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Community Accountable Organizations (CAOs) as Critical Actors in Local and Large-Scale Systems Change

10/30/2024

Written by: Daniel Ross and MariaElena Rodriguez

There are many important actors in achieving positive social and systems change. Government at all levels, media, corporations, large nongovernmental institutions, philanthropy, and academia are all important levers. But for much of our work DAISA Enterprises focuses on community accountable organizations (CAOs), particularly those embedded in, accountable to, and led by disinvested communities of color. We see CAOs as critical agents for both local and, when collaborating, large-scale change that is equitable, inclusive, and impacts people at the community level. We are, in fact, very wary of change initiatives that don’t have deliberate strategies to fully engage CAOs as key partners and decision-makers.

DAISA Enterprises is a national team of consultants and organizers working to advance equity at the intersection of food, culture, and health. We work with leading foundations, government agencies, and social enterprises on field scan research, funding initiative implementation and grantee support, as well as impact evaluation. Through the initiatives where we work with cohorts of grantees and national coalitions, we have had the privilege of supporting hundreds of CAOs around the country[DR1] .

We use the phrase Community Accountable Organizations (CAO) to describe organizations that are not only embedded in disinvested communities of color, but also truly led by and accountable to the people of these communities. There are many Community Based Organizations (CBOs) working in communities of color, but not all are directly accountable to their community. CAOs can be distinguished by many of the following characteristics:

organization leadership, including primary staff and board, are reflective of community members, community members are represented on the board of directors
community members are central to decision-making in all programs
the organization explicitly incorporates its place-based community culture and identity into its mission and activities
regardless of the sector, the CAO utilizes community organizing strategies
most CAOs also have a clear historical analysis for their community and they explicitly frame their work as seeking justice.

This definition for CAOs we use here is inspired by the work of the Equitable Food Oriented Development (EFOD) collaborative, which developed a clear rubric to distinguish the deep community change work of their members from more symptomatic food access efforts.

There are many reasons why CAOs are so important to real systems change. CAOs excel in:

True listening to community needs and aspirations – they have formal and informal ways of gathering community input, engaging community in planning and design, and they are proximate to the problems and community members who know what needs to be done.
Community mobilization – they train community leaders, they have organizing staff, they focus on the issues community members most care about.
Powerful innovations – they design solutions that are particular to their communities, they adapt outside solutions to their needs, because they have highly limited resources they apply more creativity.
Systems Thinking/Holistic – while many may focus on one sector (i.e. housing or food), they think community-wide and systemically because they understand the intersectional needs of communities and the complexities of effective solutions.
Nimbleness - they flex to address needs and opportunities in times of crisis when bigger institutions can’t or won’t. During the COVID 19 pandemic, CAOs have been addressing community food needs in a way that larger institutions couldn’t.
Representative and accountable – CAO leaders live and work every day in the communities impacted, their constituents know and respect them, community members are on their organizational boards. While not usually elected like local political officials, they are trusted and connected to local communities in a way that most politicians are not.
Asset-building – CAOs develop and protect important community assets of land and buildings for community use. They channel community history and culture to support community identity and pride. They invest in community infrastructure and people with long-term vision.

CAOs are the best mixture of experienced staff with community accountability, able to bridge the local context with broader issues.

It is all too common for those wielding power and resources to overlook CAOs. They are typically small, locally-focused, and all too often lack staff capacity, often limiting their ability to participate in large state and national policy change. They usually also lack staff and expertise for impactful communications work, making them less prominent in the vision of larger institutions and policy makers. It can be very easy for funders to primarily engage larger institution leaders and more visible stakeholders when thinking about national systems change initiatives.

These concerns are real – CAOs are chronically under-resourced, and they are very focused on the needs of their community, which are often immediate and consuming. However, in our experience, CAO leaders inherently understand that the issues they face in their communities stem from deeply-rooted structural barriers and historical disinvestment. These leaders want to collaborate with their peers to challenge these systems, and their knowledge and lived experience make them the best-suited to lead systems change.

CAOs can be effectively supported to lead systems change initiatives by integrating some of the following principles:
1. Supporting self-determination and decision-making – ensuring that there is an effective leadership body that is driven by CAO leaders
2. Providing capacity-support grants – understanding that systems change or policy advocacy work requires a time commitment in addition to funded and non-funded community initiatives
3. Staffing support - providing additional staffing capacity to reduce the organizational and administrative workload of of busy community-embedded leaders
4. Patience - taking the necessary time to build trust with CAO leaders and understanding that this work is iterative and will necessarily shift to address emergent community needs

It is crucial to provide these supports and uplift the leadership of CAOs in communities across the US. In nearly all of our projects DAISA seeks to aid the work of CAOs as key agents of change. In the 5 year Fresh, Local, Equitable (FreshLo) funding initiative of the Kresge Foundation that DAISA served as National Program Office for, 23 CAOs from around the country utilized both cultural strategies and food systems enterprises to make their communities healthier, and supported by DAISA, worked as a cohort to have input on funding program evaluation and program design. The Equitable Food Oriented Development Collaborative, comprised of BIPOC organization leaders from around the country, has developed the national EFOD Fund which makes integrated non-extractive investments into food systems infrastructure projects, with decisions made by a Community Investment Committee. DAISA has supported the creation of the Fidelity, Equity, Dignity (FED) Collective to unite BIPOC-led CAOs in the Food as Medicine field in connecting local work to national policy initiatives, shifting field narratives, promoting peer knowledge exchange, accessing additional funding and opportunities, and creating a much-needed space of rest and respite for BIPOC leaders in the field.

