2007 Board Elections

Melissa Hughes

General Counsel, Organic Valley/CROPP Cooperative, La Farge, WI

Why would this person be a good Board member for CFSC?

Melissa Hughes has served as General Counsel for CROPP Cooperative/ Organic Valley for the past four and a half years, since 2003. In that capacity, she has not only managed the legal affairs of the Cooperative's business, but she has also been responsible for the Cooperative's involvement in government affairs, including issues involving organic standards, food labeling laws, dairy promotion and milk marketing and cooperative governance issues.

Melissa has extensive experience working with cooperatives, farmers, industry partners, Board of Directors and other stakeholder groups. Besides frequent involvement with CROPP Cooperative's Management Team and Board of Directors (100% farmers), Melissa serves on the board of her local natural food's cooperative. Her collective professional and personal experience has led her to both value and become valued as a key contributor on policy issues in collaborative and consensus building settings. Melissa is always on the front lines with the toughest industry issues facing Organic Valley/CROPP Cooperative and has become an invaluable advisor over the past heavy growth years.

Recently, as the new Farm Bill has unfolded, Melissa has became more aware of the Farm Bill impacts not only on the organic industry, but its critical impact of the overall health and integrity of food and farming in the United States. With growing interest, Melissa has investigated the policymakers in this arena, and discovered that the work of CFSC was consistently referred to as key in setting policy goals in the food security and food systems arenas.

Melissa now seeks to contribute her skills, networks and policy background to a broader set of issues facing our food system today, particularly efforts focused on building equitable, healthy, local and regional food systems, through programs such as farm to school and other community efforts addressing food quality and access, and including the establishment of fair markets for family-scale and sustainable farmers.

Other organizations with which this person works, or on whose Boards or steering committees s/he sits.

• Board Member, Viroqua Food Cooperative

Race/Gender

White/female

James Johnson Piett

Project Coordinator, The Food Trust, Philadelphia, PA

Why would this person be a good Board member for CFSC?

At this point in my career, I have a good sense of what I do well. I am a connector - of people, of resources, of systems. At a time when food systems are gaining more mainstream acknowledgement, the advocates of sustainable food systems must fight the tendency to operate in silos. While my work with the Food Trust focuses on providing healthy food access to economically-marginalized and underserved communities through food retail interventions, I have always viewed my work as an opportunity to connect food systems to other connected systems, particularly the urban environment. The hardware (land, physical infrastructure, and natural resources management), software (laws, policies, social/political considerations), and "heartware" (environmental/space-based ethics, stewardship, and behaviors) are remarkably similar between food and urban environmental management systems. It has helped inform my understanding of food systems and food security issues and made them salient to my work and my personal vision of social justice as it relates to space.

My work with corner stores and small-scale grocers is a microcosm of a systems-based approach to food access. How does one convince a small business owner to stock products like fresh produce or healthy dry goods that can be difficult to procure and manage? One method is to exhibit the viability of healthy foods as a profit center for a small grocer through the power of community and educational based social marketing, creating a loyal, vested consumer base for both product and point of purchase. How does one convince consumers to make healthier snacking choices? By providing opportunities to make choice-based buying decisions through sampling, cooking demonstrations, and other hands-on mechanisms that allow consumers to experience first hand the added value of healthy, locally sourced foods. How do local food advocates get healthier products in stores in socio-economically disadvantaged communities? One option is to assist advocates in understanding the financial and operating modality of the small grocery operator, allowing advocates to make better assessments of which products are viable options for grocers based on hard market information. In the end, literacy of the system has occurred; in which each stakeholder understands the other's needs and wants, and hopefully the creation of a common syntax that lays the foundation for the evolution of the system.

Or more succinctly, while a locally-grown apple may represent three different things to our stakeholders (40% profit margin for the operator, a source of nutritious and healthy food to the local food advocate, and tasty snack to the consumer), each tacitly understands the ethos around the decision-making process of the other stakeholders in the system. Once you achieve systems literacy, the proverbial Tower of Babel crumbles and forward movement occurs.

