If you’re in the non-profit space, what do you have to do to jump through the hoops and get funded on your project that will help your community? This is the question I asked Ted Johnson today.
Ted leads an incubator that helps push these projects to get funded and we go through multiple scenarios on how to get community projects funded.
This includes things I’ve never known. Some examples include ethnic based sororities and fraternities, kickstarters and go-fund-me’s.
Other topics we talk about that are super interesting is the complexities of Food Deserts and the power of writing. We really stress the importance that everyone should learn to write and the best way to do it? Start a blog!
About Ted
Theodore R. Johnson is a senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice. Prior to joining the Brennan Center, Dr. Johnson was a national fellow at the New America Foundation, where he undertook projects on black voting behavior and the role of national solidarity in addressing racial inequality. Previously, he was a Commander in the United States Navy and, most recently, a research manager at Deloitte.
You can read more about Ted here.
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Show Notes
What do you tell people in a sentence or less: I study racial disparities and the implications those disparities have on public policy
What do you do in the food realm?: There’s tons of data showing that communicates with less access to food have less access to healthy food. It’s hard to get a fresh piece of fruit in a food desert
Food Desert: A geographic area where there is no access to fruit and evegtables. Healthy foods are not accessable. They form because grocery stores don’t find it economical to set up in poor neighborhoods
How do you prevent food deserts?: The federal government has to get involved and the solution might be to give grants to innovative projects
Urban Gardening
Uber, Lyft, Airbnb: Sharing Economy
How do people get funding for their projects?: there are a lot of places that want to invest in solutions
Idea: Combining free breakfast and food trucks. This removes the pain point for kids on free lunch can get food right at their house and remove the stigma of free lunch.
How to Get Funding
Angel Investment and Community Crowdfunding helps a ton
Black Fraternities and Sororities are actually one of the best ways to get funding as they are lifelong community activists
Every culture has their way of giving back to the community. For example, Hispanics send money back to their homeland. Hispanic and South East Asians can pool community resources extremely well.
Ted, what role do you play in this?: I’m at the federal level. I identify problems and find solutions and find the natural fit for the agency or policy maker. I put the human element in. I try to close the wage gap.
Is that hard?: Super hard. It’s because of the politics. The decision makers think “how does this benefit me?”
Can you describe the steps it took to get you where you are today?: Math major, ended up in the Navy in cyber security. Was a whitehouse fellow. During that time, I saw a lot of disparities in the black community so I focused the rest of my career on that. I spent my last few years in service getting my PhD in Public policy
The Lesson in all of this: It’s NEVER too late to change yourself
What is the most important skill you need for your job?: Writing. It’s a really effective way to communicate a complex problem to people who can build support. There is a talent to write short, long and book-length content. All are important. For me, I try to write lived experience. Not just data, stories
Writing is a muscle. Start a blog. It gets your name out there.
What is what you do important for the food system?: It impacts the global food supply because it makes food cheaper and people should be getting it. A lot of the food that grows is, unfortunately, going to processed food.
How will the future change or be impacted by what you do?: If we figure this out, resources will be freed up to help us do more things. If people live higher quality lives and we get more talent, we can improve every aspect of our society.
How has science and technology impact what you do?: Yield. The more food we have, the more it will help with our cause
How will artificial intelligence change what we do in food and agriculture: It will free up a lot of mundane tasks and will help us make better decisions by recognizing problems we’d never discover.
How can what you do help us as cities: The only ways companies will do things is if you buy more stuff. For example, if a chicken is free ranged, they will plaster it everywhere. We have to do the same with food disparity.
Do you have any advice for anyone who wants to get into food policy?: Be specific. Find that passion in that discipline and go from there.
Where can we find you: TheodoreRJohnson.com Everything is there. I talk about cybersecurity, racial security, everything.