For large-scale systems change, multiple levers are important - you need media attention, policy changes with agency leaders and legislators to institutionalize change, and often research supporting the changes needed. But for change to address underlying systems of oppression it is important that the voices and brilliance of the people most impacted are front and center, that communities most impacted are the agents of the solutions. For this, you need organized networks of community accountable organizations driving change both locally and nationally. COAs can and should be core to any systems change initiative in the US.

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PRx Health vs Food Systems Debate

1/18/2023

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November 2022

Produce Prescription programs (PRx) are gaining national attention, and a long-sought after chance to be embedded into national policy - the White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health defines the objective to “Expand Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries’ access to “food is medicine” interventions,” including PRx specifically (1). This is a very exciting moment, one that many of us have worked hard to accomplish. But there is also a tension between what is included in PRx, and what will be the policy that is embedded as it moves forward.

I had the privilege of working closely with August (Gus) Schumacher for a few years at Wholesome Wave, the organization he co-founded, and before that counted him as a friend and mentor for many more years. In our time together, we visited many farmers’ markets, across numerous states, and in a variety of low-income urban and rural communities. Gus would visit each stand at the market, chatting, tasting, and schmoozing with each farmer. Almost invariably, Gus knew a number of farmers at these markets, often knew their family going back a couple generations, inquiring about parents and cousins. Gus didn’t only know farmers, he often also knew local public officials, veterans moving through in wheelchairs, local journalists, and nearby health clinic leaders, from his many visits over the years.

Gus took great joy in the mix of people that were at the farmers’ markets and the market day buzz of community activity. He greeted everyone, farmers, customers, people out in the market area, and asked all their opinions with equal gravity.

Gus’ accomplishments are legendary, he served as Under-Secretary of Agriculture during the Clinton Administration, established WIC farmers’ market coupons, was Massachusetts Commissioner of Agriculture to name a few. USDA’s August Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) funding program is named after him due to his innovations and tireless promotion of nutrition incentives as a consummate leader and connector. But what I most learned from and loved was his gift that was to include everyone, talk to everyone, make all feel known and recognized for their contributions, always listening. The input he received walking and chatting at farmers markets was integrated into real national policy.

While Gus was not the originator of the Produce Prescription (PRx) program model, he understood its power to make connections, and helped to make Wholesome Wave an early pioneer and driver in the field. The Wholesome Wave models consisted of pediatricians at community health clinics “prescribing” healthy produce to patient families where there was risk of diabetes, with the prescriptions redeemable at a local farmers’ market.

Gus saw and evangelized the elegance of the many connections and benefits of the model - patients eating healthier foods, doctors activated to support their patient’s full health, positioning of farmers as core providers of health for their communities, and a new flow of “prescription” dollars from the health sector that helped drive traffic and revenues for the markets and farmers themselves.

Gus was not alone in his excitement about these holistic connections. Food, farm, and health activists around the country have helped to establish over 90 PRx programs throughout the country (2021 PRx Field Scan, Link Here ), and the USDA August Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) funding and supporting dozens more to emerge. In the recent White House Conference on Hunger… commitment to Food as Medicine, calls for multiple federal policies supporting PRx:

Expand Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries’ access to “food is medicine” interventions. “Food is medicine” interventions—including medically tailored meals and groceries as well as produce prescriptions (fruit and vegetable prescriptions or vouchers provided by medical professionals for people with diet-related diseases or food insecurity)—can effectively treat or prevent diet-related health conditions and reduce food insecurity.

And to:

Increase access to nutrition-related services through private insurance and federal programs beyond Medicare and Medicaid.

PRx programs have evolved to utilize a variety of redemption venues, including supermarkets, and home-delivered veggie boxes, and are now active in multiple clinical settings. Now some PRx programs no longer have any redemption with local farmers, entirely utilizing card-based technologies with chain retailers.

As PRx programs have begun to grow around the country, and have shown many positive health impacts, many leaders are working on getting them institutionalized into state and federal policies. There has been some early success in the Produce Prescription funding included in USDA GusNIP competitive grants program, but the ultimate goal seems to be development of a new PRx benefit within Medicaid and Medicare systems.

“Advancing federal and state policy change that leverages Produce Prescriptions as prevention & intervention for diet-related disease and further embeds this effective model into healthcare and food retail systems. The current goal of the NPPC is to make produce prescriptions a covered benefit for all eligible patients covered by Medicaid & Medicare”
- National Produce Prescription Collaborative

In spite of a unified shift to scale PRx programs as a response to health disparities, within this pursuit of health-focused policy, a tension has arisen between food & farm program leaders, and health-focused leaders.

