Speaker 1: Welcome to Force Multiplier, a new podcast about leveling up
Speaker 1: the impact we can have in the world through our relationships.
Speaker 1: I'm barretton Day Thurston and in collaboration with I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and Salesforce dot Org, I sit with leaders from
Speaker 1: across the public, private and nonprofit world who are forging
Speaker 1: partnerships to tackle some of the toughest challenges facing us today.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. Into our first episode, I am
Speaker 1: glad you are with me, navigating these topics, learning from
Speaker 1: these leaders, getting inspired, and changing the world in the
Speaker 1: good way, not the bad way. We're taking this one issue,
Speaker 1: one solution, and one relationship at a time. So we
Speaker 1: used to call it hunger. Then it was food insecurity.
Speaker 1: Now it's nutrition insecurity. We're not changing the language just
Speaker 1: to make life difficult or annoying. We change our language
Speaker 1: as we change our understanding and learn more about the
Speaker 1: real challenges of hunger, which is not simply a lack
Speaker 1: of calories. Nutrition insecurity is the inability to access adequate
Speaker 1: quantities of nutritious foods required for optimal growth and development.
Speaker 1: It's a lack of nutrients we need to thrive as people. Now,
Speaker 1: quality nutritious food is getting harder to come by. We've
Speaker 1: seen the images of the lines at the food banks
Speaker 1: in this country, and they don't stop there these challenges.
Speaker 1: It's hard to come by good food unless you've got
Speaker 1: plenty of resources, and it's complicated by additional factors. Consider
Speaker 1: the backdrop of climate change, which makes growing healthy food harder.
Speaker 1: Our lettuce is literally weaker now because of that. Consider
Speaker 1: the legacy of economic and racial inequality, which makes access
Speaker 1: to the healthy foods unevenly to atributed across our society.
Speaker 1: Consider the way the economics of our food system have
Speaker 1: been established to maximize profit over health, and we start
Speaker 1: to understand the perverse incentives that we witness at every
Speaker 1: step in the supply chain. We got plenty of food,
Speaker 1: we just don't have equal access in terms of quality,
Speaker 1: healthy options for everybody. This is urgent and important because
Speaker 1: nutrition is the most powerful determinant of our health. Food
Speaker 1: is almost literally medicine, with forty five percent of deaths
Speaker 1: from heart disease, stroke, or diabetes being linked to poor diet,
Speaker 1: with families facing nutrition insecurities at the highest risk of
Speaker 1: chronic diseases, and all that further heightened by racial and
Speaker 1: equities and healthcare. This is a national security issue, this
Speaker 1: is a human rights issue. It's a basic issue of humanity.
Speaker 1: The good news is changes coming slowly, with organizations shifting
Speaker 1: focus and adopting new policies and programs to promote healthier,
Speaker 1: more balanced lifestyles to increase options and opportunities, especially for
Speaker 1: those facing real hunger. Now this matters to me because
Speaker 1: I grew up with a front row understanding of hunger,
Speaker 1: not because I experienced it directly, but because my mother
Speaker 1: was amazing and wanted me to fully understand the city
Speaker 1: I grew up in and the people I was surrounded by.
Speaker 1: We grew up volunteering in my household in soup kitchens
Speaker 1: and meal wagons in Washington, d C. My mother and
Speaker 1: I would collect leftover food from my after school program,
Speaker 1: drive it over in the family station wagon to a
Speaker 1: place called Martha's Table, still in operation to this day.
Speaker 1: Then I'd ride in the back of McKenna's wagon, the
Speaker 1: van that stops and parks all over the city, and
Speaker 1: get to distribute food, but more importantly, interact with the
Speaker 1: people who needed it. And I saw firsthand, with the
Speaker 1: eyes of an eight year old, some of the challenges
Speaker 1: involved in access to quality food. I'm talking about waste.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the cruelty of our social service system.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the painful interlinking cycles of food and security,
Speaker 1: housing insecurity, and job insecurity, where any one of those
Speaker 1: factors makes the other more likely. Food is a complex issue.
