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Food from the Hood/Salad Dressings
…creating hope and educational opportunities for inner-city kids
Benefit Summary: Whether you pour it on your salad or marinate some
chicken, by purchasing Food from the ‘Hood salad dressing, you are sending a
student to college, building community, reducing inner-city tensions – and
changing the world. The dressing is approximately $3 online (shipping's expensive
from Amazon but free if you buy $25 or more from their gourmet department) and
comes in three great flavors: fat-free honey mustard, reduced fat ranch and creamy
italian.
The Issues: Food from the Hood addresses issues centered around the creation
of hope and opportunity for young people in challenging, inner-city
circumstances. In 1992, the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles suffered
tremendously from the riots that erupted in response to the Rodney King
verdict. Responding to her students' distress that the world perceived everyone
in the community as rageful and destructive, a teacher at Crenshaw High
School, Tammy Bird, challenged them to come up with a positive response. The
students wanted to show that destruction was not the only option; they wanted
to find a way to give back to the community and show that something positive
could grow from the ashes. Their answer, turn the lot behind their school into a
garden, a garden that has grown into a business.
Food from the Hood also addresses some deeply problematic present-day
realities. Today, California and, indeed, the nation as a whole is facing a “silent
epidemic” (in the words of a recent report from the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation Report) of young people dropping out of high school. According to
that report, each year nearly 1/3 of all public high school students and,
alarmingly, close to 50% of all African-American, Hispanic and Native American
students, fail to graduate with their class. Some repeat a grade. Many, even
most, simply drop out.
According to the above-mentioned report and many other studies, students who
drop out are far more likely to be (in no particular order) unemployed,
unhealthy, in prison, living in poverty, receiving public assistance, divorced, on
death row, single parents with children who drop out as well, among other tragic
consequences. Two top reasons students cite for dropping out: “school wasn’t
interesting to them” and “they didn’t feel challenged”.
The Food from the Hood Response: 15 years ago, in their response to the
Rodney King riots, students at Crenshaw High decided to fight back against
despair by converting a weed-infested lot into a thriving garden. After selling
the produce they grew at the local farmer markets and using the proceeds to
enlarge their program (as well as donating additional food to community
organizations), they, along with their teacher, realized they could take the
program a big step further and they created a salad dressing product which
they then began to sell. Today, their salad dressings are available online and at
major supermarkets in Southern California. 50% of all profits go to support the
organization and the other 50% goes directly to the students’ education
accounts. Food from the Hood’s work is also supported by individual donations,
private foundation and corporate funders, including The Disney Corporation.
Today, Food from the Hood is a multi-faceted program whose elements include
entrepreneurship training, leadership development, urban gardening and
financial literacy training. Students manage all elements of the salad dressing
business from product development to marketing to fulfillment. Once the
students have developed the recipe, using herbs and vegetables grown from
their test garden, students outsource the production and packaging of the salad
dressing for the requirements of volume, quality control and consistency.
Depending on how much time they put into the business, they can earn up to
$15,000 toward their post-secondary education. During their time in the
program, thanks to corporate support, these young people receive extensive
financial literacy training that they use to monitor the “education funds” in
which their earnings are held.
Students also grow vegetables in the garden which, no longer physically
connected to Crenshaw High School, is now housed in the Veterans
Horticultural Garden. There, veterans serve as mentors to the young people
who grow vegetables to donate to the community and use for product
development. It merits note that the garden moved from the school to a “no
color zone” – territory not “owned” by any race or gang -so that the program
could safely include students of all races and from all neighborhoods.
Today, Food from the Hood is proud to boast a near 100% graduation rate. With
a mostly African-American and Hispanic population, that rate is more than
double the state average in California. Furthermore, all graduates of the
program have gone on to attend college or vocational post-secondary
education. Food from the Hood is proud to report a total of 27 students who
have completed college and 14 who have completed masters degrees. And this
is made possible, to the greatest extent, by your purchases of salad dressing.
Food from the Hood currently offers three dressings, sold for approximately
$3/bottle, Low Fat Creamy Italian, Fat Free Honey Mustard, and their newest
flavor, Reduced Fat Ranch.