Some (not all) PRx program leaders working on policy change make the case that in order to be successful embedding PRx into healthcare systems, it must be entirely seen as a healthcare intervention, and what we need are efficient systems to deliver this intervention and impact data, to impress on healthcare policy makers that this intervention is scalable and cost effective. They emphasize standardization of data and systems to allow for the biggest data sets possible to show impacts. In this approach, farmers’ markets are largely set aside as too complex and inconvenient as the primary design for redemption venues, as are smaller neighborhood stores (such as bodegas, corner stores, ethnic grocery stores, etc), lacking consistent technology and capacity. These leaders ultimately want large retailers and health systems to integrate PRx programs, with community-based organizations being phased out as activators and managers.

I have heard some (not all) PRx program leaders focused on embedding into health say that any advocacy or program design around food & farm systems or local farmers is only distracting and even disruptive to the primary goal of health adoption.

Other activists continue to focus on a more holistic approach - that local food & farmers are important for long-term community health. Some Black Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) leaders have emphasized the importance of cultural foods, investment of the prescription dollars in BIPOC-owned producers and retailers, dignified farmers and local food systems jobs. They see the ethnic grocery stores, bodegas, co-ops, and markets of their communities as key assets to support. They have their prescriptions redeemable at urban and rural markets owned by community members, sometimes still resorting to paper coupons when technology is not available for these lower-resourced retailers.

Knowing the many obstacles low-income patients face, many community-driven programs add-in wrap around supports to make the program accessible and effective. These programs make sure to provide cultural healthy recipes and ongoing appropriate motivations to patients from community health workers. They provide culturally-centered nutrition education and fun incentives to participate. They support and build new distribution and retail assets where they are lacking. They take into consideration the transportation issues that low-income people often face, and use creative solutions like home-delivery and mobile markets to bring healthy food right to isolated patients, understanding the unique needs of their home communities.

These community-driven programs are leveraging their precious program dollars to make recirculating investments into not only immediate individual patient health improvements, but into the longer-term healthy community environments.

When programs focus only on scale and standardization of data, there are risks that the local nuances of language, culture, specific needs and strengths, and community leadership can be overlooked. When programs are defined only at the mass scale by the largest actors, opportunities to invest in diverse assets can be lost, and disparities maintained.

The great vision of targeting institutionalization of PRx into Medicaid/Medicare is highly laudable. If achieved it would provide access to healthy fruits & vegetables for millions of low-income people who are most in need. It is a worthy and powerful ambition that would take a certain amount of strategic pragmatism required to have success in this quest.

But who gets left out of this trajectory? Who keeps power and profits in this model? From everything we have learned about community health, is access to fruits & vegetables enough for behavior change and long-term sustained population wellbeing?

Do we need to remove integration with food systems change in order to have success with healthcare policy? Of course, if we are to have fresh produce to keep our bodies healthy, we need viable farms, at least somewhere. And if we want people to be able to afford healthy produce outside of government benefits we need flourishing local economies. Our health leaders are also growing in awareness that “Social Determinants of Health,” such as access to fresh produce and decent economic opportunities, are as critical to positive health outcomes for populations as access to medical attention.

Albert Einstein said that you cannot solve a problem with the same kind of thinking that created the issue in the first place. I worry that if we remove food & farm systems from the core understanding of the PRx model, we are replicating the same kind of reductionist approach that has made us one of the unhealthiest societies in the world, allowing disparities in health and community development to persist. If we pass a PRx policy into Medicaid/Medicare that is only designed for redemption at large scale retailers or technology solutions, only designed to address chronic disease and the biometric indicators of health, will we have missed a major opportunity for a strong systemic solution, one that provides healthy produce to those most in need but also ripples these purchase dollars into local healthy rural and urban economies and builds community strengths?

Gus Schumacher loved talking about overcoming the “lawyers” who sought to deny or restrict his new farmers’ market coupon programs at USDA, with legal and bureaucratic red tape. Gus knew there would always be pushback, and special interests opposing or co-opting positive initiatives, and, with allies, and did not back down from these struggles. He used this pushback as chances to engage in conversations and call for more new allies.

I am not trying to express that this is an either/or situation, a battle between health and food systems. Nor am I saying that health institutions and grocery retailers are bad, or not part of the solution. There are wonderful thoughtful champions coming from these entities as well. There are also many initiatives in the PRx field working at all scales to forge creative partnerships and impact public health outcomes through increased access to fruits and vegetables. We need innovation and growth in the field to ensure this model reaches as many people as possible.

This moment in our country feels like an opportunity to keep striving for policies that are inclusive and done right, that honor the diverse people that have made community food and health systems flourish. As Gus did, can we see the power of community venues, see and recognize the farmers, community-based leaders, and all stakeholders, make sure they are thoughtfully included in the policies that we advocate for?

(1) https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/White-House-National-Strategy-on-Hunger-Nutrition-and-Health-FINAL.pdf

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DAISA is excited to share this new publication commissioned and developed in partnership with Wholesome Wave!

