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Spotlight on Equity - FoodCorps
246 Plays1 year ago
Our second Spotlight on Equity Conversation was with Morgan McGhee, MPH, RD, Food Corps’ Director of School Nutrition & Leadership. She shared about her background growing up in the south and her career path in Dietetics. It was a delightful conversation in which Morgan’s passion for creating equity in school meals and for Registered Dietitians shined through.
Food Corps is an organization that partners with schools and communities dedicated in nourishing kids, their health, education, and sense of belonging. This comes with the responsibility to practice equitable practices that shift power, resources and access to those most impacted by systemic oppression. She shared the S.H.I.F.T.I.N.G tool created by Food Corps to hold themselves accountable to necessary practices that will lead to justice within their own organization. Listen and learn more about equity in action and how you can use these tools and promising practices to create a more just environment as well.
To learn more about Food Corps’ equity initiatives: https://foodcorps.org/equity-inclusion/
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Transcript
Introduction and Focus on Equity-Based Practices
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello, everyone. My name is Dr. Janine Rios. We're coming to you from the Center for Best Practices at Share of Strength. And we want to bring you some stories from organizations across the country who are implementing practices at work and in their communities that are grounded in equity.
Guest Introduction: Morgan McGee from Food Corps
00:00:20
Speaker
And as you're going to hear today from our guest at Food Corps, an organization that partners with schools and communities. It's dedicated to nourishing kids, their health,
00:00:30
Speaker
their education and their sense of belonging. We're gonna hear from our guest, Morgan McGee. She's the Director of School and Nutrition Leadership. She's gonna share more about how they do this and how has their journey been to create a more equitable program and workspace and their influence in doing that. And so without further ado, I wanna welcome our guest, Morgan McGee. Hey Morgan. Hi, hello everyone listening in.
Morgan McGee's Career Journey and Role at Food Corps
00:01:00
Speaker
I know that with your work at Food Corps, you do a lot with schools and you do a lot with equity work. But first, I really wanted to know more about how you ended up where you are. Like what brought you to where you are in your career and what brought you to California?
00:01:18
Speaker
Yeah, so it's funny. I would say my journey actually started here in California. I did a graduate school program that was a coordinated program in dietetics. So I studied public health nutrition and dietetics and through my internship rotation in school food, I was completely blown away. I was at the world renowned Riverside Unified and it was just so amazing that
00:01:44
Speaker
Staff showed up every day excited to feed children. They enjoyed their jobs. The children loved the salad bars that were happening. There was nutrition education that was an option. And it was just, you know, as a young person, I thought you can really create workplaces where people are happy and joyful and
00:02:03
Speaker
instead of you, you know, people not liking their jobs, they loved it and wanted to come every day and felt honored and proud.
Mission and Initiatives of Food Corps
00:02:10
Speaker
And so that really was like where the fire was ignited through my internship, which honestly just brings the importance of just exposure and internships and
00:02:19
Speaker
It has taken me on quite the journey. And so I moved away from here about six, six and a half years ago. I moved to the East Coast after the sort of riverside experience to really get experience at a much larger district. And that experience gave me the operational side of school food, which was really important. Riverside, I was doing mostly nutrition education.
00:02:42
Speaker
um through a really actually through SNAP-Ed and um when I trans transitioned to the east coast I was able to do more operations being a program administrator for the child and adult care food program as well as for summer food service programs so still doing nutrition education and sort of I jokingly say and other duties as assigned you know just kind of a
00:03:06
Speaker
a catch-all for special projects, you know, working with Jeff Hand and United Produce that now has a new name for bringing salad bars to schools and promoting that and just various things throughout my three years there. And then, you know, started working for Food Corps. And I'm like, if I can work anywhere and work from home, why not work where it's sunny? So I transitioned back to California about six months ago. That is wonderful. I've been
00:03:36
Speaker
Like, since leaving California, I just remember that we did talk about that we're both from California originally. Once you leave, it is hard to get back unless you have that economic ability to get back. I don't know that I'll ever get there.
