cornerstone of effective social change.

Impact of the RFC

Real Food Challenge’s GET REAL! Campaign – platform to expand and amplify existing real food efforts in higher education, push new schools to join in. Aims to redirect 20% of all food purchased by colleges and universities (currently almost $5 billion) towards real food by 2020.

Support such as:

Summits: RFC organizers plan regional local gatherings to build the movement through information sharing and networking.

Trainings: RFC supports new campus and national leaders in the food movement through variety of leadership development opportunities.

Resources such as:

The Network: provides access to hundreds of students and student-allies across the country who are already part of movement.

The Calculator: tool for assessing and tracking institutional food purchasing over time, which gives schools a clear picture of how much they are actually investing in real food.

http://www.echoinggreen.org/fellows/david-schwartz-and-anim-steel

http://realfoodchallenge.org/category/blog-tags/social-entrepreneurship

http://realfoodchallenge.org/

Bibliography

Daniel Lok

Dominic Bryce Wong

Gabriel Boey

Marcus Chong

Nathaniel Ng

Eugene Tan

Team members

TANKS EVERYBODY TANKS