12/15/2022

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This report is written for Produce Prescription Program (PRx) operators, as well as the health systems, foundations, and ally organizations partnering with them.

As PRx programs have proliferated around the country in recent years and sought to sustain
themselves and even scale, IT solutions have gained momentum.

The report: “Scan of Technology Solutions in the Produce Prescription Field: A Snapshot of Available Software-based Solutions and Emerging Equity Considerations” features a list of commonly used technology tools leveraged by program operators, categorizes how they fit into these complex initiatives, and provides frameworks and recommendations to the field.

As the PRx model is new and best practices are still being established, supporting
technology is nascent. However, the report analysis showed several promising platforms dedicated specifically to managing PRx programs are beginning to emerge. In parallel, some solution providers are also building different business models to scale different types of nutrition based incentive programs.

The report also highlights a critical need for these technologies to serve as a tool to
promote inclusion and justice, rather than being a barrier. The developing Fidelity, Equity,
and Dignity (FED) framework was used to explore emerging equity considerations for PRx
information technology (IT).

We hope you can enjoy it and find it useful!

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DAISA and WHOLESOME WAVE RELEASE NEW RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTING MODEL GROWTH & OPPORTUNITIES FOR US PRODUCE PRESCRIPTION PROGRAMS

6/21/2021

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Wholesome Wave, a national 501(c)3 non-profit that addresses nutrition insecurity by making healthy produce available and affordable for people who need it most, released the first-of-its-kind research report, “Produce Prescription Programs: US Field Scan 2010-2020.” Wholesome Wave engaged DAISA Enterprises in 2020 to conduct the national field scan research.

“Wholesome Wave helped pioneer produce prescriptions back in 2010, encouraging healthcare providers to prescribe the fruits and vegetables needed to help someone prevent or manage diet-related diseases, having a significant impact on people’s health,” said Michel Nischan, co-founder, Wholesome Wave. “We’ve worked hard the last eleven years to launch more than 100 Produce Prescription Programs around the country, empowering low-income families to make smart food choices by closing the nutrition gap with affordable fruits and vegetables.”

DAISA identified and researched more than 100 new Produce Prescription Programs which began between 2010-2020 for this report, examining data related to program eligibility and operations, partnership development, program longevity, prescription redemption mechanism, funding sources and more, as well as conducting interviews with 19 of the program operators and reviewing news articles, reports and policy briefs and program implementation guides.

High-level research findings include:

Between 2010 and 2020, about 100 new programs housed within or partnering with healthcare entities began operations throughout the United States, with the fastest growth occurring within the last five years.
To redeem prescriptions, 48% of programs partner with farmers’ markets and 68% utilize a paper voucher. However, partnership with retail grocery markets (29%) as well as on-site produce distribution (20%) are also growing in popularity as programs seek to diversify access.
The top three health factors used to screen eligible produce prescription patients include food insecurity (38%), unspecified diet-related chronic diseases (51%), and diabetes/pre-diabetes (33%). To increase equity and access, many programs are shifting away from requiring a diagnosis of a diet-related condition and instead screening more broadly for food insecurity or being at risk for diet-related disease.
Inconsistent or insufficient funding leaves programs at risk of failure and hinders efforts to grow and innovate. With only 16% of the examined programs citing federal funding as their primary source, there is a resounding call to integrate produce prescriptions as a preventative healthcare service within Medicare, Medicaid, and insurance plans.
The pandemic has exacerbated food insecurity especially within BIPOC communities and the need for nutrition incentives is higher than ever. In pivoting operations, some programs have increased efficiency through delivery, drive-through markets and virtual educational offerings, while acknowledging the effects of inequitable Internet access and fewer opportunities for social interaction.

“The role that nutrition education plays increasing redemption and produce utilization underscores the importance of embedding produce prescription programs holistically,” said Benjamin Perkins, CEO, Wholesome Wave. “This research showed that 70% of programs named nutrition education or culinary instruction as a crucial component to this program as a whole. Similar to medication adherence, if we do not factor in the context in which participants live their lives, the likelihood of uptake diminishes.”

The DAISA team is grateful to play a role in advancing the understanding of the Produce Prescription Program landscape and why this powerful model is experiencing a groundswell of interest from communities as another path towards health and well-being through nutritious food.

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Making a Mark: Fresh, Local and Equitable

6/2/2021

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Christa Drew, Principal, DAISA Enterprises

2017 FreshLo Convening in Memphis, Tennessee.

Many people have heard the phrase, ‘that really left a mark’ to indicate a memorable or significant event. While reflecting on my work with DAISA Enterprises over the past 6.5 years I have also been thinking about mark making, as in an artistic term typically used for the creation of different textures, lines, patterns, and shapes. During acrylic painting class a few years ago my instructor repeatedly challenged me to use my fingers, brush handles, and old combs and to add molding paste, coffee grounds, and sand to the paint to vary the traces and textures of color across the canvas, to leave my unique touches. While I did not initially find this easy nor enjoy the visual results, I could feel myself soften and shift through the process and so I’ve continued mark making in my painting, mindful there and in life that making marks goes both ways and it’s both difficult and liberating. DAISA’s work with the Fresh, Local, and Equitable (FreshLo) initiative of the Kresge Foundation is a perfect example in my life.