00:03:50
Speaker
Well, I'm actually not originally from here, but yes, I do consider I grew up here in the sense that I was on my own. I didn't have any family around and I became an adult here, but I'm originally from the South and my heart will always be in the South as well. No, for real. I feel like, yes, we were raised by our parents and then we grew up when we went to college and we had to actually- Start paying bills.
00:04:20
Speaker
Tell us a little bit more about Food Corps and the work in schools that you do, what the mission is of the organization, and what really drew you to this work.
00:04:31
Speaker
Yeah, I would say it's so interesting, the path that this life takes you on. And I remember when I first saw this position description in 2019, and it was almost as if the job was written specifically for me. And
Recruitment and Training with a Focus on Community and Equity
00:04:50
Speaker
I was just like, wait, what? You know, it sort of combined all of these areas in school food that I really loved. And
00:05:00
Speaker
One of that kind of essential part was being a preceptor. So working in a school district, there was neighboring universities and undergraduate universities, all types of universities that students needed to complete their hours, or they were taking a community nutrition class, and they wanted some kind of hands-on experience. And that sort of leadership development aspect was something that really brought a lot of joy to me.
00:05:25
Speaker
But I also still really loved school food, but knew that the sort of bureaucratic side of becoming a director and working through some of those challenges wasn't really who I was. I did my Master in Public Health because I like program design. I like being able to sort of set up systems and look at systems to see, OK, well, who are the players? What are the roles they play? How can we get the right people in the right seats at the right time to move things forward? And really, that was honestly because my director
00:05:54
Speaker
which I owe a lot to Rodney Taylor at the time, just sort of instilled that in me, right? I was an intern in the district and then I became a full-time employee and it was just, you know, messaging on that and it was school food was really shown to me as systems work. And so when the opportunity came open at Food Corps,
00:06:15
Speaker
It was a perfect alignment because the work that Fuqua was doing across all of our service states was like, okay, we're able to take this model and really sort of duplicate it, blow it up, and really share it amongst others in our schools. And so that initially really
00:06:33
Speaker
brought me to this work of wanting to say, OK, well, how can we look at the school food system, whether that's food education, whether that's the cafeteria and really bridging those gaps? Because what I had seen as some as an operator and as someone doing nutrition education,
00:06:48
Speaker
was that there was a huge gap and there still continues to be a huge gap between the education side of the school building and the cafeteria. There's a lot of disconnect and so the work that Food Corps does, our mission really is that all children by 2030 will have access to food education and nourishing meals in schools and so that's done through various programming like our direct education program with AmeriCorps service members
00:07:13
Speaker
That's also done with some of the newer work that I've been leading the last few years around what we kind of call our nourishing school meals work and making sure that we can also support our school food departments, whether that's procurement, whether that's feedback loops,
00:07:28
Speaker
Um, you know, providing various trainings for food service staff. That's, you know, culturally responses, meals or whatever it may be. And just, I'm able to really combine all of those things together. And even, which I think we're going to talk about later and really building a pipeline for the next generation of school food leaders as well. Definitely. I feel like we have the same mission and that is like the foods out there, but why aren't the kids either getting it or why are certain kids not getting it consistently?
00:07:58
Speaker
What's the missing link? Um, back when I was in school, I'm going to date myself, but we had, everyone would cook the meals. So when you showed up at school, you can smell the food cooking for lunch and that's still, you know, present in certain districts. But I remember just, we looked for, we were hungry. We looked forward to eating that school, even though we still made fun of the meals, sometimes they were all good and delicious. And I know that's not the case everywhere.
00:08:29
Speaker
But we do know that the meals are pretty nutritious, even though they may look like a typical pizza. It usually is whole grain bread and all of this due to the nutrition standards. What has been your experience with
00:08:49
Speaker
getting the meals to the kids you get to get, you know, see this on campus, do you get to visit the schools? Yeah, I would say it's, you know, I do site visits and so it is important for me to go out there to see what the work that our service members are doing. It's something that I obviously have done in the past, but it is important to go out there to see what's happening, to see the new innovation. One thing I loved about having interns and the same for service members is that their excitement
00:09:18
Speaker
you know, when they've been working on a project and they're, you know, we've been brainstorming various ideas and it comes to fruition. And to see their excitement, to see the kids' excitement, I have to go out. Like, I'm like, okay, you want me to come to Maine? And, you know, when it's freezing cold or wherever I'm going, I have to go because
00:09:37
Speaker
It is something that allows me to stay grounded in the work as well. Since I am a bit further removed in the sort of operations in the day to day of school meals, it is important to go out there to see because it inspires me and inspires me to continue to deepen the work. And of course, it wouldn't be equity work if I wasn't going out and had no reference point for programs in which I'm trying to create.
