The
Craig Faille
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Noam Kimelman, left, a DYFB program director, poses at the Eastern Market
in Detroit with students and colleagues.
Detroit Youth Food Brigade
Teens seek to provide "food justice."
Shelli Liebman Dorfman
Contributing Writer
A
group of Detroit high school
students are revving up for an
innovative summer learning
and employment experience, but are in
need of some financial support from
the community.
Twenty teens will team up with 10
Detroit food-based businesses for an
entrepreneurial education with a focus
on selling products to 10 neighborhood
markets through the Detroit Youth Food
Brigade (DYFB).
In a quadruple-win initiative, the
students will gain hands-on skills and
expertise in business management,
marketing and sales, cooking and nutri-
tion, sourcing and logistics; businesses
will receive additional product outlets,
a brand boost and valuable staff sup-
port; neighborhood markets will gain
increased support and product diversity,
greater economic impact and improved
food security in their surrounding areas;
and each student will receive a $580
stipend in addition to tips received at
markets.
The project was created to pro-
mote food justice and build the local
food economy in Detroit by Noam
Kimelman, under the guidance of Dan
Carmody at Eastern Market and with
the help of Amy Berkhoudt, a high
school English teacher at Cesar Chavez
Academy in Southwest Detroit.
"Each of the businesses we work with
produces high-quality food; most of
them provide healthy food," Kimelman
said. "But food justice is more than just
access to healthy food. It's about access
to the same quality and freshness that
we have come to expect in the suburbs.
That's why it's called justice. It's about
equality. We believe that everyone, no
matter their socioeconomic status
or place of residency, should have equal
access to high-quality and healthy
food."
DYFB was started with a $30,000
grant through Eastern Market, from
W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Project
for Public Spaces. But now they are in
need of another $12,000 to purchase a
truck, along with the necessary equip-
ment and supplies, including tables,
chairs, tents, coolers and displays.
They have applied for a Kickstarter
grant, but the project will only be fund-
ed if $12,000 is pledged by Monday, July
2, at 11:59 p.m.
"The more money we raise through
Kickstarter, the more students we can
hire, the more interactive training we
can offer, the more food-based busi-
nesses we can include in the program,
the more neighborhood markets we can
support and the longer we can extend
the program," Kimelman said." We ulti-
mately hope to extend it into the school
year and provide Detroit high school
students with year-round employment."
Kimelman said DYFB is financially
sustainable once it gets started. "We
need funding to get off the ground, but
each market stand will generate income
for the program, so that we can con-
tinue expanding to more students, more
businesses and more markets.
"This is just the beginning of a
youth-led campaign for citywide food
security and a flourishing local food
economy in Detroit," he said, adding
that the involved students gain valuable
skills.
"We're hoping our future leaders will
take initiative and solve the problems
of their own communities," Kimelman
said. "But first they need the tools and
the experience E
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For more about the Detroit Youth
Food Brigade and view a video
by Ben Friedman of Detroit, visit
www.detroityouthfoodbrigade.
com . To pledge a donation, go to
http://kck.st/Lkidl E.
June 23 20L
11