In 2015 at DAISA we accepted the invitation to serve as the National Program Office for the unique FreshLo initiative, blending neighborhood transformation strategies across health, arts & culture, and economic development all while advancing equity in practice and outcomes. An initial task was to help design and implement an equitable review and selection process for the record-breaking 550 FreshLo grant proposals which arrived. I read, organized, and discussed applications for many, many hours and in doing so gained access and perspective on systemic and nuanced urban neighborhood-based challenges and community-driven innovations from across the United States. We brought the initial 26 grant recipients together in Cleveland, OH shortly after the awards were announced and began an unforgettable journey of discussing struggles, joy, strategies, and questions – together.

2018 FreshLo Convening in Denver, Colorado. Community Visit to Re:Vision, Westwood neighborhood.

At that first Convening I will never forget how people so willingly and humorously responded to our invitation to self-introductions through an “I get fresh by…” prompt nor how a discussion of governance models quickly surfaced discussions of power and wealth in communities. It was immediately apparent that the candor and agile leadership, born of necessity and perseverance, within the FreshLo cohort is dynamic, inclusive and highly effective.

Across the years our DAISA team visited all of the FreshLo groups and communities that moved through the 2-year then 3-year implementation phase of FreshLo – prompting us to share in local, cultural food delicacies, stand in the bitter rain gazing at vacant lots and social enterprises-in-the-rough, share in distinctive community-based lodging, participate in unique cultural festivals and local events, and become immersed in raw and dynamic learning. In visiting parts of the U.S previously unfamiliar to me, and traveling alongside my colleagues at DAISA, the Kresge Foundation and our Learning for Action evaluation partners, we witnessed divestment in the physical and social infrastructure of neighborhoods. And yet, we saw people coming together through art, creative processes, food and celebration to both defend and to celebrate their unique neighborhood identity. I will never forget the pride I witnessed while a neighborhood gardener in Detroit, MI talked about sharing her freshly grown tomatoes with her neighbors, sampled wild herbs while on farmland rich with crops grown from saved-seeds and cultivated through Indigenous practices, and saw small food-oriented enterprises in Seattle and Oakland. These communities and the community leaders within each left a mark on my mind and heart; it is impossible to imagine otherwise how I would have had this experience and the opportunity to respond and support across the 5 years.

2020 FreshLo Virtual Convening, select attendees.

The work with FreshLo, partnering with the teams at the Kresge Foundation and with evaluation and communication consultants, working with and for the leaders of 26 distinct communities has been among the most multi-faceted and very favorite parts of my entire career. I am forever changed, with a much more real sense of the struggles and inequities, and of the immense creativity and strength in community residents’ vision and action. The national FreshLo journey in so many ways has both contributed to and exemplified the heart of DAISA Enterprises. It has left indelible marks on who we are individually and collectively.

2021 FreshLo Cohort Mark-Making Activity, led by artist Virginia Fitzgerald.

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Press Release: DAISA invests into equitable tea company

5/7/2021

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DAISA Capital is proud to announce its first equity investment and Venture Building Partnership, into Young Mountain Tea, an Oregon-based tea company that partners with smallholder farmers in the mountain communities of India and Nepal. This investment is anticipated to be the first of a small DAISA portfolio of high-impact companies, all forging opportunities and increasing equity through healthy foods and value chains.

Gustavo Mamao, who led the creation of DAISA Capital says, "We believe we need a new model for investing in and building a sustainable, and regenerative food system. There are certain types of organizations that do not fit necessarily in the CPG growth model because they want to do more than sell their products; they want to be part of systemic change. Young Mountain Tea goes beyond labels such as 'fair trade' or 'organic' to having authentic partnership and investment with smallholder farmers, understanding and connecting to what makes community real and sustainable. These true relationships and systemic understanding is what we seek to invest in as DAISA."

“We’re excited and honored to partner with DAISA” said Raj Vable, Founder and CEO of Young Mountain Tea. "Their commitment to value-driven businesses, their experience as successful entrepreneurs, and their relationships with other food system innovators make them ideal partners as we take our next steps to grow our business and impact.”

The mountain regions of India and Nepal are facing economic and climate crises. Raj Vable, born in Michigan to Indian immigrants, came to understand these issues first-hand after multiple trips and projects across India. In 2013, while on a Fulbright Fellowship in the Himalayas of Northern India, Raj founded Young Mountain Tea to create sustainable communities through exceptional tea, with clear purpose from the beginning to invest in the smallholder farmer communities and people.

“Himalayan farmers are already incredibly gifted at growing tea," Raj said. "They just lack the resources and market access to translate those skills into sustainable livelihoods. I founded Young Mountain Tea to bridge the gap between these farmers and the growing American specialty tea market.”