00:10:04
Speaker
Do you work directly with the AmeriCorps volunteers and how do you or whoever hires them, how do you find these volunteers and train these volunteers?
00:10:15
Speaker
What is the makeup of the volunteers? What does that look like? Tell me a little bit more about that. Of course. Shameless plug, apply now, foodcorp.org. Our application process is actually open now for next program year. And so we've been sort of over the last couple of years, been differentiating between the program. And so we have food education service members and we have
00:10:39
Speaker
school nutrition service members. And so these are folks and increasingly are coming from communities in which they're serving, which is really important, right? We don't want someone to have to move from the East Coast just to serve in Oakland Unified, right? We want someone from the Oakland community because from an equity lens, they know their community unlike anyone else.
00:11:02
Speaker
And so that is who we're recruiting. We have made a very intentional effort to increase diversity amongst our service members, which we have been pretty successful in this past
00:11:17
Speaker
service term. And so that's something we continue to do. So it could be, you know, a college graduate who has studied sustainability, or it could be really anyone 18 years and older who has an interest in food systems work. And so there isn't really a huge differentiation other than like you're committed to this work, there is an interview process that they go through, there's obviously an application process, and then there's mashing amongst the service site.
00:11:44
Speaker
So they then go to their service site supervisor, and the state teams coordinate that process. And the service team, you know, they match they match it up, and everyone's good to go. And then our service term begins in August, and it's an 11 month year
Building Community Trust for Meaningful Change
00:12:02
Speaker
of service. And we really want folks to return right to do a second year. And because again,
00:12:09
Speaker
change takes time, right? So, you know, you can definitely do some great impact within 11 months. But for some folks, it might take you half of that time to even get to know the community right in school food, for folks out there listening who work in school food, you know, it takes it can take a while. And so we really encourage folks to, to be in their communities to stay in their communities and continue that work even once their service is over. I'm glad that you brought that up about
00:12:38
Speaker
the time that it takes, Morgan, because I remember when I was a Peace Corps volunteer, our director told us for the first six months when we got to our site, and we're like, okay, what do we do? You know, we want to do all this. He said, just get to know everyone. Like just get to know who's in your community. Just talk to people, build relationships. And as someone who is trained from
00:13:05
Speaker
you know, this go-go-go mentality and like, you know, to-do lists and all that, even just out of college, I was ready to work and do stuff and didn't realize that that was the work, right? That was the work, building those relationships, building trust. And sure enough, people didn't tell me anything until I was there for a year in their community and they can trust me because, you know, they didn't know who I was. So it takes time to get to know people, which,
00:13:35
Speaker
I'm glad you mentioned that trust is not given. It's earned and built in a community. And then you can find out, like, what really are the issues or the problems and, um, how can we really make a meaningful difference now that people are being honest about the problems? And I've often heard, you know, with this kind of work, the answers are there.
00:14:01
Speaker
people know what the problems are and they usually have the solutions if we'll just kinda come to the table and listen and learn, you know? Exactly. Yeah, and that's the work, you know? Progress happens as fast as relationship building, period. So, so true. Something exciting that we talked about before when we spoke that you mentioned, your organization,
00:14:30
Speaker
and you've been a part of building some tools that can really actually be used in other organizations and as a model of how do you kind of check yourself? How do you create those checks and balances that you're creating this system that helps and is really centering the needs of like the most vulnerable?