Over the last 3+ years, my job has been to connect various interests together under the aegis of healthy food access. I have built relationships with organizations and firms of all sizes and scales, from local community development corporations interested in providing community gardening to communities with poor fresh food access to large organizations such as the International Council of Shopping Centers for the promotion of sustainable design/development of supermarkets in urban spaces. Many of these stakeholders are unfamiliar with the food security movement, thus the need to translate the values of food security into concepts and themes that are palatable is a skill I have honed over the years. It is a skill that I feel will be extremely valuable to - and increasingly necessary for - CFSC as the work of food security becomes more nuanced and the stakeholders become more varied.

I believe I provide perspectives and experiences, both in my professional and personal life, that are not always adequately represented in the community food security world and I possess a skill-set that can help build capacity for food security advocates at every scale. While my strength is dealing with retailers regarding their financial and infrastructure needs, I understand the value in the various pieces of the food system and the approaches to engage those pieces, in order to create a more sustainable, more efficient whole. Regardless of my position within CFSC, I hope this process is the beginning of an even more integrated approach to food security where I can play a part in shaping future policy and advocacy work with CFSC.

Other organizations with which this person works, or on whose Boards or steering committees s/he sits.

• Co-convener of the Healthy Corner Store Network
• Member of Advisory Board for Philadelphia Development Partnership (Micro-enterprise incubator in Philadelphia)
• Advisory Council Member (Philadelphia/Mid-Atlantic) for Phillips Exeter Academy

Race/Gender

African American/Male

Young Kim

Executive Director, Fondy Food Center, Milwaukee, WI

Why would this person be a good Board member for CFSC?

Young Kim came to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Executive Director of the Fondy Food Center in July of 2003. The Fondy Food Center (FFC) is located in the heart of Milwaukee's "food desert" (the central city) with a mission to provide food security, create access to fresh, locally grown food, lessen the dependence on emergency food pantries, improve the diet and health of residents, enhance the local food system by shortening the food chain from field to fork, and strengthen this urban community with a safe, reliable place to shop.

Under Young's capable leadership the Fondy Food Center is creatively addressing the complicated issues that fall within the purview of food insecurity in an urban area. The Fondy Farmer's Market is the centerpiece of the agency's anti-hunger efforts. The Market is open six days a week during the growing season and home to 35 local farmers, many of whom are Hmong immigrants. Young has been a tireless advocate for the unique challenges that a group of immigrant, urban farmers must face. Land access, language barriers, generational differences, marketing know-how, unique culinary traditions, economic limitations, lack of transportation, fast food competition--these are just a few of the challenges that Young Kim has taken on as Executive Director at FFC as he has attempted to address this region's most food insecure neighborhood.

Successful grant writing has resulted in programs that move beyond the farmer's market locale. In partnership with the Salvation Army, the FFC has developed cooking classes for the community with the added bonus of a free cookware set to participants. This extra value has helped neighbors not only learn of nutritious fresh food, but also gives them the basic equipment that many do not own in order to cook at home. A grant was secured to video tape cooking demonstrations and classes to view on cable access as well as in the waiting rooms of WIC and W-2 social service agencies.

Girls Chef Academy is a new cooking-based food system and nutrition education program by the Fondy Food Center for middle-school aged girls. 79% of households in the zipcodes that the FFC serves are headed by single parents. Young Kim's vision is to equip these young girls who are often pressed to be the food preparers for their households with an education that embraces a whole food, plant-based diet. In 2008, Young hopes to launch a similar program designed for single moms. The Single Mothers' Cooking Club will offer education (planning, shopping, preparing, eating), a source of community and fellowship, and true sustenance to a growing number of disenfranchised families in our urban landscape.

These educational programs address community food security issues on the consumer side. Young is also instituting educational programs for the local food producers keeping in mind that many are immigrants and are farming in densely urban areas. The GrowRight program is designed to strengthen farmer relationships by providing education and marketing assistance.

Young Kim's experience with the Fondy Food Center touches upon each of the components of the Community Food Security Coalition. He has been a committed partner with many organizations in the Fondy neighborhood, and many that spread across the larger Milwaukee Metropolitan area. In all of these partnerships, Young has offered an enjoyable, intelligent, and thoughtful voice to the conversation regarding the real needs of our food community.

Other organizations with which this person works, or on whose Boards or steering committees s/he sits.