Today Young Mountain Tea sources some of the best teas in the world from over 850 smallholder tea farmers in five primary regions. Through these purchases, Young Mountain Tea creates opportunities for Himalayan women to achieve financial freedom. For seven years, the company has worked with tea farmers in India’s Kumaon region, where 90% of tea farmers are women. Today, Kumaon tea farmers earn 4x the industry average and many are experiencing financial independence for the first time. Now Young Mountain Tea is partnering with smallholder farmers and NGOs to build additional opportunities, launching new tea processing factories in the area, which will enable women farmers to 1) have incomes 10x the norm, 2) participate in a profit-sharing plan beyond their paycheck, and 3) grow their skills via empowerment training.

Young Mountain Tea is growing as a business as well as an impact engine. It is addressing the $2.7B US specialty tea market, and it is also positioned to capture some of the fast-growing health and wellness market opportunities. The company has a strong brand and ecommerce presence, and is now focusing on increasing its volume through developing its B2B sales. Due to founder Raj’s farmer relationships, the company’s work to launch a state-of-the-art tea processing facility in partnership with farmers, and its consistency of quality, Young Mountain Tea has an expanding list of bulk tea and private label customers, generating larger and larger orders for farmer suppliers and still maintaining healthy gross margins for the company. Sales have grown each year of the company’s existence, and are on track to grow 100% in 2021.

Young Mountain Tea's growth strategy and impact thesis is being fine-tuned and the company will be approaching other potential business partners and investors over the next few months.

About Young Mountain Tea
Young Mountain Tea was launched in 2013 when Founder Raj Vable made a promise to a Himalayan non-profit: if they would organize local mountain farmers to grow high-quality tea, he would set up a company in the US to sell it. The company’s mission is to develop a market that raises up emerging tea makers, creating vibrant mountain economies and healthy lands across the Indian subcontinent. The company specializes in sourcing single-origin, organic, loose-leaf teas direct from smallholder farmers. Their collection of 25+ teas is available through the company’s website and sold to bulk and private label companies.

About DAISA and DAISA Capital
DAISA Enterprises was founded by Daniel Ross in the fall of 2015. It works at the intersection of food, health and economic development. DAISA provides strategy consulting, initiative design and management services, for national and regional philanthropic foundation and impact investor clients, as well as high-impact social enterprises, working in community food systems, health, and community development.

DAISA Capital is a branch of DAISA Enterprises and was co-founded with Gustavo Mamao, a serial entrepreneur who came to join DAISA as part of a plan to prove a new model for investing in and building the Sustainable Food and Agriculture space. DAISA Capital expects to support a small portfolio of inspiring food companies, and it is looking for other Investors partners in the Food and Impact Investment field to grow its model / approach.

For more information, contact [email protected]

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Listen Now: Podcast Series Featuring the Equitable Food Oriented Development (EFOD) Collaborative

12/23/2020

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Over the last year and a half, DAISA Enterprises has been a supporting partner of the Equitable Food Oriented Development Collaborative (EFOD), a network of organizations and leaders using food to create economic opportunities and build community assets and power. This Fall, in collaboration with the Duke World Food Policy Center’s “Leading Voices in Food” podcast series, members of the EFOD leadership team spoke with host and WFPC Director Kelly Brownell about the EFOD Collaborative’s history and approach, highlighted specific community projects, and framed their visions for community financing through the paired lens of community wealth and health. The conversations span five episodes, which Duke released weekly starting on October 15th.

Photos: Rudy Espinoza, Inclusive Action for the City and Camryn Smith, Communities in Partnership

Each of the conversations touches key elements of the EFOD Collaborative’s work, which is driven by a critical need for communities themselves as the drivers of local economic development. The organizers featured in the podcasts say this in a multitude of ways. In the third of five episodes, Lorena Andrade of La Mujer Obrera in El Paso, Texas, describes how the work of EFOD is as much about defending community as it is creatively bringing new communities into being. Rashida Ferdinand of Sankofa Community Development Corporation in New Orleans joins Lorena in that perspective, naming how EFOD’s collaborative, equity- and community-driven nature enables the network to be a pathway for lasting change.

Photo: Neelam Sharma, Community Services Unlimited

2020 has been both challenging and dynamic for the EFOD Collaborative, which is excited to be underway with its first cohort of a pilot Loan Fund. The EFOD Fund, comprised of both grants and patient loans, will fund EFOD-aligned projects, while also providing comprehensive skilled technical assistance and facilitating a shared professional network in support of the inaugural cohort. EFOD leaders know the EFOD Fund can serve as an alternative model to extractive community financing, and see the Fund as part of a long haul toward disentangling financing from systemic racism. EFOD leaders will manage the loan fund, with support from financing allies.