Introduction to the SHIFTING Tool for Equity and Anti-Racism
00:14:56
Speaker
Can you tell us a little bit more about
00:15:00
Speaker
this tool that you use, I believe the acronym is shifting. We would love to learn more about that. Yeah, so the shifting tool is one that, you know, has been been a couple of years, you know, out into the world. And it really is
00:15:20
Speaker
a way to help us live into our commitments to equity inclusion and anti-racism. It sort of prompts us to integrate this into all aspects of our work and it really is a tool, right? So with any tool there's
00:15:35
Speaker
we like to think of it as, you know, it's an acronym, so there's letters, and we like to think of each letter as a lever that can be pulled, right? You may not be able to pull each one through every scenario or at the same degree each time, but it is something that allows you to truly think about and live into your commitments as an organization. So, Food Corps developed this tool as a way to help us
00:16:03
Speaker
remember and live into our equity commitments. It prompts us to, you know, at the beginning of a project, at the end of the project, anywhere throughout a project, see how we're integrating equity into that work. Last year, a group of us in our folks network, which is food operators and leaders of color in schools, had the opportunity to then take this template that was developed by our equity team, Equity Ambassadors, and our previous VP of Equity,
00:16:32
Speaker
We took the tool and we said, well, how does this apply to the school nutrition community? You know, there is a program planning, kind of a project planning template that we developed that truly is a fill in the blank fillable PDF where you can go through each letter and really answer these questions. So like I said, each letter in this acronym stands for something.
00:16:53
Speaker
And so for example, the S stands for shift power resources and or access to those most impacted by a systemic oppression and are closest to the work that needs to be done. And so in a school food setting, you might be saying, well, I mean, I mean, how does that, how does that relate? Well, do you, does your administrative team create opportunities for new staff to participate in decision-making? Does your written policy document or production record represent the actual nature of work in your school kitchen?
00:17:24
Speaker
You know, imagine someone new to school food or director who's maybe not been in a school kitchen too often and they're developing a procedure, practice or policy and the staff are like, this can't be done, right? This is not the actual nature of the work that's happening on the ground. Have you spent time in the kitchen on the line before you develop that SOP?
00:17:46
Speaker
right and so this tool allows you to go through each one of those letters you know another letter one of the eyes is interrupt internalized interpersonal or systemic oppression what are those moments i've been in school kitchens where they said no spanish is allowed that's oppressive this is my language that i speak right and so do you have a policy
00:18:08
Speaker
or practice that encourages that sort of really harmful behavior and allowing you to then look at that as an organization and start addressing these concerns in a way that, you know, that makes sense for you all. And I think as any tool, it's only as good as you use it, right? So, you know, if you say, well, we're gonna do it for this and not for that, well, is it really just, you know, we did it this one time, it didn't work. Well, can you really do anything one time and it has a huge impact?
00:18:38
Speaker
Not really. I mean, you know, you kind of have to keep doing it and adjusting and making tweaks unique to your organization, your department. So it's a
Implementation and Accessibility of the SHIFTING Tool
00:18:48
Speaker
great tool. And we really hope it's open source is on the food core website. You can just type in shifting and find it. This is wonderful, because I was going to ask you, could we use it? Could we share it with our networks? It's a really great tool from what I've looked at it. And it has spaces for you. Like you said, it's template.
00:19:09
Speaker
form, set up, and it really goes back to everything you're talking about, like the building of that trust and trusting the communities that they have the wisdom. And kind of someone who's just starting out in this space and this work, because it can be intimidating to schools, to nutrition directors who are doing a million things. When people ask, well, what are you doing about equity? They may be doing all this stuff, but they don't realize it.
00:19:37
Speaker
You know, this will help to kind of really help them focus and kind of be able to do it more strategically and be able to check themselves. This is how I see it. Yeah. And I'll add that what our executive team has done in the past.
00:19:57
Speaker
is that everyone owns a letter of it. So Janine, you own this letter. Morgan, you own that letter. You're responsible for the H in shifting. You're responsible for the F in shifting so that when that thing comes up, that project, that idea,
00:20:13
Speaker
you can always say, okay, if I'm responsible for the I, which is invest, one of the I's, invest in equity when it comes to budgeting contracts and vendors, okay, who are we centering when we're going out for this, you know, RFP?