Speaker 1: It's not as simple as air dropping palettes of food
Speaker 1: and hotspots and calling it a day. It's connected to
Speaker 1: other critical human needs jobs, housing, transportation, and much more.
Speaker 1: Addressing it requires connecting across sectors, collaborating among private, public,
Speaker 1: even educational participants working at the national level and the
Speaker 1: local level if we're really gonna move of the needle
Speaker 1: and effect change. In this episode, I am thrilled to
Speaker 1: speak with two women who represent the power of that
Speaker 1: collaboration and are among the best leaders we have working
Speaker 1: across disciplines and sectors to affect our communities in a
Speaker 1: positive way on this critical issue. First, I'm gonna sit
Speaker 1: with Dr Kyla Johnson Trammel, Superintendent of the Oakland Unified
Speaker 1: School District. Then we're gonna hear from Geta Ramperside, Vice
Speaker 1: president at Feeding America, who's working at the national level
Speaker 1: in this stellar organization, Nutrition and security is an urgent need.
Speaker 1: This is so clear, and understanding and addressing the problem
Speaker 1: from our national leaders is a huge part of the solution.
Speaker 1: The other part comes from the community leaders, the educators,
Speaker 1: the organizers on the ground at the local level, who
Speaker 1: are forging the partnerships to scale and multiply the impact
Speaker 1: of good. They're the ones who helped bring this home. Literally.
Speaker 1: So I sat with one of those leaders, Dr Kayla
Speaker 1: Johnson Trammel, superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District, a
Speaker 1: public education school district that operates over eighty elementary, middle
Speaker 1: and high schools, twenty eight district authorized charter schools, serves
Speaker 1: over fifty thousand students. I sat with the good superintendent
Speaker 1: to understand how an unlikely partnership between an NBA All star,
Speaker 1: his entrepreneur wife, a passionate and driven chef, and an
Speaker 1: entire school district came together to provide fifteen million meals
Speaker 1: to the community. Dr Kayla, how are you right now?
Speaker 1: I'm well? How are you? I am well? Great to
Speaker 1: virtually meet you. Nice to virtually meet you. Two. This
Speaker 1: is my first time conversing with a superintendent. What a title?
Speaker 1: The kids call me Mama of the district, So I
Speaker 1: like that title better. I like that too. We never
Speaker 1: have enough time, but you know some of what we're
Speaker 1: here to talk about, and I just want to set
Speaker 1: it up with my own comments about kind of nutrition
Speaker 1: and security and thinking about schools and the roles they play,
Speaker 1: because it feels to me like they're one of these
Speaker 1: critical venues where we could intervene and make a difference.
Speaker 1: The younger we are, the more important it is to
Speaker 1: set that direction right early on really can determine our outcomes.
Speaker 1: We also expect a lot from our school systems. You
Speaker 1: are at the center of that in so many ways.
Speaker 1: Want to get into that with you later, but I
Speaker 1: want to start off with the Oakland Unified School District
Speaker 1: and what seems to be a unique approach to education,
Speaker 1: this idea of calling yourself a community schools model and
Speaker 1: educating and caring for the whole student. Can you explain
Speaker 1: what's different about o u s D, this community model
Speaker 1: and this whole student approach. Yeah, I'd love to. And
Speaker 1: first of all, I always like to say it's kind
Speaker 1: of like fashion, where nothing is really new and things
Speaker 1: just come back and vogue, and I feel like it's
Speaker 1: important to give a nod and a shout out to
Speaker 1: schooling and other parts of the world where the community
Speaker 1: is at the center. And when we think about all
Speaker 1: the things that need to be in place for kids
Speaker 1: to learn, we know their communities have to be healthy. Physically,
Speaker 1: we know kids have to be fed. You can't learn
Speaker 1: when you're hungry. Then you think about all the social,
Speaker 1: emotional learning components and wellness. All of these pieces have
Speaker 1: to be in place for all kids to really live
Speaker 1: out their fullest potential. So that's really the essence what
Speaker 1: our vision and mission is all about. And the boldness
Speaker 1: and broadness of it means we can't do it by
Speaker 1: ourselves as a school system. So you're going beyond grades
Speaker 1: and test scores, well beyond absolutely. If all those pieces
Speaker 1: are flowing well, we'll see greater acceleration in terms of
Speaker 1: kids really being able to think and being active, productive
Speaker 1: and effective citizens in our workplace and in our communities.