DAISA is thrilled to support the EFOD team, and hopes you enjoy this thoughtful collaboration between the EFOD Collaborative, Duke’s “Leading Voices in Food” podcast and World Food Policy Center, and DAISA Enterprises. You can find the conversation and transcript for each episode in the 5-part series below:

Episode 1: Defining Equitable Food Oriented Development - EFOD 101
Neelam Sharma, Community Services Unlimited and Trisha Chakrabarti, DAISA Enterprises
Episode 2: Digging into Equitable Food Oriented Development
Neelam Sharma, Community Services Unlimited and Trisha Chakrabarti, DAISA Enterprises
Episode 3: Developing through Community Identity and Sense of Place
Lorena Andrade, La Mujer Obrera and Rashida Ferdinand, Sankofa CDC
Episode 4: Los Angeles and Durham Reimagined Through EFOD
Camryn Smith, Communities in Partnership and Rudy Espinoza, Inclusive Action for the City
Episode 5: EFOD Impact: Aligning Financial Support with Community Wellbeing
Camryn Smith, Communities in Partnership and Rudy Espinoza, Inclusive Action for the City

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STORIES & STRATEGIES FOR ARTS-INFUSED FOOD SYSTEMS CHANGE: DAISA CO-HOSTS NATIONAL WEBINAR

10/23/2020

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Co-hosted by Maria Elena Rodriguez (DAISA Enterprises) and Annalina Kazickas (Wallace Center’s Food Systems Leadership Network) this August 2020 webinar explored the possibilities that exist at the intersection of arts, culture, and food systems.

Over 150 webinar participants heard from Ka Oskar Ly from ArtCrop and Brandi Turner from SippCulture and discussed strategies for developing arts-infused food systems within their community. Our ongoing reality of the COVID-19 crisis and struggles for racial justice illuminate how artistic and cultural practices are more critical than ever in envisioning and realizing resilient food systems.

The webinar was opened with a powerful spoken word performance of “Black Gold” by Naima Penniman of Soul Fire Farm and Climbing PoeTree. Ka Oskar Ly shared about how ArtCrop has used community murals and a communications campaign to tell the story of urban Hmong farming communities, a people who are historically nomadic and do not traditionally own land.

"Art and food are accessible ways to experience culture without judgment."
Ka Oskar Ly, ArtCrop

Brandi Turner discussed how the pandemic has illuminated long-standing social issues but also opened up new opportunities for change. Food and art are both tools many are turning to now as they look to and envision the future.

“Normal was not a sustainable practice.”
Brandi Turner, SippCulture

DAISA ENTERPRISES & FIELD-BUILDING
DAISA has been very moved by years of work supporting and witnessing the power of arts-infused food systems change, including our five-year trajectory as the National Program Office for the Kresge Foundation’s FreshLo Initiative. DAISA serves as conveners and weavers of this effort, uplifting what's happening on the ground, gathering stakeholders across sectors, fostering innovative partnerships, and connecting artists and community leaders with resources.

In 2018 ArtPlace America engaged DAISA to conduct field scan research on the community development sector of food & agriculture which specifically integrated or intertwined with arts & culture. The national research and Cultivating Creativity report reveals what was already happening in the field, what types of projects were being funded, and how infusing artistic and cultural practice shifts the experience, process, and food systems change outcomes.

DAISA is currently exploring the possibilities that exist to continue exploring and supporting arts-infused food systems transformation. We will be hosting an Affinity Group discussion at the upcoming ArtPlace Virtual Summit (see Take Action section below for how to join!) to discuss what resonates around creating a practitioner-led Community of Practice on work at this intersection. Also, acting on a recommendation from the Cultivating Creativity report, we are engaged in leading an upcoming federal briefing on rural placemaking and the intersection of arts, agriculture and economic development.

TAKE ACTION

Watch the webinar recording and the original spoken word performance. Take a look at the webinar and Q & A notes.
Join DAISA’s Supporting Placekeeping through Arts-Infused Food Systems Transformation Affinity Group discussions Oct 28 and 29 at the 2020 ArtPlace Virtual Summit. Registration is free and open to the public!
Contact DAISA if you’d like to get involved in future conversations as this work develops.
Read the ArtPlace + DAISA Enterprises field scan report Cultivating Creativity: Exploring Arts & Culture in Community Food Systems Transformation

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INCREASING HEALTHY FOOD ACCESS IN ‘NORMAL’ TIMES ENABLES SURVIVAL & RESILIENCY DURING AN EXTRAORDINARY CRISIS

6/3/2020

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Beginning in 2015, DAISA Enterprises, along with Catherine Sands from Fertile Ground, served as the Learning & Evaluation partners for the Healthy Food Fund (HFF) of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation. This three-year initiative provided grants in the $30,000 - $60,000 range to 25 nonprofit organizations in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire and sought to examine the impact of strategic investments in local fresh food organizations on improving access to healthy food for low- and middle-income households. The communities involved did not have adequate access to healthy, culturally preferred, and affordable foods for all residents, therefore effective, innovative and agile approaches were necessary. As such, DAISA worked closely with Foundation staff and with leaders of the funded programs and developed and tracked metrics aligned with the HFF Theory of Change. In addition, by collaborating with the grantee partners, DAISA facilitated a monthly Community of Practice to foster cross-fertilization of ideas, techniques, and actionable lessons learned. At the time, HFF aimed to have and document a measurable impact on the community food environment and increase distribution of healthy food. With the arrival of COVID-19 in early 2020, those outcomes and the infrastructure and relationships which enabled their success now contribute to effective, local responses.