00:20:28
Speaker
Have we talked to BIMPOC farmers and producers in our area? Are we investing into truly or are we just saying it? And I own that letter and I embody that letter and I can always bring that letter up to the upfront and making sure that folks are centering that as we're coming up with this new project.
00:20:48
Speaker
That is such a great way to use it because often in this work, it feels like there's a small amount of people who are, you know, kind of maybe invested. So this is a way of spreading that out. We have equity for everyone. Please come and get this. There's plenty to go around. Plenty of equity work to go around. I love that. I'm wondering, since you mentioned it and you've created this tool, does your organization train others on how to use this tool?
00:21:19
Speaker
Yeah, so actually our former VP who was really instrumental in developing this tool, her name is Tiffany McLean has offered numerous sort of shifting workshops and study halls that you can find if you follow Food Corps on social media outlets. Tiffany has hosted a multi-week class and continues to host that class. You know,
00:21:44
Speaker
Our partners, our state teams also use this. I think that the part about equity that's really interesting is that we create these tools and we have trainings and we sort of go along the process. But the hope, the end goal is that it's naturally integrated into things that you do. Right. And so, for example, as we're exploring partnerships with communities,
00:22:04
Speaker
This shifting tool, some of these aspects, some of these letters are part of that process, right? If I'm considering ex-organization has come to me, we have an opportunity assessment and shifting as a part of that. And so we're able to use that internally. We're able to have that conversation with partners externally. And then if you are one of those partners who wants more in depth,
00:22:25
Speaker
you can always again, like I said, follow FoodCorps on social media and this class. It already started for this session, but I'm sure that is something that will continue into the future and you can always support that work and really get hands on experience through scenarios, through real life situations of how to implement this in your work. That is really awesome. And this is at foodcorp.org, is that correct?
Challenges and Rewards at Food Corps
00:22:50
Speaker
Correct. And FoodCorps on all social media platforms, Instagram,
00:22:55
Speaker
and LinkedIn and Twitter. Wonderful. I've always heard, like I've heard about food core throughout the years and my work, but never really dug in and really looked at what you're doing, which it's very impressive. I really like it. And I'm wondering what in your role has been the biggest challenge internally with this work or externally and what is the most rewarding aspect?
00:23:26
Speaker
Ooh, that's a heavy one. Yeah, I'll take my time. I think when folks are involved in this work, when we initially started, it's like, okay, everyone needs to get trained on this. Everyone needs to get trained on that, right? And once you get past the training aspect, really what it's about is operationalizing that work, okay? So what does that look like for your organization? For us at Food Corps, it has looked like,
00:23:54
Speaker
drafting an accountability process, right? If an oppressive moment happens, what is that process to, you know, attend to the impact of that moment? Um, you know, having an anti-racism strategy, these things just don't happen because we want them to, we dream of them. It takes work.
00:24:15
Speaker
Right? Who are the folks that are involved in this process to make it happen in a way that everyone feels seen, valued and heard, that their thoughts are brought to the front. And it really is something that's reflective of the organization and that you all can actually live into over time.
00:24:32
Speaker
Our president often talks about what's a bold and audacious dream, right? Because if we're truly trying to create a future in which we've never seen before, it's going to take out of the box thinking. Another one of my previous directors would say, you know, nothing exciting or innovative happens in your comfort zone. And so I encourage people to get uncomfortable, right? Have the uncomfortable conversations, have the moments where you have to call people in, call people out.
00:24:58
Speaker
and be committed to that journey. But also, obviously, and I think I just want to say this, take care of yourself as well, right? It can be very exhausting to be on this equity journey, especially if you're doing it outside of your job for you to do it inside of your job as well. It is something that it can, like I said, take a lot out of you. But you have to have that sort of awareness and support system whether that looks like
00:25:22
Speaker
you know therapy or other mental health release to take care of yourself because the operationalizing it is when the sort of the rubber meets the road when you really start putting into practice what you've been saying and so accountability in addition to the things I mentioned also looks like we have an annual EDI report.
