Nutrition Insecurity, the Most Powerful Determinant of Health

Welcome to the show. Into our first episode, I am glad you are with me, navigating these topics, learning from these leaders, getting inspired, and changing the world in the good way, not the bad way. We're taking this one issue, one solution, and one relationship at a time. So we used to call it hunger. Then it was food insecurity. Now it's nutrition insecurity. We're not changing the language just

to make life difficult or annoying. We change our language as we change our understanding and learn more about the real challenges of hunger, which is not simply a lack of calories. Nutrition insecurity is the inability to access adequate quantities of nutritious foods required for optimal growth and development. It's a lack of nutrients we need to thrive as people. Now,

quality nutritious food is getting harder to come by. We've seen the images of the lines at the food banks in this country, and they don't stop there these challenges. It's hard to come by good food unless you've got plenty of resources, and it's complicated by additional factors. Consider the backdrop of climate change, which makes growing healthy food harder.

Our lettuce is literally weaker now because of that. Consider the legacy of economic and racial inequality, which makes access to the healthy foods unevenly to atributed across our society. Consider the way the economics of our food system have been established to maximize profit over health, and we start to understand the perverse incentives that we witness at every step in the supply chain. We got plenty of food, we just don't have equal access in terms of quality,

healthy options for everybody. This is urgent and important because nutrition is the most powerful determinant of our health. Food is almost literally medicine, with forty five percent of deaths from heart disease, stroke, or diabetes being linked to poor diet, with families facing nutrition insecurities at the highest risk of chronic diseases, and all that further heightened by racial and equities and healthcare. This is a national security issue, this

is a human rights issue. It's a basic issue of humanity. The good news is changes coming slowly, with organizations shifting focus and adopting new policies and programs to promote healthier, more balanced lifestyles to increase options and opportunities, especially for

those facing real hunger. Now this matters to me because I grew up with a front row understanding of hunger, not because I experienced it directly, but because my mother was amazing and wanted me to fully understand the city I grew up in and the people I was surrounded by.

We grew up volunteering in my household in soup kitchens and meal wagons in Washington, d C. My mother and I would collect leftover food from my after school program, drive it over in the family station wagon to a place called Martha's Table, still in operation to this day. Then I'd ride in the back of McKenna's wagon, the van that stops and parks all over the city, and get to distribute food, but more importantly, interact with the

people who needed it. And I saw firsthand, with the eyes of an eight year old, some of the challenges involved in access to quality food. I'm talking about waste. I'm talking about the cruelty of our social service system. I'm talking about the painful interlinking cycles of food and security, housing insecurity, and job insecurity, where any one of those factors makes the other more likely. Food is a complex issue. It's not as simple as air dropping palettes of food

and hotspots and calling it a day. It's connected to other critical human needs jobs, housing, transportation, and much more. Addressing it requires connecting across sectors, collaborating among private, public, even educational participants working at the national level and the local level if we're really gonna move of the needle

and effect change. In this episode, I am thrilled to speak with two women who represent the power of that collaboration and are among the best leaders we have working across disciplines and sectors to affect our communities in a positive way on this critical issue. First, I'm gonna sit with Dr Kyla Johnson Trammel, Superintendent of the Oakland Unified

School District. Then we're gonna hear from Geta Ramperside, Vice president at Feeding America, who's working at the national level in this stellar organization, Nutrition and security is an urgent need. This is so clear, and understanding and addressing the problem from our national leaders is a huge part of the solution.

The other part comes from the community leaders, the educators, the organizers on the ground at the local level, who are forging the partnerships to scale and multiply the impact of good. They're the ones who helped bring this home. Literally.

So I sat with one of those leaders, Dr Kayla Johnson Trammel, superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District, a public education school district that operates over eighty elementary, middle and high schools, twenty eight district authorized charter schools, serves

over fifty thousand students. I sat with the good superintendent to understand how an unlikely partnership between an NBA All star, his entrepreneur wife, a passionate and driven chef, and an entire school district came together to provide fifteen million meals to the community. Dr Kayla, how are you right now? I'm well? How are you? I am well? Great to virtually meet you. Nice to virtually meet you. Two. This is my first time conversing with a superintendent. What a title?

