Jesse James
Real Food Challenge Organizing Director
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As the National Organizing Director for Real Food Challenge, Jesse (they/them) brings a passion for connection, a trust in the power of youth, and belief in a viable, vibrant future for all! They work with college students across the country to understand food systems and organize for change. Jesse also leads collaboration and partnership with other changemakers and organizations, envisioning an interconnected movement with students advancing collective goals.
Before joining RFC, they spent over a decade working for small organic farms and producers in the Ohlone territory of the Monterey Bay in California. They know the joy and nourishment of sharing food grown locally with care, as well as some of the complicated dynamics of growing, promoting, and selling. They also have decades of experience organizing in different communities, including facilitating teen summer camps, convening unsettling settler colonialism groups, hosting queer community events, and much more.
They are a happy parent of two little humans, love gardening, games, and biking. Jesse brings creativity, curiosity, and a passion for change to their work!
Real Food Calculation at University of New Hampshire
Campus food systems can be an incredibly engaging entry point for activating student sustainability leadership, and assessing the state of food purchasing on a higher education campus is essential for STARS as well as other campus sustainability commitments. Yet tracking and reporting on institutional food procurement can also be burdensome and complicated. The Sustainability Institute at the University of New Hampshire and the Real Food Challenge have both developed tools and led organizing efforts to help tackle this challenge over the past two decades.
This year, they’ve teamed up to road test and align new tools and resources for campus dining and students: the updated Real Food Calculator, which reflects the 3.0 Real Food Standards, as well as new functionality and data sets for tracking the carbon footprint of campus dining in SIMAP.
This session will shed light on the process of working with the Real Food Calculator, and how it can align and complement SIMAP food datasets and functionality. It will offer a roadmap as well as reflections for how students and sustainability offices on other campuses can meaningfully assess their food data–and then use the insights generated from that analysis to further their long-term campus Sustainability objectives.
It will be helpful for campus staff looking for alternative pathways for STARS food reporting, and for students interested in understanding and participating in their campus food procurement.
Jesse James
Real Food Challenge Organizing Director
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