00:25:40
Speaker
right? It just was recently released. And so we wanted, we said, Hey, we put these statements out, we're doing the things. And now we want to show you all annually how we're doing those things and what progress we have made. And, and honestly, I can say as someone who works at this organization, it's truly astounding. It's, it's such an honor and a pleasure to be able to work
00:26:02
Speaker
for an organization that truly is committed not only in word on the internet or what you might see on social media, but I experience it every day in my job and in the work that I'm doing. It's so wonderful to hear you say all these things. Has it been a difficult process in terms of getting to where you are?
00:26:28
Speaker
because it sounds like a dream, right? The way that you explain it, it definitely takes the time and effort and amazing leadership, commitment, spreading out the work. What are those pain points? Because I know a lot of organizations get stuck in the, maybe in the training and they're like, okay, we did it, check, we're good.
00:26:56
Speaker
It's so exciting to hear that you all have moved past that and through that and you're having those honest conversations. What is that? What does it take to be able to do that? I mean, I think honestly, it starts at the application process, right? And having people that you recruit to the organization that are reflective of those values. We have recently had a huge shift in what
00:27:24
Speaker
you know, the employees of our organization. You know, we're now over half BMPOC. And through, I've been on many hiring panels where the questions are asked, the hard questions are asked, and you're able to see folks' responses.
00:27:41
Speaker
And then when you then join us internally, there are employee resource groups, there are affinity spaces that represent intersectional identities so that you can be a part of them feel supported. And so that those pain points can ideally
00:27:57
Speaker
be met, be minimized, harm can be minimized in those ways. And I think that's part of it as well, is just being accountable, but also it starts with the who of it, right? Who are you hiring into these positions? Is it truly a commitment to the work or is it something that someone wrote on a resume or a cover letter to just kind of get a fit in the door? I love that. That's such great advice and so important.
00:28:25
Speaker
Um, as we've all seen, um, for those listening who are not familiar with Ben pox, can you, uh, define that for us? Yeah. So Ben pox is black.
00:28:36
Speaker
indigenous, multiracial people of color. Yeah, so and you also I want to follow up, you asked me what are the what are the rewards? Right? What is the exciting part of this work? And I think it's, it's one that I sort of referenced in the beginning, that people enjoy coming to their jobs.
00:28:56
Speaker
you know, when I was an intern in Riverside, and I saw that staff were excited to come to work is because they feel seen valued and heard. And I think that is a huge reward. I'm able to one of the sort of the affinity spaces that I
00:29:12
Speaker
sort of coordinate at the organization is one for our Black staff, affectionately called the Onyx Crown Collective.
Equity in Hiring and Compensation at Food Corps
00:29:19
Speaker
And, you know, in times in this country, which is very often when things can be so tumultuous, it's great to be able to go to folks who have a shared experience and just laugh and just be together.
00:29:32
Speaker
in a workspace, right, because in work, you know, it's work and we're here, you know, we live in this society, but also there should be places where there's joy, and there's connection and you can be your authentic self. And so having an affinity group in a space where
00:29:49
Speaker
It's not determined by our executive team. It's not determined by this person, the equity department. It's truly whatever we want it to be. We get on there. We've watched movies together on election day or we've had an herbalism class. We did a class on financial freedom. And so there's just really a space where we can just
00:30:09
Speaker
be ourselves. And I think that is important as well. So that as much as you're doing the work you need to be putting into yourself. So that's a huge reward, right? To see my colleagues and to see us just being space and sharing space together in a way that feels very nourishing to our souls.
00:30:25
Speaker
I feel like we could have a whole podcast on affinity groups, but I won't even go there. I have just so much I could ask or say, or you hear people saying like, well, why do they get to have a group with this certain race or a certain group? But trust us, it's needed when you are in a society that you are not the majority and you don't necessarily see yourself or relate
00:30:54
Speaker
to everybody in the room. It does really help and provide that support. So thank you for naming that and mentioning that. And what advice would you give another organization who's maybe just starting this journey? How would they go about this maybe
00:31:19
Speaker
Just what is some advice you would give another organization who's maybe intimidated or maybe hasn't started or maybe they don't even know if they've started. Right. I mean, I would say.