The kids call me Mama of the district, So I like that title better. I like that too. We never have enough time, but you know some of what we're here to talk about, and I just want to set it up with my own comments about kind of nutrition and security and thinking about schools and the roles they play, because it feels to me like they're one of these critical venues where we could intervene and make a difference.

The younger we are, the more important it is to set that direction right early on really can determine our outcomes. We also expect a lot from our school systems. You are at the center of that in so many ways. Want to get into that with you later, but I want to start off with the Oakland Unified School District and what seems to be a unique approach to education, this idea of calling yourself a community schools model and

educating and caring for the whole student. Can you explain what's different about o u s D, this community model and this whole student approach. Yeah, I'd love to. And first of all, I always like to say it's kind of like fashion, where nothing is really new and things just come back and vogue, and I feel like it's important to give a nod and a shout out to schooling and other parts of the world where the community

is at the center. And when we think about all the things that need to be in place for kids to learn, we know their communities have to be healthy. Physically, we know kids have to be fed. You can't learn when you're hungry. Then you think about all the social, emotional learning components and wellness. All of these pieces have to be in place for all kids to really live out their fullest potential. So that's really the essence what

our vision and mission is all about. And the boldness and broadness of it means we can't do it by ourselves as a school system. So you're going beyond grades and test scores, well beyond absolutely. If all those pieces are flowing well, we'll see greater acceleration in terms of kids really being able to think and being active, productive and effective citizens in our workplace and in our communities.

You speak in my language. You mentioned fashion, and I think there is a fashionable term that gets thrown around a lot, which is equity. Sometimes it's a part of a whole cohort diversity and equity, you know, featuring inclusion. Right, that's right, but I've heard you say the term operationalized equity. What does that mean to you? Yeah? For me, operationalizing equity is about what are the concrete things you do

to put it in action to make a difference. So it's everything from mindset and changing the mindset both for yourself and your organization, to really thinking about how you're using your resources differently to really move the needle and transform outcomes for the most vulnerable. What are some of the needs? If you could give me a list of what some of the whole student needs that you're able to identify from your position as a school at district administrator,

what are those? By thirty I believe the minority will be the majority in terms of our student population and our national population. Yet in our school district, the majority of our educators are predominantly white. So one need is getting serious around how we continue to prepare our educators

to support and teach a diverse population. That's one need to Public education in the United States is always underfunded, and so when we think about operationalizing equity, the greater need you serve, I believe, the more dollars you should get per pupil three, really continuing to think differently around what it means to be educated in the me for century,

it is far beyond a grade. Being able to graduate from Stanford and Harvard is great, but that doesn't necessarily mean that that is going to prepare you for the vast changing world. And so this notion of preparing kids for work, making sure that kids are life learners because their job market might change. So those are all examples of a lot of the needs that we have and the continued need around just developing the whole child in terms of the social emotional component and that being a

through line of education. I want to move to nutrition and how that's sometimes hard to meet need gets met in your school system, and to start what happens when it doesn't, what happens for a student whose nutritional needs are not being met, you know, I think first, if you think from a humorous standpoint, you know that Snickers commercial where people turn into the worst versions of themselves when they're hungry, you get angry. Yeah, exactly, that's the same,

particularly for little kids and adolescence. And so it's kind of the bottom part of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. When we think about what you need to have in order to concentrate and focus. And so we in Oakland, like many urban school districts, about our kids qualified for free and reduced lunch. I think a lot of people don't realize how many families are hungry in our country because a lot of times they're working families, and so families know, Okay, my kid's going to go to school and get a

meal to two meals every single day. And so with the pandemic happening, I remember hearing about some schools were up to families were unemployed, restaurants were down, there was no work, and so that need to make sure that those kids had meals really signaled to nine one one call. What's the process for making sure these students get food and not just random food but nutritionus food. So that is a lot of what we're doing now, really paying

attention to the quality of the meals. And so with our partnership with Eat, Learn and Play, during the pandemic, we were able to serve up to thirteen thousand meals per week and over the course of the year and a half about fifteen million meals. I want to understand the collaboration involved in rising to this fifteen million meals distributed. Who is Eat Learned Play and explain to some of our listeners what role they've played in this nutrition security

operation you've helped spin up. So before the inception of Eat Learned Play, the curries have always just been so generous and dedicated to the Oakland community. And we're talking Step and you're talking Step and Aisha, I mean stuff has shown up to schools assemblies just very genuine Ayisha