Speaker 1: You speak in my language. You mentioned fashion, and I
Speaker 1: think there is a fashionable term that gets thrown around
Speaker 1: a lot, which is equity. Sometimes it's a part of
Speaker 1: a whole cohort diversity and equity, you know, featuring inclusion. Right,
Speaker 1: that's right, but I've heard you say the term operationalized equity.
Speaker 1: What does that mean to you? Yeah? For me, operationalizing
Speaker 1: equity is about what are the concrete things you do
Speaker 1: to put it in action to make a difference. So
Speaker 1: it's everything from mindset and changing the mindset both for
Speaker 1: yourself and your organization, to really thinking about how you're
Speaker 1: using your resources differently to really move the needle and
Speaker 1: transform outcomes for the most vulnerable. What are some of
Speaker 1: the needs? If you could give me a list of
Speaker 1: what some of the whole student needs that you're able
Speaker 1: to identify from your position as a school at district administrator,
Speaker 1: what are those? By thirty I believe the minority will
Speaker 1: be the majority in terms of our student population and
Speaker 1: our national population. Yet in our school district, the majority
Speaker 1: of our educators are predominantly white. So one need is
Speaker 1: getting serious around how we continue to prepare our educators
Speaker 1: to support and teach a diverse population. That's one need
Speaker 1: to Public education in the United States is always underfunded,
Speaker 1: and so when we think about operationalizing equity, the greater
Speaker 1: need you serve, I believe, the more dollars you should
Speaker 1: get per pupil three, really continuing to think differently around
Speaker 1: what it means to be educated in the me for century,
Speaker 1: it is far beyond a grade. Being able to graduate
Speaker 1: from Stanford and Harvard is great, but that doesn't necessarily
Speaker 1: mean that that is going to prepare you for the
Speaker 1: vast changing world. And so this notion of preparing kids
Speaker 1: for work, making sure that kids are life learners because
Speaker 1: their job market might change. So those are all examples
Speaker 1: of a lot of the needs that we have and
Speaker 1: the continued need around just developing the whole child in
Speaker 1: terms of the social emotional component and that being a
Speaker 1: through line of education. I want to move to nutrition
Speaker 1: and how that's sometimes hard to meet need gets met
Speaker 1: in your school system, and to start what happens when
Speaker 1: it doesn't, what happens for a student whose nutritional needs
Speaker 1: are not being met, you know, I think first, if
Speaker 1: you think from a humorous standpoint, you know that Snickers
Speaker 1: commercial where people turn into the worst versions of themselves
Speaker 1: when they're hungry, you get angry. Yeah, exactly, that's the same,
Speaker 1: particularly for little kids and adolescence. And so it's kind
Speaker 1: of the bottom part of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. When
Speaker 1: we think about what you need to have in order
Speaker 1: to concentrate and focus. And so we in Oakland, like
Speaker 1: many urban school districts, about our kids qualified for free
Speaker 1: and reduced lunch. I think a lot of people don't
Speaker 1: realize how many families are hungry in our country because
Speaker 1: a lot of times they're working families, and so families know, Okay,
Speaker 1: my kid's going to go to school and get a
Speaker 1: meal to two meals every single day. And so with
Speaker 1: the pandemic happening, I remember hearing about some schools were
Speaker 1: up to families were unemployed, restaurants were down, there was
Speaker 1: no work, and so that need to make sure that
Speaker 1: those kids had meals really signaled to nine one one call.