• SHARE Wisconsin, board member
• Rotary Club of Greater Milwaukee
• Unitarian Universalist Association
• Greater Milwaukee Sponsors, board member
• Slow Food Wisconsin Southeast
• Milwaukee Food Council, founding member
• Milwaukee Urban Ag Conference, steering committee
• At Fondy Food Center:
  • Greater Johnsons Park Health Coalition
  • Walnut Way Conservation Corps
  • Fond du Lac/North Avenue Business Improvement District

Race/Gender

Asian-American/Male

Erika Lesser

Executive Director, Slow Food USA, Brooklyn, NY

Why would this person be a good Board member for CFSC?

I believe I could make a significant contribution as a member of the CFSC Board because of my experience as ED of a similar nonprofit, and as a bridge to exploring partnership opportunities between CFSC and SFUSA. CFSC and SFUSA have numerous core principles and program areas (local/sustainable food system work, specific projects in schools and at the community level) that already overlap, and could also benefit from purposeful alignment and a sharing of best practices.

Beyond our similarities, I am also eager for SFUSA to learn from the vigorous model programs that CFSC has developed around public policy, community economic development and program evaluation. Likewise, I believe that CFSC's integrative agenda could benefit from some of SFUSA's strategies, which include using pleasure/taste as catalysts for behavioral change, promoting "eater-based conservation" to defend the environment and biodiversity, and using popular media outlets to magnify our stories.

SFUSA is also working this fall on forming a strategic partnership around the connection between food and health (to include the CDC), for which CFSC would also be an ideal partner.

On a personal level, I am very interested in being part of the broader conversation around sustainability and social change, both in the US and around the world. I would be excited to learn from my peers at CFSC and gain perspective through a volunteer role that goes beyond my responsibilities with Slow Food.

Other organizations with which this person works, or on whose Boards or steering committees s/he sits.

• Board Director, Slow Food Nation (subsidiary of SFUSA)
• International Councilor, Slow Food International
• Renewing America's Food Traditions collaborative (SFUSA, Chefs Collaborative, American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, Center for Sustainable Environments, Seed Savers Exchange, Native Seeds/SEARCH, The Cultural Conservancy)

Race/Gender

Asian-American & White/Female

Anne Palmer

Program Director, Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, Baltimore, MD

Why would this person be a good Board member for CFSC?

While I am relatively new to the community food security field, I have several years experience developing, managing, evaluating public health programs overseas. In my previous position, I facilitated strategic planning workshops, materials development trainings, and the mass media design programs. I developed a wide range of skills including proposal writing, needs assessments, program implementation, and using evaluation results to design programs. I had the opportunity to work in seven Asian countries and am comfortable collaborating with a wide range of people. I have been a volunteer mediator for the State of Maryland anti-discrimination cases for the past 6 years.

These skills have served me well in my current position as the program director for CLF's Eating for the Future. In my current position, I have been partnering with a community coalition in SW Baltimore to conduct a community food assessment. The assessment consists of a survey of residents' experience assessing food in their neighborhood and a store survey of the price and availability of health food products. We (CLF and the community coalition) are collaborating with the Baltimore City planning office on how to increase access to healthy food in West Baltimore. We have also embarked on the development of a regional (5 counties) food system map that will serve as a resource for groups seeking to improve food security and create new outlets for local farmers.

Other organizations with which this person works, or on whose Boards or steering committees s/he sits.

(none listed)

Race/Gender

White/Female

Lydia Villanueva

Director, Casa del Llano & Policy Coordinator, SSAWG, Hereford, TX

Why would this person be a good Board member for CFSC?

Having served on the CFSC Board, I would like to help make the transition smoother for the next group of board members. As Board President for just one year, the Coalition needs to help bring stability to the ever-growing movement of CFSC. I have the time, commitment, responsibility and desire to fulfill my role as Board member. My connections with Southern SAWG, National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture and Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, can help also bridge some gaps, plus CASA del Llano's primary goal is to work with underserved communities of color that are most affected by lack of local, healthy food.

Other organizations with which this person works, or on whose Boards or steering committees s/he sits.

• Southern Sustainable Working Group
• National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture
• CFSC

Race/Gender

Latina/Female