Many of the grantee organizations, such as Mill City Grows Mobile Market pictured above, were already working to expand access and affordability where commercial markets had often failed or were non-existent, prior to funding. Through the initiative they continued to build community food infrastructure as well as innovative programs such as farmers’ markets, community-supported agriculture (CSA), mobile markets, town and urban farms, food banks, and gleaning programs. Meaningful partnerships also evolved that fostered and sustained this higher level of access to fresh food and ensured continued progress. Broader achievements include an expanded, collective sense of belonging and greater health equity ― both within their own organizations and communities.

After an investment of $3.7M from the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation, DAISA calculated a $9.6M return in the value of healthy foods reaching households in target communities; every $1 invested yielded about $2.5 in food sold/distributed. The above chart shows the initiative’s efforts and the marked increases in total food sales, access points (sales and distribution), partners and skill-building participants.

During the years with the Healthy Food Fund, grantee partners shared programmatic insights and innovations and achieved important outcomes. However, organizations were also able to achieve greater program efficacy and leverage their experiences to boost community engagement. DAISA also learned that 80% of HFF project leaders actively worked on efforts to increase racial equity and diversity within their organizations, through strategies, and via their offering to their customers.

In these times of crisis with COVID-19 and the related disproportionate harm and suffering within communities of color, and now the increase in demonstrations and destruction, it is these same organizations that have the networks, relationships and self-determination to survive with deep resilience and move towards recovery and change. These leaders remind us all that this work is complex and intersects so many aspects of health and well-being, requiring time, support and multi-year funding and investment.

“Due to Harvard Pilgrim's support over the last three years, Growing Places has been able to build capacity to expand from one focus - gardening - to becoming a fresh, healthy food access connector in North Central MA.”
Ayn Yeagle, Executive Director, Growing Places, Leominster, MA; 2019

LEARN MORE

Read the full Healthy Food Fund: Lessons Learned report to learn more about the results of the first three years of the Healthy Food Fund Initiative (2016-2018).

Check out the case study document Highlighting Impacts of Skill-building Opportunities written by DAISA and Fertile Ground to highlight the success factors and impacts of providing teaching opportunities in nutrition, cooking and other skills.

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NORTH SPORE: AN EXAMPLE OF A SUSTAINABLE FOOD COMPANY AND HOW THEY MAKE THE CASE FOR ENVISIONING A NEW FOOD SYSTEM

4/15/2020

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Over the second half of 2019, DAISA started an engagement with North Spore to support the development of the growth strategy of the company. The ultimate goal of this project is to provide access to the right capital to North Spore, allowing the company to grow while retaining their mission and values.

WHO IS NORTH SPORE?
This Maine-based company founded by three college colleagues represents how passionate entrepreneurs of the food system can create new ways to reshape the system. North Spore commercializes a variety of mushroom production tools, especially edible mushroom spawns – which are the equivalent of the seeds for the plants. Their main segment of clients are small farmers and home growers. With its strong value for collaboration and knowledge sharing, North Spore is demystifying mushroom production for thousands of people.

From left to right: North Spore Founders Jon Carver, Matt McInnis, and Eliah Thanhauser, with
DAISA Capital Director Gustavo Mamao.

North Spore stands for a world of people consuming healthy and delicious mushrooms. During their work with the DAISA Capital team, led by Gustavo Mamao, the company’s founders got conscious on how the company impact thesis is related to some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The potential for mushrooms to be a key meat replacement – which has been one of the forces for plant-based alternative products – and all the scientific progresses into the health benefits of some mushroom species are key market forces driving North Spore’s fast growth over the last few years.

North Spore Sustainable Development Goals

FACING COVID-19 PANDEMIC
As any individual or organization of this planet at this point, North Spore has also been impacted by coronavirus health and economic challenges. On the one hand, the company is adjusting to some of its small farms’ customer demand decreasing, like local restaurants. On the other hand, the company's online sales are booming to address home growers' demand, especially due to the fact that people are spending more time at home and want activities to do during their spare time as well as guaranteeing their supply of food.

DAISA, through its special initiative DAISA Capital, is looking forward to move to the next project phase and start approaching patient capital investors in order to raise the right capital to allow North Spore to keep “spreading the spore” and supporting more farmers and people to have good food locally, and, sometimes, at home.

Take a look at the North Spore website: www.northspore.com

If you want to know more details about this project, or to consider investing in North Spore, reach out to Gustavo Mamao at [email protected]

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DAISA and WHOLESOME WAVE RELEASE NEW RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTING MODEL GROWTH & OPPORTUNITIES FOR US PRODUCE PRESCRIPTION PROGRAMS

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INCREASING HEALTHY FOOD ACCESS IN ‘NORMAL’ TIMES ENABLES SURVIVAL & RESILIENCY DURING AN EXTRAORDINARY CRISIS

NORTH SPORE: AN EXAMPLE OF A SUSTAINABLE FOOD COMPANY AND HOW THEY MAKE THE CASE FOR ENVISIONING A NEW FOOD SYSTEM

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