ENGAGE, DISCOVER, EXCHANGE, TRANSFORM, INSPIRE engage, discover, exchange, transform, engage, discover, exchange, transform, inspire..NININSPI
May 14, 2015
an evening with
Sam Polk
Wendy Slusser, MD and Hop Hopkins
in conversation with
Clare Fox
NUTRITION
Topic: Nutrition
Issues: Accessibility, Sustainability, Confusion, Equity
Presenters: Moderated by Clare Fox, expert presenters Sam Polk, Wendy Slusser, MD and Hop Hopkins will explore nutrition, sharing their insights and experiences, and offering hope for improved outcomes in the future.
For context and grounding – and not an absolute prerequisite for your attendance - click the link below to find a selection of suggested informative topical materials to read and/or watch, generously curated by our expert panel.
Suggested background materials
Sam Polk, Founder and Executive Director of Groceryships and a recovering Pancake Addict. He is a graduate of Columbia University and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, which he earned during his eight years as a bond and derivative trader for Bank of America, and King Street Capital Management. After leaving Wall Street in 2010, Sam spent the next few years writing a book and doing volunteer work in Los Angeles through organizations like My Friend’s Place and Aviva, before founding Groceryships. He speaks regularly at jails and juvenile detention centers about recovering from addiction, and is passionate about helping children.
Dr. Wendy Slusser is Associate Vice Provost of the Healthy Campus Initiative, HS Clinical Professor of Pediatrics in the School of Medicine and Public Health, and Co-Founder and Medical Director of the UCLA Fit for Healthy Weight program. She graduated Cum Laude from Princeton University, received her Medical and Masters Degree in Nutrition from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. She completed her internship and residency in Pediatrics at Babies Hospital, Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. Dr. Slusser joined the UCLA faculty in 1996 and since then has been a leader in community, school, clinic, and family based programs related to health promotion, infant and child nutrition and
physical fitness. Dr. Slusser is Board Certified in Pediatrics, a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and teaches UCLA Pediatric Residents and Public Health Students.
Hop Hopkins is a certified Arborist, a Master Gardener, has his Basic Permaculture Design Certificate and is a certified Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) instructor. He was born in Dallas, Texas and has been a Grassroots Environmental Justice Community Organizer in Seattle, WA, Portland, OR and Los Angeles, CA. He received his BA from New College of California as a graduate in the Culture Ecology & Sustainable Communities program. There he focused on natural building, ecological design and analyzing race and class within the Intentional Communities movement. He and his wife, Adalila Zelada-Garcia, homeschool their two daughters and co-founded PANTHER RIDGE FARM and the Outdoor School on a
1/4 acre of land inhabited with chickens, honey bees, and multiple compost piles.
Hop has been a Director for the Los Angeles Conservation Corps and the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust. Most recently Hop also sat on the California Council of Land Trusts initiative called Conservation Horizons. The year-long initiative met, discussed and developed a soon to be released report meant to help lead, shape, and offer pathways for the land trust community to remain relevant in the 21st century. Hop has also served as a Board Member for the Community Coalition for Environmental Justice, Western States Center and People’s College of Law. Presently, Hop sits on the Advisory Committee for the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, is a Board Member for Village Playgarden and an active member of the Urban Agriculture Working Group of the Los Angeles Food Policy Council.
Currently, he is in the start-up phase of launching a worker-run cooperative that analyzes and organizes to ameliorate the root causes of local hunger, poverty, and ecological degradation through community driven entrepreneurial ventures. Hop believes that life is not a competitive struggle and is driven by his vision to create a network of residential food forests in order to support the development of stable, human-scale solar self-reliant neighborhood communities integrated with cooperative local economies.
Clare Fox is the Director of Policy and Innovation for the Los Angeles Food Policy Council. She collaborates closely with a large network of public, private, non-profit and community sector representatives to catalyze projects and build leadership capacity for a sustainable and equitable food system in Southern California. Her policy areas focus on food access and equity, urban agriculture, street food vending, and food-anchored community economic development. Clare directs the Healthy Neighborhood Market Network, an initiative to bring business and leadership development opportunities and consulting to neighborhood markets in low-income communities who wish to sell more fresh and healthy food. In 2011, Clare co-created the
Community Market Conversion Program at the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles, and coordinated a four store pilot in South Los Angeles in partnership with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Previously, Clare worked on a wide range of community, environmental and labor organizations as a research, strategic planning and facilitation consultant, including projects for the UCLA Labor Center, the Los Angeles Community Garden Council and Green for All. For several years, Clare produced and taught radio production to young people throughout Los Angeles and the U.S. for Youth Radio and National Public Radio. Clare has a bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College and a Masters in urban planning from UCLA. All her work is informed by over a decade participating in grassroots movements for social and racial justice.