has cooked for the food service workers. And then with the Foundation really in the words you know eat, We know kids need to have healthy, nutritious food in order to learn, and we're focusing a lot on literacy and then the importance of play, making sure that kids are staying healthy and getting exercise and that that's also a part of their educational diet as well. So I think the relationship and seeing the commonalities between their vision and

our vision is a school district. They really were the connectors the Foundation. They were the ones that were able to bring in the world Central Kitchen and other partners after again hearing the why, seeing how compelling it is to solve this bold, ambitious challenge that we were up against and saying okay, we see what it is you need. This is where we can come in and support. And

then World Central Kitchen. Some of us are familiar with Chef Jose Andres who flies in post disaster all over the world and activates chefs on the ground with their role Ben in the Oakland Unified School District. Successful experiment here, so really connecting the restaurants and really being able to bring a lot of the local restaurants into the operation.

They can actually help and get funding in order to provide the food for the operation where our capacity was just maxed out, and so being able to develop the infrastructure in order to do that and to figure out how that partnered with what our everyday food service workers were able to do in terms of being the face connecting with the students of the school district. So it really was a pretty complex operation. What other parties were

involved in pulling this off. There's the school district, there's Eat Learned play in. The foundation is World Central Kitchen, but I'm sure there were a few other entities. Can you kind of run off a list of all the partners in this? Oh my god, I don't think we have enough time on the podcast. I'd say, you know, just for starters, sales forces just continue to just be an amazing partner for us in so many different places and really again not just in terms of funding, but

really helping us think smartly in terms of infrastructure. I'm a huge believer that technology is a tool to help bring greater efficiency so that humans can really do what humans can do, and technology can't to spend time making those connections, but lots of local partners on the ground. NUMI Foundation has been another important partner for US community based organizations. School sites that were the center for the food distributions are restaurants, are local farmers who were providing

the produce. So really, I mean, when you think about how an economy he works, it's really a teeny example of that. When you think of all the folks involved, you help spin up a tiny economy, you know that's having a pretty massive impact. And I want to ask you this question about that impact, because you have a lot of different factors that have led to this success.

What would you say is the force multiplier what gave you the biggest bang for the book, the most leverage in terms of making this program work, Having a compelling vision and the equal amount of conviction I think to dream beyond what you see. People have to have this sense in their gut of like, we can do this even though we may not know exactly how, and we see we feel how important, like the moral imperative around

feeding kids, no one's against that. We've got kids that are hungry, and really being able to paint this compelling urgency. I've observed a lot of people who want to help. We'll show up with a bag of money, right, and hope to just launch that at the problem, or a pile of code. Right, let's just throw an app at it, right, there's an app for that. It's kind of the mantra that comes out of the Bay Area a lot and

tries to solve problems. And what you're reminding me of is it's people, it's vision, it's conviction, it's all this partnership and it's intelligently putting this stuff together. But it's not simply code or dollars that's going to get this stuff done. Absolutely, and to me, under partnership, it's communication. When you execute something and it doesn't go according to plan, how do you work through the conflict, the tension, how

do you work through the challenge? You know, kind of reflecting on that and figuring out how you continue to refine it. There is someone listening to this who wants to lend their expertise to their own community. They're hearing this, they're getting inspired, They're fired up and ready to go. What advice would you give that person on where and how to start? The first piece of advice I would give is what my grandmother always told me growing up, which was, you know, maybe you have two ears and

one mouthful a reason listening. Start with your local school. It may just be volunteering to really figure out what lights your passion and fire in terms of where you want to help, to figure out the best relationship between what you have to give and what that particular school needs. It may not be money. It maybe time. It may be access to a resource, but listening and taking the time to build relationships so that we could better optimize everyone's support. I have observed that we put a lot

of burden on our school system. We want them to do all kinds of people's jobs. You've got to be a public health official, law enforcement operator, a politician, a budget master. Do you get frustrated by what I consider to be sort of unfair expectations and more to the point, how do you manage what I proceed to be a growing set of expectations on our education system to do far more than educate. Frustration absolutely just at the enormity of the challenge and the task. These are human beings

and people's children that I'm speaking as a mom. They're the most precious and dear thing to anybody. But I think first it really starts with not putting superhero expectations on yourself. I often spent a lot of the first year reminding people that I'm not a superhero, and if you expect me individually to solve all of these problems, you're going to be disappointed. We have got to figure out a way to do this as a collective, and so I think that that needs to continue to be

