DAISA's STORY
"Think of a vacant lot in a poor dilapidated urban neighborhood. The lot has rubble from the building that formerly stood there, as well as trash, maybe needles and crack vials and other evidence of illegal activities. Nothing grows on the lot and parents don’t want their children playing on the lot. It makes the whole neighborhood look bad, and feel bad about itself.
Then think about the people of that neighborhood coming out one day to clean up that lot, pick up the trash and (carefully) the needles. They work with their city officials to bring in new topsoil and compost. They dedicate most of the lot for garden plots and start growing herbs, vegetables, and many flowers. They leave some common areas and set up picnic and domino tables. Elders that know how to garden from their experiences growing up on farms in the Southern US, Cambodia, Russia, and Puerto Rico (to name just a few places) share seeds and teach each other and young children from the neighborhood.
Think about the many impacts this garden has in this neighborhood - community pride, health, property values, environment, social cohesion, learning, and culture and more.
Community gardens are just one example of what we can do by taking new approaches to how we grow and share food. There are a multitude of others, from the small neighborhood community garden to large-scale “food hub” commercial ventures.
Food has great power. Its production , distribution, and consumption expresses who we are as people and as community. When we grow and eat unhealthy food, and when some people go hungry, we are unhealthy and our communities are unhealthy. When we can grow and share delicious, clean, high-quality food, then we flourish across multiple dimensions."
Then think about the people of that neighborhood coming out one day to clean up that lot, pick up the trash and (carefully) the needles. They work with their city officials to bring in new topsoil and compost. They dedicate most of the lot for garden plots and start growing herbs, vegetables, and many flowers. They leave some common areas and set up picnic and domino tables. Elders that know how to garden from their experiences growing up on farms in the Southern US, Cambodia, Russia, and Puerto Rico (to name just a few places) share seeds and teach each other and young children from the neighborhood.
Think about the many impacts this garden has in this neighborhood - community pride, health, property values, environment, social cohesion, learning, and culture and more.
Community gardens are just one example of what we can do by taking new approaches to how we grow and share food. There are a multitude of others, from the small neighborhood community garden to large-scale “food hub” commercial ventures.
Food has great power. Its production , distribution, and consumption expresses who we are as people and as community. When we grow and eat unhealthy food, and when some people go hungry, we are unhealthy and our communities are unhealthy. When we can grow and share delicious, clean, high-quality food, then we flourish across multiple dimensions."
As a teenager DAISA Founder Daniel Ross worked on a farm in Montague, Massachusetts, picking peppers and tomatoes. He has helped migrant farm workers access health care, working out of community clinics up and down the east coast. He has assisted start restaurants, community gardens, commercial farms, youth programs, an energy conservation contracting company, local and state policy councils, and an impact investments program. He has raised millions of dollars to support these efforts from foundations, government, and traditional investors. He understands the food system and how it impacts communities.
DAISA Enterprises was founded to work together with social entrepreneurs that are
innovating to build a better, more equitable, food system and their investors.
DAISA Enterprises was founded to work together with social entrepreneurs that are
innovating to build a better, more equitable, food system and their investors.
