REAL Talks MSU Center for Regional Food Systems

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as an explicit organizational practice is transformative. How do you bring others along in the process, create buy-in, and then ensure that the commitment is going to produce results? As we’ve heard in previous episodes, sometimes we just have to start somewhere and adapt. Thankfully, this doesn’t have to be entirely improvised. There are tools and guidance available that can help frame the DEI process while also letting it be emergent. 

In episode 6, our guests from The Food Trust share how they engage in the practice of DEI within their own organization, and with the external communities they partner with. They share tools and practical advice from their own experience as an evolving organization.

REAL Talks is a podcast created by the Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems. The series is hosted by Kolia Souza and Andrea Weiss, and produced by Lindsay Mensch and Andrea Weiss. The podcast is supported by the Nutrition Incentive Program Training, Technical Assistance, Evaluation, and Information Center, and Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program, grant number 20197003030415, project accession number 1020863 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

For episode 5 of REAL Talks, we talked with Farmers Market Coalition, a core partner of the Nutrition Incentive Hub providing farm direct technical assistance to nutrition incentive grantees and practitioners. 

What really stood out for us in this conversation is this interplay between the organization's core identity and intentionality as Farmers Market Coalition described their commitment to prioritizing sustainability and not rushing their organization's DEI process.

REAL Talks is a podcast created by the Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems. The series is hosted by Kolia Souza and Andrea Weiss, and produced by Lindsay Mensch and Andrea Weiss. The podcast is supported by the Nutrition Incentive Program Training, Technical Assistance, Evaluation, and Information Center, and Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program, grant number 20197003030415, project accession number 1020863 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

For the past two episodes, we've been talking with Double Up Heartland, a coalition of six partner organizations implementing Double Up Food Bucks, a nutrition incentive program at grocery stores, farmers markets, farm stands and mobile markets in Kansas and Missouri.

In our third and final conversation with Double Up Heartland, our guests answer the question, "What are some successes that you've experienced through the DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) process?"

Our guests speak to the adaptability and flexibility that's needed for engaging in DEI practice and culture building.

REAL Talks is a podcast created by the Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems. The series is hosted by Kolia Souza and Andrea Weiss, and produced by Lindsay Mensch and Andrea Weiss. The podcast is supported by the Nutrition Incentive Program Training, Technical Assistance, Evaluation, and Information Center, and Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program, grant number 20197003030415, project accession number 1020863 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

During our last episode, we introduced Double Up Heartland, a coalition of six partner organizations implementing Double Up Food Bucks, a nutrition incentive program at grocery stores, farmers markets, farm stands and mobile markets in Kansas and Missouri. They've put together a diversity, equity and inclusion - or DEI - committee. And we've been talking with three individuals from that committee who represent one third of the coalition's member organizations.

As we'll hear more about in this episode, the process revealed differences between their organizations that had never come out before in five years of collaborating. On top of organizational differences, there are limitations of working within what is expected of them as they make Double Up Food Bucks run in their communities and different understandings of how engaging in DEI work directly relates to food security.

REAL Talks is a podcast created by the Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems. The series is hosted by Kolia Souza and Andrea Weiss, and produced by Lindsay Mensch and Andrea Weiss. The podcast is supported by the Nutrition Incentive Program Training, Technical Assistance, Evaluation, and Information Center, and Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program, grant number 20197003030415, project accession number 1020863 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

We're excited to get into our first interview of REAL Talks, where we talk with Double Up Heartland, a coalition of six partner organizations implementing Double Up Food Bucks, a nutrition incentive program at grocery stores, farmers markets, farm stands, and mobile markets in Kansas and Missouri. 

Each partner organization in the coalition brings unique expertise and built relationships with the geographies they serve within the region, including urban, suburban, and rural communities across both states.

Kolia talks with two of the coalition partners, Mid-America Regional Council and Cultivate Kansas City. The coalition launched a DEI committee in 2021, so we  focused our conversation on how they're aligning multiple partner organizations with different values and priorities to a collective vision.

REAL Talks is a podcast created by the Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems. The series is hosted by Kolia Souza and Andrea Weiss, and produced by Lindsay Mensch and Andrea Weiss. The podcast is supported by the Nutrition Incentive Program Training, Technical Assistance, Evaluation, and Information Center, and Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program, grant number 20197003030415, project accession number 1020863 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Welcome to REAL Talks! The purpose of this podcast series is to explore the question: what does diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, look like within the nutrition incentive community? 

We hope that this series captures the experience or journey of DEI work, underscoring that this is not a straightforward process.

Through informal conversations and storytelling, nutrition incentive practitioners and partners will chat with us about how they're incorporating DEI into their organizations and work.

REAL Talks is a podcast created by the Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems. The series is hosted by Kolia Souza and Andrea Weiss, and produced by Lindsay Mensch and Andrea Weiss. The podcast is supported by the Nutrition Incentive Program Training, Technical Assistance, Evaluation, and Information Center, and Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program, grant number 20197003030415, project accession number 1020863 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.