00:31:31
Speaker
you know, if we look at the last few years that they taught us anything is that yes, trainings are really helpful, but it's when you get into the action planning of it. And so the sort of first stage of shifting was what we called just food core. And really just food core allowed us to look at all these various aspects of our organization from compensation to partnership, to geography, and within each category,
00:32:00
Speaker
there's a spectrum of change, right? So we might start here, which was a food core sleep, and how do we get to just food core, right? What are the various definitions along the way? What are the various checkpoints along the way that we can get closer to being just? And maybe it's something like that that your organization creates. What are those aspects? What are those, you know, what are the important,
00:32:28
Speaker
categories and themes and things that we want to hold up as an organization and talking to your people about them. We had our VP of Equity at the time went to office hours and staff calls, had one-on-ones with various teams and two-on-ones and everything that you can imagine to get a better understanding of where are we right now, right? Once we figure out where we are,
00:32:55
Speaker
and where we want to be, then let's start surveying people. And so there was all these surveys and they continue to survey throughout the years, right? How we gotten closer, where do you perceive us to be on this spectrum of change, right? And then again, shifting was drafted as a tool to help in that process, right? So if we're looking at compensation, for example, I was on about a nine month
00:33:20
Speaker
committee where we were readjusting and reevaluating our compensation strategy.
00:33:29
Speaker
So, you know, it was an interdepartmental team. It had folks from various sort of levels and steps in the organization, longevity and time at the organization. Some folks who had come from a corporate background, some folks who had been in schools, nonprofit, I mean, you know, all very representative of the organization. And it took us nine months to get there. And some may tell you that it took way too long. But as a participant in the group,
00:33:55
Speaker
it there was so much sort of level setting that we have during the very beginning and people's own lived experience around compensation right and from that we were able to come out with a new compensation strategy right a new matrix and and how folks were able to um you know see themselves in the organization because as much as we don't like to talk about the nonprofit space
00:34:17
Speaker
You have to eat. You need to be able to make money and provide for your family. And in the best cases provide generational wealth to your family as well. And so I think that's something that
00:34:32
Speaker
you know, we've often in sort of nonprofit and service communities within school food service.
Policy Adaptations for Equitable Work Conditions
00:34:38
Speaker
I know for sure, for sure, for sure, as far as the compensation and folks' time being valued is something that's huge. I mean, the amount of subs I would have to hire and tell them that, hey, I'm going to pay you eight, nine bucks, but, you know, if you wait just a month or so, I can get you full time of $15. And it's like, miss, I can't wait a month.
00:35:00
Speaker
And so is your organization, is your department looking at these things? And because that came about, you know, just to kind of give a little school food, really a winning story about compensation, particularly is that the time it took to be a sub was how you have to be a sub for X amount of time to kind of
00:35:20
Speaker
you know, make sure that you can do all the things. But the time that was previously outlined in the policy, it didn't make a whole lot of sense, right? Because the reality is if you've ever heard of school food, you can tell if somebody can do it or not within. Right.
00:35:34
Speaker
You know, seven, 14 days, right? It's, it's a pretty, um, you know, the special environment. And so we changed that time. We made a new policy and say, Hey, it's not, it doesn't take 60 days or 40 days or however long it was.
00:35:50
Speaker
to understand. That means it allowed a shorter time for that sub substitute for those listening in like Morgan, what's a sub for that substitute worker to become full time. That means they were able to get to that full time pay benefits in a short amount of time. That's equity. Yeah.
00:36:07
Speaker
Right. Why should they have time? Sorry to interrupt. Is that kind of like a trial time? Okay. Yeah. So with the sub, they're able to go to basically, Hey, you know, this school has called in because so and so called out, we need a substitute worker, similar to a teacher.
00:36:22
Speaker
Okay. Gotcha. But in the food service setting. And that's really for most school districts, that's their first entry, an employee's first entry into the department, unless they're hired a manager or something like that. But they start out as a sub and then can become a food service worker. So it's complicated. Yeah. That is so great that y'all have gone through this journey.