Speaker 1: What's the process for making sure these students get food
Speaker 1: and not just random food but nutritionus food. So that
Speaker 1: is a lot of what we're doing now, really paying
Speaker 1: attention to the quality of the meals. And so with
Speaker 1: our partnership with Eat, Learn and Play, during the pandemic,
Speaker 1: we were able to serve up to thirteen thousand meals
Speaker 1: per week and over the course of the year and
Speaker 1: a half about fifteen million meals. I want to understand
Speaker 1: the collaboration involved in rising to this fifteen million meals distributed.
Speaker 1: Who is Eat Learned Play and explain to some of
Speaker 1: our listeners what role they've played in this nutrition security
Speaker 1: operation you've helped spin up. So before the inception of
Speaker 1: Eat Learned Play, the curries have always just been so
Speaker 1: generous and dedicated to the Oakland community. And we're talking
Speaker 1: Step and you're talking Step and Aisha, I mean stuff
Speaker 1: has shown up to schools assemblies just very genuine Ayisha
Speaker 1: has cooked for the food service workers. And then with
Speaker 1: the Foundation really in the words you know eat, We
Speaker 1: know kids need to have healthy, nutritious food in order
Speaker 1: to learn, and we're focusing a lot on literacy and
Speaker 1: then the importance of play, making sure that kids are
Speaker 1: staying healthy and getting exercise and that that's also a
Speaker 1: part of their educational diet as well. So I think
Speaker 1: the relationship and seeing the commonalities between their vision and
Speaker 1: our vision is a school district. They really were the
Speaker 1: connectors the Foundation. They were the ones that were able
Speaker 1: to bring in the world Central Kitchen and other partners
Speaker 1: after again hearing the why, seeing how compelling it is
Speaker 1: to solve this bold, ambitious challenge that we were up
Speaker 1: against and saying okay, we see what it is you need.
Speaker 1: This is where we can come in and support. And
Speaker 1: then World Central Kitchen. Some of us are familiar with
Speaker 1: Chef Jose Andres who flies in post disaster all over
Speaker 1: the world and activates chefs on the ground with their
Speaker 1: role Ben in the Oakland Unified School District. Successful experiment here,
Speaker 1: so really connecting the restaurants and really being able to
Speaker 1: bring a lot of the local restaurants into the operation.
Speaker 1: They can actually help and get funding in order to
Speaker 1: provide the food for the operation where our capacity was
Speaker 1: just maxed out, and so being able to develop the
Speaker 1: infrastructure in order to do that and to figure out
Speaker 1: how that partnered with what our everyday food service workers
Speaker 1: were able to do in terms of being the face
Speaker 1: connecting with the students of the school district. So it
Speaker 1: really was a pretty complex operation. What other parties were
Speaker 1: involved in pulling this off. There's the school district, there's
Speaker 1: Eat Learned play in. The foundation is World Central Kitchen,
Speaker 1: but I'm sure there were a few other entities. Can
Speaker 1: you kind of run off a list of all the
Speaker 1: partners in this? Oh my god, I don't think we
Speaker 1: have enough time on the podcast. I'd say, you know,
Speaker 1: just for starters, sales forces just continue to just be
Speaker 1: an amazing partner for us in so many different places
Speaker 1: and really again not just in terms of funding, but
Speaker 1: really helping us think smartly in terms of infrastructure. I'm
Speaker 1: a huge believer that technology is a tool to help
Speaker 1: bring greater efficiency so that humans can really do what
Speaker 1: humans can do, and technology can't to spend time making
Speaker 1: those connections, but lots of local partners on the ground.
Speaker 1: NUMI Foundation has been another important partner for US community
Speaker 1: based organizations. School sites that were the center for the
Speaker 1: food distributions are restaurants, are local farmers who were providing
Speaker 1: the produce. So really, I mean, when you think about
Speaker 1: how an economy he works, it's really a teeny example
Speaker 1: of that. When you think of all the folks involved,
Speaker 1: you help spin up a tiny economy, you know that's
Speaker 1: having a pretty massive impact. And I want to ask
Speaker 1: you this question about that impact, because you have a
Speaker 1: lot of different factors that have led to this success.
