REAL Talks: Recent Episodes
MSU Center for Regional Food Systems
REAL Talks (Reaching for Equity in All Lives) explores the question: What does diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) look like within the nutrition incentive community? This podcast series captures the experience or journey of DEI work, underscoring that this is not a straightforward process, it takes time, and surfaces values and tensions that must be explored.
“We don't think that systems are people, but, systems are people.” - Keesa V. Johnson, MDES, of Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems (CRFS)
In this episode of REAL Talks, Kolia Souza, Food Systems Equity & Advocacy Specialist of CRFS, and Maria Graziani, Food Systems Specialist and Food Impact Fellow with the Federation of American Scientists, host a conversation about how the changing landscape of language used to communicate about food equity, sovereignty, and autonomy is creating barriers to change for people of color.
In this episode, they were joined by:
- Rachel Lindvall, Retired Extension Specialist at South Dakota State University
- Keesa V. Johnson, M Des, Food Systems Strategy Design Specialist at MSU Center for Regional Food Systems
The relaunch of this podcast series will focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, across the food and agriculture system. Through this and future episodes, different aspects of this topic will be discussed with members of CRFS and the Racial Equity in the Food System (REFS) National Workgroup. REFS brings together Cooperative Extension professionals and community stakeholders to connect, learn, and collaborate to facilitate change within our institutions and society to build racial equity within the food system.
These episodes will explore the following questions:
- Is there adequate funding for programs that are centering Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous voices?
- Is the technical assistance that is being funded adequate for supporting these producers when they are scaling up their businesses?
Listen to their discussion on the podcast!
You can find the complete transcript for this episode here https://www.canr.msu.edu/podcasts/real-talks-episode-8
Welcome back to REAL Talks, Reaching for Equity in All Lives. In this episode, Kolia Souza, Food Systems Equity & Advocacy Specialist of CRFS, and Maria Graziani, Food Systems Specialist and Food Impact Fellow with the Federation of American Scientists, host a conversation about historical barriers to equity and access to resources for producers of color.
In this episode, they were joined by:
- Marcus Coleman, Ph.D. Professor of Practice, Economics + Strategy, Leadership, & Analytics at Tulane University
- Rachel Lindvall, Retired Extension Specialist at South Dakota State University
- Keesa V. Johnson, M Des, Food Systems Strategy Design Specialist at MSU Center for Regional Food Systems
The relaunch of this podcast series will focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, across the food and agriculture system. Through this and future episodes, different aspects of this topic will be discussed with members of CRFS and the Racial Equity in the Food System (REFS) National Workgroup. REFS brings together Cooperative Extension professionals and community stakeholders to connect, learn, and collaborate to facilitate change within our institutions and society to build racial equity within the food system.
These episodes will explore the following questions:
- Is there adequate funding for programs that are centering Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous voices?
- Is the technical assistance that is being funded adequate for supporting these producers when they are scaling up their businesses?
Listen to their discussion on the podcast!
Please find the transcript of their discussion on the CRFS website at https://www.canr.msu.edu/podcasts/real-talks-episode-7
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.