the mantra. Right from federal policy, state policy, businesses, taxpayer, everybody has the responsibility to make sure that the kids are good. So if you have to set boundaries and really be clear about what you can do and where you need the help to get to the level of ambitious transformation, I want to make you a T shirt or a sweatshirt that says I am a superintendent not

a superhero. Oh. I love that you've renewed your contract in this role at a time when many people who serve, especially in the public, are running away from those jobs. You'll end up being the longest serving superintendent. I believe in O U. S D. Why are you doubling down? Why are you sticking it out? I get a lot of joy out of what I do. I love a lot of the people that I work with. I love deep problem solving. I love kids. Kids just give me energy.

It's like free comedy seven children, and they keep it real. So there's no doubt every day, whether it's a success or a failure, that what I'm doing is valuable. I'd love to know have you tried to create a culture where mistakes are acceptable? You know, not just in yourself and how you handle it, but among your staff and in the wider school district culture. I am trying. It is a hard culture to disrupt, particularly in the political sphere where you're on a school cycle where people do

expect solve all the problems in a year. It's definitely challenging, but I believe it does start with leadership. Most mistakes you can bounce back from, and I think a lot of what we're wrestling with internally is capacity building to help them say, I know this is what I'm supposed to do, but I actually need some help thinking through how to do that without seeming that you are incompetent.

And I think that's the struggle in terms of organ zational leadership that we're going to need to just meet a lot of the complex problems that we have. I'll give the mic to you. The themes that we've been discussing, collaboration, nutrition, kids, health, and the role of technology in enabling all that so that we have a strong democracy. Is there anything else

you want to add? We need more bold leadership. It's just so important when we think about the challenges of education and the environment, equity and diversity and inclusion, what's needed in the private sector and the public sector. It's just everything. How we're going to come out of COVID. So much of what we're going to need is bold leadership. So you know, don't be afraid to lead, you know, from whatever seat you don't have to be head of

an organization. We need people to really lead into their agency to transform the world that we want to live in. Dr Kyla thank you for your bold and bodacious leadership. I really appreciate this time we've had together. Me too, Yes, thank you for the conversation. H you're listening to a podcast called Force Multiplier, Action meets Impact. Now you've probably grown to expect ads inside your podcast. But we're gonna do something a little bit different to walk the walk.

We're gonna take a quick break and hear from one of the organizations featured in this episode. Be right back. If you came across the child struggling with hunger, how would you recognize him? By their clothes, their age, the way they speak. Would you recognize a thirteen year old boy who gets into fights at school not because he's a boy, but because he's hungry? Or two year old girl who cries all night not because she's said, but because she went to bed without HI have to eat?

Or maybe a nine year old boy who hopes that for an advice and not for fun, just so we can have dinner. Or a fifteen year old girl who goes for walks over lunch so her friends won't know she doesn't have anything to eat. I am the one in seven American children who struggle with hunger. Kids you passed by every day but never knew were hungry. I am child hunger in America. Hunger can be hard to recognize.

Learn why I am Hunger in America dot Org brought to you by Feeding America two hundred food banks strong. Hey you, it's Baritone Day, host of the podcast you're listening to right now. When I was a kid, my mom told me to come up with a system we could live under after democracy had failed. Yeah, my mom was intent. I haven't finished that assignment, but I did make a podcast. It's called how does Citizen? With Baritone Day. It reimagines citizen as a verb and reminds us how

to wield our collective power. Find seasons one and two and whatever podcasts app using right now? And season three all about tech, drops in October. Learn more at how does Citizen dot com? About forty two or forty three million people in this country don't have enough to eat and don't have the resources they need to put food on their families tables every day of the week, and

that's unacceptable for US. Geeta Rampersade is the vice president of Feeding America, leading national healthcare partnerships, health and nutrition programs for the second largest charity organization in the US

committed to ending hunger in America. So Feeding America is a national organization with headquarters in Chicago and Washington, d C. We have close to two hundred food banks, I want to say a hundred and nine that serve every single county in this country and some of them reach across state lines to provide communities with access to food that they ordinarily wouldn't be able to reach. And so they're all working independently. They are all their own experts, I