Speaker 1: What would you say is the force multiplier what gave
Speaker 1: you the biggest bang for the book, the most leverage
Speaker 1: in terms of making this program work, Having a compelling
Speaker 1: vision and the equal amount of conviction I think to
Speaker 1: dream beyond what you see. People have to have this
Speaker 1: sense in their gut of like, we can do this
Speaker 1: even though we may not know exactly how, and we
Speaker 1: see we feel how important, like the moral imperative around
Speaker 1: feeding kids, no one's against that. We've got kids that
Speaker 1: are hungry, and really being able to paint this compelling urgency.
Speaker 1: I've observed a lot of people who want to help.
Speaker 1: We'll show up with a bag of money, right, and
Speaker 1: hope to just launch that at the problem, or a
Speaker 1: pile of code. Right, let's just throw an app at it, right,
Speaker 1: there's an app for that. It's kind of the mantra
Speaker 1: that comes out of the Bay Area a lot and
Speaker 1: tries to solve problems. And what you're reminding me of
Speaker 1: is it's people, it's vision, it's conviction, it's all this
Speaker 1: partnership and it's intelligently putting this stuff together. But it's
Speaker 1: not simply code or dollars that's going to get this
Speaker 1: stuff done. Absolutely, and to me, under partnership, it's communication.
Speaker 1: When you execute something and it doesn't go according to plan,
Speaker 1: how do you work through the conflict, the tension, how
Speaker 1: do you work through the challenge? You know, kind of
Speaker 1: reflecting on that and figuring out how you continue to
Speaker 1: refine it. There is someone listening to this who wants
Speaker 1: to lend their expertise to their own community. They're hearing this,
Speaker 1: they're getting inspired, They're fired up and ready to go.
Speaker 1: What advice would you give that person on where and
Speaker 1: how to start? The first piece of advice I would
Speaker 1: give is what my grandmother always told me growing up,
Speaker 1: which was, you know, maybe you have two ears and
Speaker 1: one mouthful a reason listening. Start with your local school.
Speaker 1: It may just be volunteering to really figure out what
Speaker 1: lights your passion and fire in terms of where you
Speaker 1: want to help, to figure out the best relationship between
Speaker 1: what you have to give and what that particular school needs.
Speaker 1: It may not be money. It maybe time. It may
Speaker 1: be access to a resource, but listening and taking the
Speaker 1: time to build relationships so that we could better optimize
Speaker 1: everyone's support. I have observed that we put a lot
Speaker 1: of burden on our school system. We want them to
Speaker 1: do all kinds of people's jobs. You've got to be
Speaker 1: a public health official, law enforcement operator, a politician, a
Speaker 1: budget master. Do you get frustrated by what I consider
Speaker 1: to be sort of unfair expectations and more to the point,
Speaker 1: how do you manage what I proceed to be a
Speaker 1: growing set of expectations on our education system to do
Speaker 1: far more than educate. Frustration absolutely just at the enormity
Speaker 1: of the challenge and the task. These are human beings
Speaker 1: and people's children that I'm speaking as a mom. They're
Speaker 1: the most precious and dear thing to anybody. But I
Speaker 1: think first it really starts with not putting superhero expectations
Speaker 1: on yourself. I often spent a lot of the first
Speaker 1: year reminding people that I'm not a superhero, and if
Speaker 1: you expect me individually to solve all of these problems,
Speaker 1: you're going to be disappointed. We have got to figure
Speaker 1: out a way to do this as a collective, and
Speaker 1: so I think that that needs to continue to be
Speaker 1: the mantra. Right from federal policy, state policy, businesses, taxpayer,
Speaker 1: everybody has the responsibility to make sure that the kids
Speaker 1: are good. So if you have to set boundaries and
Speaker 1: really be clear about what you can do and where
Speaker 1: you need the help to get to the level of
Speaker 1: ambitious transformation, I want to make you a T shirt
Speaker 1: or a sweatshirt that says I am a superintendent not
Speaker 1: a superhero. Oh. I love that you've renewed your contract
Speaker 1: in this role at a time when many people who serve,
Speaker 1: especially in the public, are running away from those jobs.