00:36:49
Speaker
And it sounds like, yeah, everything that you've talked about, the whole building trust, like that's, you know, it takes that time to really find out, to really listen. And that when, this is what I heard you say, when an organization really commits to this and really is interested, they will find the solutions. If you keep working at it and keep trying and you're not going to get it right the first time, that's okay. None of us is perfect.
Invitation to Join the Food Corps Network
00:37:19
Speaker
Morgan, it has been so great talking to you. I feel like we could talk for hours about so many things. But I do know that you have this full-time job that you're working at and doing such great work. So I just want to thank you so much for being a part of this time with us today for just joining us here at Share Strength.
00:37:43
Speaker
on the No Kid Hungry campaign and just sharing your experiences, your expertise, your knowledge, your wisdom. We really appreciate it. Thank you so much. And we will definitely be sharing these resources and the website, foodcorp.org and the social handles.
00:38:04
Speaker
I have one more thing I want to say to the listeners out there, if you don't mind. And, you know, we kind of touched on this a little bit during our conversation today. But I mentioned a network that we're building earlier on, and it's the food operators and leaders of color in schools or folks.
00:38:21
Speaker
So I mentioned it, but I wanted to also invite listeners today to also go, still go to foodcore.org, whether you want to apply to be a service member, look at our EDI report, or you want to join folks. If you're out there and you're a BIMPAC, a Black, Indigenous, multiracial person of color working in schools or working with schools,
00:38:41
Speaker
you can join folks and it's just fucor.org slash folks f-o-l-c-s and that is a group of folks that you know Jenny you mentioned this earlier about you know folks saying why is there a group just for these people why isn't there a group for me and you know so on and so forth and this group is knowing that there has been very um
00:39:03
Speaker
interesting, challenging history for certain folks in this country who have had a really, just because of systemic inequities, have had a challenging time in school food. And I am one of them.
00:39:18
Speaker
Despite that, it's important for us to nourish the next generation of leaders. And so this network is doing that. It connects our service members to alumni, to school nutrition professionals in the field, that through mentorship, networking, through professional development opportunities,
00:39:36
Speaker
can really live into like, hey, if you want a career in school food, if you want to be a director, a decision maker, there are opportunities out there because far too often we see our frontline staff who might be quote unquote represent of the communities. But those folks may not often sit in decision making seats and or even have the opportunity to progress.
00:39:56
Speaker
in a way that they want to because of various systemic barriers that are prohibiting them from doing that. And so, again, we encourage you to join our community. It's one that's blossoming into something very, very beautiful and unique.
Conclusion and Preview of Next Episode
00:40:09
Speaker
And we hope that you'll be a part of that journey with us. That is awesome. Thank you so much for sharing that. I can't even imagine when I was studying nutrition if I had these resources or this experience that I probably would have maybe stayed on the dietetics track
00:40:25
Speaker
Um, and not gone into public health, but then we wouldn't be sitting here today. I know who knows the future. Yes, it has. It has. Thank you again for your time and for all that you do. And thank you to food core. Thank you for joining us today. It has been such a delight talking with Morgan McGee from food core and hearing about their journey towards a more just food core.
00:40:51
Speaker
We learned about their incredible resource that they have created used to hold themselves accountable to centering equity, diversity, and inclusion, and in everything that they do. You can find the shifting resource at foodcore.org slash equity dash inclusion. And for more stories like these from No Kid Hungry, please visit us at bestpractices.nokidhungry.org slash equity.
00:41:22
Speaker
My name again is Janine Rios, and this audio resource was created with the expertise from our sound and editing guru, program manager, Chelsea McCormick, and with support from our managing director, Brianna Webster Campbell of the Center for Best Practices at Share Our Strength. Please stay tuned and join us next time when we're going to hear from Mireya Gomez-Contreras at Esperanza Community Farms.
00:41:51
Speaker
She's going to talk to us a little bit about their farm to cafeteria project and how they're striving to increase the vegetables at Bajaro Valley High School in Watsonville, California, which is largely a migrant and farming community. Stay tuned for more.