…creating hope and educational opportunities for inner-city kids
Benefit Summary: Whether you pour it on your salad or marinate some
chicken, by purchasing Food from the ‘Hood salad dressing, you are sending a
student to college, building community, reducing inner-city tensions – and
changing the world. The dressing is approximately $3 online (shipping's expensive
from Amazon but free if you buy $25 or more from their gourmet department) and
comes in three great flavors: fat-free honey mustard, reduced fat ranch and creamy
italian.
The Issues: Food from the Hood addresses issues centered around the creation
of hope and opportunity for young people in challenging, inner-city
circumstances. In 1992, the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles suffered
tremendously from the riots that erupted in response to the Rodney King
verdict. Responding to her students' distress that the world perceived everyone
in the community as rageful and destructive, a teacher at Crenshaw High
School, Tammy Bird, challenged them to come up with a positive response. The
students wanted to show that destruction was not the only option; they wanted
to find a way to give back to the community and show that something positive
could grow from the ashes. Their answer, turn the lot behind their school into a
garden, a garden that has grown into a business.
Food from the Hood also addresses some deeply problematic present-day
realities. Today, California and, indeed, the nation as a whole is facing a “silent
epidemic” (in the words of a recent report from the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation Report) of young people dropping out of high school. According to
that report, each year nearly 1/3 of all public high school students and,
alarmingly, close to 50% of all African-American, Hispanic and Native American
students, fail to graduate with their class. Some repeat a grade. Many, even
most, simply drop out.
According to the above-mentioned report and many other studies, students who
drop out are far more likely to be (in no particular order) unemployed,
unhealthy, in prison, living in poverty, receiving public assistance, divorced, on
death row, single parents with children who drop out as well, among other tragic
consequences. Two top reasons students cite for dropping out: “school wasn’t
interesting to them” and “they didn’t feel challenged”.
The Food from the Hood Response: 15 years ago, in their response to the
Rodney King riots, students at Crenshaw High decided to fight back against
despair by converting a weed-infested lot into a thriving garden. After selling
the produce they grew at the local farmer markets and using the proceeds to
enlarge their program (as well as donating additional food to community
organizations), they, along with their teacher, realized they could take the
program a big step further and they created a salad dressing product which
they then began to sell. Today, their salad dressings are available online and at
major supermarkets in Southern California. 50% of all profits go to support the
organization and the other 50% goes directly to the students’ education
accounts. Food from the Hood’s work is also supported by individual donations,
private foundation and corporate funders, including The Disney Corporation.
Today, Food from the Hood is a multi-faceted program whose elements include
entrepreneurship training, leadership development, urban gardening and
financial literacy training. Students manage all elements of the salad dressing
business from product development to marketing to fulfillment. Once the
students have developed the recipe, using herbs and vegetables grown from
their test garden, students outsource the production and packaging of the salad
dressing for the requirements of volume, quality control and consistency.
Depending on how much time they put into the business, they can earn up to
$15,000 toward their post-secondary education. During their time in the
program, thanks to corporate support, these young people receive extensive
financial literacy training that they use to monitor the “education funds” in
which their earnings are held.
Students also grow vegetables in the garden which, no longer physically
connected to Crenshaw High School, is now housed in the Veterans
Horticultural Garden. There, veterans serve as mentors to the young people
who grow vegetables to donate to the community and use for product
development. It merits note that the garden moved from the school to a “no
color zone” – territory not “owned” by any race or gang -so that the program
could safely include students of all races and from all neighborhoods.
Today, Food from the Hood is proud to boast a near 100% graduation rate. With
a mostly African-American and Hispanic population, that rate is more than
double the state average in California. Furthermore, all graduates of the
program have gone on to attend college or vocational post-secondary
education. Food from the Hood is proud to report a total of 27 students who
have completed college and 14 who have completed masters degrees. And this
is made possible, to the greatest extent, by your purchases of salad dressing.
Food from the Hood currently offers three dressings, sold for approximately
$3/bottle, Low Fat Creamy Italian, Fat Free Honey Mustard, and their newest
flavor, Reduced Fat Ranch.
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