Speaker 1: You'll end up being the longest serving superintendent. I believe
Speaker 1: in O U. S D. Why are you doubling down?
Speaker 1: Why are you sticking it out? I get a lot
Speaker 1: of joy out of what I do. I love a
Speaker 1: lot of the people that I work with. I love
Speaker 1: deep problem solving. I love kids. Kids just give me energy.
Speaker 1: It's like free comedy seven children, and they keep it real.
Speaker 1: So there's no doubt every day, whether it's a success
Speaker 1: or a failure, that what I'm doing is valuable. I'd
Speaker 1: love to know have you tried to create a culture
Speaker 1: where mistakes are acceptable? You know, not just in yourself
Speaker 1: and how you handle it, but among your staff and
Speaker 1: in the wider school district culture. I am trying. It
Speaker 1: is a hard culture to disrupt, particularly in the political
Speaker 1: sphere where you're on a school cycle where people do
Speaker 1: expect solve all the problems in a year. It's definitely challenging,
Speaker 1: but I believe it does start with leadership. Most mistakes
Speaker 1: you can bounce back from, and I think a lot
Speaker 1: of what we're wrestling with internally is capacity building to
Speaker 1: help them say, I know this is what I'm supposed
Speaker 1: to do, but I actually need some help thinking through
Speaker 1: how to do that without seeming that you are incompetent.
Speaker 1: And I think that's the struggle in terms of organ
Speaker 1: zational leadership that we're going to need to just meet
Speaker 1: a lot of the complex problems that we have. I'll
Speaker 1: give the mic to you. The themes that we've been discussing, collaboration, nutrition, kids, health,
Speaker 1: and the role of technology in enabling all that so
Speaker 1: that we have a strong democracy. Is there anything else
Speaker 1: you want to add? We need more bold leadership. It's
Speaker 1: just so important when we think about the challenges of
Speaker 1: education and the environment, equity and diversity and inclusion, what's
Speaker 1: needed in the private sector and the public sector. It's
Speaker 1: just everything. How we're going to come out of COVID.
Speaker 1: So much of what we're going to need is bold leadership.
Speaker 1: So you know, don't be afraid to lead, you know,
Speaker 1: from whatever seat you don't have to be head of
Speaker 1: an organization. We need people to really lead into their
Speaker 1: agency to transform the world that we want to live in.
Speaker 1: Dr Kyla thank you for your bold and bodacious leadership.
Speaker 1: I really appreciate this time we've had together. Me too, Yes,
Speaker 1: thank you for the conversation. H you're listening to a
Speaker 1: podcast called Force Multiplier, Action meets Impact. Now you've probably
Speaker 1: grown to expect ads inside your podcast. But we're gonna
Speaker 1: do something a little bit different to walk the walk.
Speaker 1: We're gonna take a quick break and hear from one
Speaker 1: of the organizations featured in this episode. Be right back.
Speaker 1: If you came across the child struggling with hunger, how
Speaker 1: would you recognize him? By their clothes, their age, the
Speaker 1: way they speak. Would you recognize a thirteen year old
Speaker 1: boy who gets into fights at school not because he's
Speaker 1: a boy, but because he's hungry? Or two year old
Speaker 1: girl who cries all night not because she's said, but
Speaker 1: because she went to bed without HI have to eat?
Speaker 1: Or maybe a nine year old boy who hopes that
Speaker 1: for an advice and not for fun, just so we
Speaker 1: can have dinner. Or a fifteen year old girl who
Speaker 1: goes for walks over lunch so her friends won't know
Speaker 1: she doesn't have anything to eat. I am the one
Speaker 1: in seven American children who struggle with hunger. Kids you
Speaker 1: passed by every day but never knew were hungry. I
Speaker 1: am child hunger in America. Hunger can be hard to recognize.
Speaker 1: Learn why I am Hunger in America dot Org brought
Speaker 1: to you by Feeding America two hundred food banks strong.
Speaker 1: Hey you, it's Baritone Day, host of the podcast you're
Speaker 1: listening to right now. When I was a kid, my
Speaker 1: mom told me to come up with a system we
Speaker 1: could live under after democracy had failed. Yeah, my mom
Speaker 1: was intent. I haven't finished that assignment, but I did
Speaker 1: make a podcast. It's called how does Citizen? With Baritone Day.
Speaker 1: It reimagines citizen as a verb and reminds us how
Speaker 1: to wield our collective power. Find seasons one and two
Speaker 1: and whatever podcasts app using right now? And season three
Speaker 1: all about tech, drops in October. Learn more at how
Speaker 1: does Citizen dot com? About forty two or forty three
Speaker 1: million people in this country don't have enough to eat
Speaker 1: and don't have the resources they need to put food
Speaker 1: on their families tables every day of the week, and
Speaker 1: that's unacceptable for US. Geeta Rampersade is the vice president
Speaker 1: of Feeding America, leading national healthcare partnerships, health and nutrition
Speaker 1: programs for the second largest charity organization in the US
Speaker 1: committed to ending hunger in America. So Feeding America is
Speaker 1: a national organization with headquarters in Chicago and Washington, d C.
Speaker 1: We have close to two hundred food banks, I want
Speaker 1: to say a hundred and nine that serve every single
Speaker 1: county in this country and some of them reach across
Speaker 1: state lines to provide communities with access to food that
Speaker 1: they ordinarily wouldn't be able to reach. And so they're
Speaker 1: all working independently. They are all their own experts, I
Speaker 1: will say. So our goal at the national office is
Speaker 1: to really provide the support that they need. They are
Speaker 1: the true leaders in this space. We believe that food
Speaker 1: insecurity is a solvable social determinant of health and also
Speaker 1: that access to food just isn't good enough. Why is
Speaker 1: it that black households experienced food insecurity is such a
Speaker 1: higher rate than others. Why is it that they have
Speaker 1: to rely more heavily on the charitable food system to
Speaker 1: get through the week with food on their tables. Others
Speaker 1: may access our services once or twice a month, and
Speaker 1: we see that marginalized populations are accessing our resources at
Speaker 1: a much higher rate. And these are basic necessities. But
Speaker 1: this is also not just coincidence. These are policies and
Speaker 1: practices that have been said up in this country for
Speaker 1: some people to fail, and it's up to us to
Speaker 1: see not only that people are fed, but that these
Speaker 1: and other populations can heal. One thing that I think
Speaker 1: is truly innovative and unique to the work that we
Speaker 1: do is the fact that we are engaged in so
Speaker 1: many cross sector partnerships. Oftentimes, our food banks feel that
Speaker 1: they bear the weight of the world on their shoulders,
Speaker 1: and particularly now during this pandemic, but cross sector partnerships
Speaker 1: have emerged that have really started to make our workflow improve.
Speaker 1: So right now I'm privileged to be working with some
Speaker 1: of our health care partners on connecting food banks to
Speaker 1: local healthcare organizations via health systems, health plans, health centers,
Speaker 1: community health and our goal is to really do this
Speaker 1: deeper dive, beginning with data, but also bringing in the
Speaker 1: wisdom of the community and hearing listening to the community's
Speaker 1: voice on what it is, What are your needs, what
Speaker 1: is it that's stopping you from being able to access
Speaker 1: healthy food options in your community, and how is it
Speaker 1: that we can work together with you alongside you to
Speaker 1: make those changes. It's really refreshing to see healthcare organizations
Speaker 1: stepping up and wanting to partner with us as really
Speaker 1: equal partners. For example, one of the unlikely allies I
Speaker 1: never would have expected through a role at a hunger
Speaker 1: relief organization is the partnership that my team at Feeding
Speaker 1: America has with the Centers for Disease Control. They're offering
Speaker 1: not just a hand, but a seat at the table.