will say. So our goal at the national office is to really provide the support that they need. They are the true leaders in this space. We believe that food insecurity is a solvable social determinant of health and also that access to food just isn't good enough. Why is it that black households experienced food insecurity is such a higher rate than others. Why is it that they have to rely more heavily on the charitable food system to

get through the week with food on their tables. Others may access our services once or twice a month, and we see that marginalized populations are accessing our resources at a much higher rate. And these are basic necessities. But this is also not just coincidence. These are policies and practices that have been said up in this country for some people to fail, and it's up to us to see not only that people are fed, but that these

and other populations can heal. One thing that I think is truly innovative and unique to the work that we do is the fact that we are engaged in so many cross sector partnerships. Oftentimes, our food banks feel that they bear the weight of the world on their shoulders, and particularly now during this pandemic, but cross sector partnerships have emerged that have really started to make our workflow improve.

So right now I'm privileged to be working with some of our health care partners on connecting food banks to local healthcare organizations via health systems, health plans, health centers, community health and our goal is to really do this deeper dive, beginning with data, but also bringing in the wisdom of the community and hearing listening to the community's voice on what it is, What are your needs, what is it that's stopping you from being able to access

healthy food options in your community, and how is it that we can work together with you alongside you to make those changes. It's really refreshing to see healthcare organizations stepping up and wanting to partner with us as really equal partners. For example, one of the unlikely allies I never would have expected through a role at a hunger relief organization is the partnership that my team at Feeding

America has with the Centers for Disease Control. They're offering not just a hand, but a seat at the table. But these partnerships don't just stop at healthcare or actually being given the opportunity to work closely with affordable housing partners with a project that's going to allow food banks and affordable housing partners to collaborate to improve access to

nutritious foods for people living in a hoordable housing. Beyond housing, we've also had the privilege of working with organizations that are addressing social isolation. We've seen during this pandemic that there are many people that are homebound, so we're working with organizations to be able to address things like transportation challenges. But the innovation that I'm seeing coming out of some

of these partnerships is really stimulating. It keeps me motivated and I really am optimistic about being able to be transformative when it comes to reimagining the charitable food experience for people facing hunger. I would love to be able to give advice to other executives who are deciding whether or not they can contribute their time and skills. I'd say, do it. Don't be afraid, just do it, but be authentic. Don't do it for a photo op, don't do it

for a ribbon cutting. Do it because you really do want to see change in your community or in somebody else's community, and get to know the people that are in the community. You know, get out of your ivory tower, join the fun, and be part of the progress firsthand. Like I am, if we don't listen to our communities, we will never be able to achieve success. In order to do that, you have to kind of leave behind

some of your routine and take a risk. Encourage everybody to take the time to listen to people's lived experiences they want to share, and that may inspire you to really get out and roll your sleeves up and like I said, join the fun. We just heard from two incredibly bold leaders who recognize that relationships offer a more effective way through big problems than acting alone. Feeding America has these partnerships with affordable housing groups, community health centers,

even the CDC. They connect national policy making to community members on the ground. And the way Geeta phrase feeding America's relationship with the communities they serve says a lot to me. They ask, how can we work with you? Alongside you? That's such an important dose of humility and respect and a sign of how much the organization's values

gets relationship with the people it serves. Dr Kyla in Oakland insists she's not a superhero, but I'm pretty sure she's demonstrated some superpowers in her ability to coordinate groups as varied at school, food service workers, restaurant owners, and celebrities invested in Oakland, all in service of a collective mission to support the whole student. Now, establishing relationships solve

a problem, that's one very important step. But nurturing them and sustaining them through difficulties when things don't work out, that's a whole another ball game. So I especially appreciate Dr Kyla's comments about the value of communication and the acknowledgement that we're all human and we have limits. Begin of limits, It's time for this human to wrap things up Thank you so much for listening. This is Force Multiplier.

Do you want to dig in more on today's guests and the work they're doing, or maybe you want to understand what action you can take in your community. Either way, go to Salesforce dot org slash force multiplier. That's one word, force multiplier. Force Multiplier is a production of I Heart Radio and Salesforce dot Org. Hosted by me Barritton day Thurston. It's executive produced by Elizabeth Stewart, produced by Van Chian,

and engineered, edited and mixed by James Foster. Join us next time for more stories of how we can change the world, one relationship at a time. Listen to Force Multiplier on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast