Food Security & Healthy Communities - Southwestern Ohio and Northeastern Ohio Community Representatives Discussion
This event is free and open to the public. Lunch is provided. In the theme of sustainability we ask you to please bring your own reusable beverage container.
Nearly 11% of the world’s population are food insecure or malnourished, and it may get worse: by 2050 farmers will need to produce almost 60% more food than currently. In Franklin County Ohio food insecurity is affecting Columbus neighborhoods. The type of food that is available to residents in these neighborhoods also plays into food insecurity. People who live in areas that do not have easy access to supermarkets tend to rely on stores that sell nutritional deficient or more expensive food. Transportation services, sidewalks, and the availability of crosswalks are also variables in residents’ access to healthy food options.
Join us March 6th, 2020 for our last event of the Spring semester. This presentation will feature a panel of community members helping to combat food insecurity in their local communities.
Northeastern Ohio Community Representative:
G. Keymah Durden III, Co-founder of Rid-All Green Partnership - Keymah has an eclectic background. Although he is trained in avionic-mechanical engineering and construction, Keymah’s passion for sustainable living and environmental protection has taken him around the world. It has allowed him to get involved in several international programs and activities. In Ghana West Africa he was involved with the African Hebrew Development Agency (AHDA) in their Fresh Well Water Initiative and Healthy Lifestyles Program. In Israel he helped plan an International Sustainability Summit and was involved with the Dimona Community Agricultural Project. He is also a former co-owner of the internationally renowned Soul Vegetarian Restaurant and has been a practicing vegan for over 20 years.
Keymah is a graduate from Cuyahoga Community College’s Post Graduate Program in Environmental Health and Safety. One of his major areas of focus was storm water management. He along with other students actually put together an actual storm water management program for one of Cleveland’s local townships. But his specialty is public relations, urban agriculture, and deconstruction activities.
His goal and vision is simple, “creating access to holistic, nutritional food for the development of the communities around the world.” To this end he is eternally dedicated.
Marc S. White, Co-Founder and Farm Operations Manager, Rid-All Green Partnership - Fashion Designer, Humanitarian, Regenerative Specialist and Farmer. and one of the Original Green Partners of Rid-All Green Partnership. As a student of life, and the first African American male graduate of Kent State’s School of Fashion in the Mid 1980’s, Marc has spent his career drawing inspiration from nature and the creation to form his unique design aesthetic. He has a philosophical vision of “traditional” clothing and culture that translates into completely modern sartorially pleasing and covetable wear. He brings vitality and art to a segment of this industry that was considered out of touch with the urban community for years. His products are classified green, focusing on providing sustainable and affordable articles made with longevity in mind. His manufacturing employs socially conscious production methods, or low impact processes as well as the use of vintage, re-purposed and or up-cycled products.
In the Fall of 2011 Marc was propositioned by longtime friends, fraternity brothers and Rid-all Co-founders Keymah, Damien and Randy to come back to Cleveland, manage the project and bring his spirit to the farm. Marc has produced a line of clothing and products that demonstrated a combination of utility and elegance called “Reconstructed”, as well as a regenerative juice and food product line called “The Urban Farm Doctor’s” super food line.
Southwestern Ohio Community Representatives:
Michaela Oldfield, Director of Greater Cincinnati Regional Food Policy Council, Green Umbrella Regional Sustainability Alliance - Michaela completed a PhD in Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resources Studies at Michigan State University under Mike Hamm. She also has a JD from the University of Michigan. As a graduate student, Michaela studied the politics of the Food Safety Modernization Act and the ways public and private actors shape policy affecting the food system. She also spent time working with the local Food Policy Council in Lansing on the city's ordinances pertaining to urban agriculture. As the Director of the Greater Cincinnati Regional Food Policy Council, Michaela plans to help the council identify and advocate for both well-recognized and creative policy solutions that advance the Council's mission to promote a healthy, equitable, and sustainable food system for all within Greater Cincinnati’s ten-county region.
Rick Carne, Senior Advisor Hall Hunger Initiative, Dayton
Rick is the long-time assistant to HHI Founder, Ambassador Tony Hall. Rick served as his Chief of Staff in Congress and traveled extensively with him to some of the world’s poorest counties.
He helped initiate the drive to create the Gem City Market, a community co-op grocery store in Dayton’s food desert and currently serves on the organizations Board of Directors. He has worked tirelessly to develop support for the market from hospitals, elected officials, businesses and community leaders. Rick has directed many hunger related projects, including a local food rescue program which distributed food from restaurants, hospitals and country clubs to hungry people in Dayton.
He is a former Montgomery County Treasurer and Congressional candidate.
R. Alan Wight, Community & School Forest Garden Liaison, University of Cincinnati and The Christ College of Nursing and Health Sciences - R. Alan Wight is an Assistant Professor at The Christ College of Nursing and Health Sciences and the School and Community Garden Liaison for the University of Cincinnati. Alan works with communities and schools to plant edible forest gardens. His research and advocacy agendas focus on raising people’s food and ecological consciousness via dialogues about the personal health, economic and larger ecological implications of our food system. Alan’s recent publications include: A Cincinnati Farming and Food History; Who is Training Farmers in the CORV Foodshed, 2018 Green Cincinnati Plan - Food Chapter Introduction, and Ecology, Energy, and Alternative Agriculture: A New Synthesis. His recent community and food asset maps include: Walnut Hills, Madisonville, Covington’s Westside, and Camp Washington. His dissertation examines the types of learning and education that occur within the context of Community Supported Agriculture Programs systems.