Speaker 1: But these partnerships don't just stop at healthcare or actually
Speaker 1: being given the opportunity to work closely with affordable housing
Speaker 1: partners with a project that's going to allow food banks
Speaker 1: and affordable housing partners to collaborate to improve access to
Speaker 1: nutritious foods for people living in a hoordable housing. Beyond housing,
Speaker 1: we've also had the privilege of working with organizations that
Speaker 1: are addressing social isolation. We've seen during this pandemic that
Speaker 1: there are many people that are homebound, so we're working
Speaker 1: with organizations to be able to address things like transportation challenges.
Speaker 1: But the innovation that I'm seeing coming out of some
Speaker 1: of these partnerships is really stimulating. It keeps me motivated
Speaker 1: and I really am optimistic about being able to be
Speaker 1: transformative when it comes to reimagining the charitable food experience
Speaker 1: for people facing hunger. I would love to be able
Speaker 1: to give advice to other executives who are deciding whether
Speaker 1: or not they can contribute their time and skills. I'd say,
Speaker 1: do it. Don't be afraid, just do it, but be authentic.
Speaker 1: Don't do it for a photo op, don't do it
Speaker 1: for a ribbon cutting. Do it because you really do
Speaker 1: want to see change in your community or in somebody
Speaker 1: else's community, and get to know the people that are
Speaker 1: in the community. You know, get out of your ivory tower,
Speaker 1: join the fun, and be part of the progress firsthand.
Speaker 1: Like I am, if we don't listen to our communities,
Speaker 1: we will never be able to achieve success. In order
Speaker 1: to do that, you have to kind of leave behind
Speaker 1: some of your routine and take a risk. Encourage everybody
Speaker 1: to take the time to listen to people's lived experiences
Speaker 1: they want to share, and that may inspire you to
Speaker 1: really get out and roll your sleeves up and like
Speaker 1: I said, join the fun. We just heard from two
Speaker 1: incredibly bold leaders who recognize that relationships offer a more
Speaker 1: effective way through big problems than acting alone. Feeding America
Speaker 1: has these partnerships with affordable housing groups, community health centers,
Speaker 1: even the CDC. They connect national policy making to community
Speaker 1: members on the ground. And the way Geeta phrase feeding
Speaker 1: America's relationship with the communities they serve says a lot
Speaker 1: to me. They ask, how can we work with you?
Speaker 1: Alongside you? That's such an important dose of humility and
Speaker 1: respect and a sign of how much the organization's values
Speaker 1: gets relationship with the people it serves. Dr Kyla in
Speaker 1: Oakland insists she's not a superhero, but I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: she's demonstrated some superpowers in her ability to coordinate groups
Speaker 1: as varied at school, food service workers, restaurant owners, and
Speaker 1: celebrities invested in Oakland, all in service of a collective
Speaker 1: mission to support the whole student. Now, establishing relationships solve
Speaker 1: a problem, that's one very important step. But nurturing them
Speaker 1: and sustaining them through difficulties when things don't work out,
Speaker 1: that's a whole another ball game. So I especially appreciate
Speaker 1: Dr Kyla's comments about the value of communication and the
Speaker 1: acknowledgement that we're all human and we have limits. Begin
Speaker 1: of limits, It's time for this human to wrap things
Speaker 1: up Thank you so much for listening. This is Force Multiplier.
Speaker 1: Do you want to dig in more on today's guests
Speaker 1: and the work they're doing, or maybe you want to
Speaker 1: understand what action you can take in your community. Either way,
Speaker 1: go to Salesforce dot org slash force multiplier. That's one word,
Speaker 1: force multiplier. Force Multiplier is a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and Salesforce dot Org. Hosted by me Barritton day Thurston.
Speaker 1: It's executive produced by Elizabeth Stewart, produced by Van Chian,
Speaker 1: and engineered, edited and mixed by James Foster. Join us
Speaker 1: next time for more stories of how we can change
Speaker 1: the world, one relationship at a time. Listen to Force
Speaker 1: Multiplier on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcast