Care for Creation with Transit

As a Catholic University, St. Thomas seeks to cultivate an ethic of care for God’s creation through sustainable stewardship of our resources. We know that decreasing reliance on the automobile is one element of this ethic. As more students and employees embrace transit, we reduce our collective carbon footprint and relieve pressure on our limited parking resources as well.

So St. Thomas has many reasons to celebrate our partnership with Metro Transit, including the new offer of discounted College Passes for incoming students announced in this newsletter. We expect that more students will take advantage of the unlimited transit access that College Pass provides, and the creation will be better for it.

Doug Hennes, Vice President for Government Relations and Special Projects

University of St. Thomas

Meet New C3 Fellows Director Clyde Brotherson

Clyde BrothersonWhen it came time to find a new director for the Central Corridor College (C3) Fellows Program, Yvette Trotman knew the position required someone special. Minneapolis Community and Technical College’s (MCTC) Dean of Nursing, Health Sciences and Public Services, Trotman sought a person who understands the mission of connecting the classroom to careers. Clyde Brotherson appears to be the answer to Trotman’s prayers.

Brotherson has served as an instructor in MCTC’s Central Services Technician program during the last two years. “Clyde really stands out because he makes it his business to find relevant jobs for all of his students,” noted Trotman.

Classroom to Career Connections

Brotherson’s strong understanding of the health care world comes from years spent in health care management, including positions as Operations Manager of Central Processing Center at Fairview Hospital, University of Minnesota Health Service; Reprocessing Department Manager at Regions Hospital; and Manager of Central Processing Department at Children’s Hospital.

Brotherson has found professional satisfaction teaching at MCTC the skills he learned during his career in health care. “It is fascinating to be in both the management of health care programs and to get to help prepare students for those careers,” he reflected. C3 Fellows is the next step for Brotherson in fostering employer relationships to find students jobs in their field of study on a larger scale. “I am excited about what this program can do for many students,” he commented.

Building on C3 Fellows’ Success

C3 Fellows connects college students in the Central Corridor with entry-level jobs in their area of interest at CCAP health care partners. This program has been immensely successful – it has matched nearly 250 students with paid field placements, and these students earn an average of $14 per hour, $6 more than Minnesota’s minimum wage. As of March 2017, 249 students were working in related fields and 231 of those positions were paid.

Brotherson will spend the next few weeks participating in an orientation process during which he will meet college partners at two year colleges MCTC and Saint Paul College and four year colleges Augsburg College, Bethel University, Metropolitan State University, and St. Catherine University. He looks forward to making student connections during the fall semester and to building relationships with staff at partner colleges. Brotherson also sees considerable opportunity to foster deeper relationships with health care employers to support the ongoing success of the program.

 “It is amazing that so many health care partners are reaching out to be a part of an opportunity like this,” Brotherson observed. “I am excited about this opportunity and know I will find it to be challenging because there is so much that needs to be done.”

HealthEast's Local Food Procurement

Earlier this year, HealthEast took advantage of a new contract with its food supplier Sodexo to connect the national food services corporation with The Good Acre, a local food hub adjacent to the Central Corridor.

This innovative connection is setting off a chain recreation among CCAP health care partners interested in securing regional prosperity through increasing spend with local businesses, and may promise longer term local spend opportunities for other CCAP partners. Health care partners have an opportunity to shift 5% of their spend to local vendors and producers through this model of working with large food supply companies on strategic procurement.

Partnering Around Local Food Purchasing

The Central Corridor Anchor Partnership has long identified local food as a priority focus for increasing local spend. All partners operate some level of food service for students, staff, or patients, and recognize that there is an abundance of locally produced food in our region. Increasing the amount of local food purchased takes collaboration over time, due to the structure through which our partners make food purchases. Most partner institutions utilize outside food service managers like Sodexo, Aramark and A’viands. Any increase in local purchasing must first go through these companies’ large national supply chains. 

With HealthEast’s leadership, Sodexo began exploring how to purchase Minnesota-grown produce through The Good Acre, a non-profit food hub formed to reimagine how food and community is created and shared in the Twin Cities.  “The value in investing in local food purchasing is that our patients, employees, and community all benefit,” noted John Swanholm, Vice President of Community Advancement at HealthEast and Executive Director of the HealthEast Foundation. “Our patients and employees want local, healthy food options, and our community benefits from our spending these dollars locally.”

The pioneering work by HealthEast and Sodexo in opening this supply chain has spurred similar investment by CCAP’s other health care partners. Regions/HealthPartners and Fairview are working to purchase more local produce through Sodexo, an opportunity enabled through Sodexo’s partnership with The Good Acre. The local food hub sub-contracts with immigrant, low-income, and independent farmers, including the Hmong American Farmers Association. There are typically 40 farmers supplying in a given season. The Good Acre, working as a broker of sorts, will supply Sodexo with two peak-season vegetables per month during the upcoming spring, summer, and fall 2017 growing seasons.  Early plans call for Sodexo to buy more than 8,000 pounds of local produce through The Good Acre—a total value of approximately $20,000. The Good Acre has also begun discussions with U.S. Foods, which contracts with some health care partner institutions.

“Ideally, HealthEast’s experience with Sodexo and The Good Acre will provide a framework for other partners as they continue to expand their focus on local purchasing,” said Swanholm.

A Hub for Food Connections

The Good Acre, which opened in fall 2015, is a key partner in this work. Modeled as a central space for local food dialogue and distribution, with a mission of enhancing how food is grown and shared in the Twin Cities, the organization supports several needs in the food community while advancing education about and access to locally-grown produce in the Twin Cities. “We help farmers get to the level of wholesale production while paying them a fair price, without overwhelming buyers with the higher price of local goods,” said Rhys Williams, Executive Director of The Good Acre. “Institutions are an ideal target for our farmers’ produce.”

The facilities and warehouse infrastructure of The Good Acre include food transport options, cooler and freezer storage, and sorting, packing, and wholesale distribution resources. The organization also operates a multi-farm community supported agriculture (CSA) program with over 450 members and a hands-on teaching kitchen and classroom. “Our mission is to improve the market for small farmers,” said Williams. “That’s our goal. We do everything through that lens.”

The local food purchasing program has the potential to grow in future years as more farmers meet the stringent food safety requirements of health care, and eventually, education institutions.

A Dynamic Commercial Kitchen 

The Good Acre’s commercial kitchen space was originally intended to serve as a teaching area for farmers who wanted to preserve their product. “Farmers are busy farming,” said Nick Mabe, Manager of Warehouse Logistics and Sales at The Good Acre. “Farmers don't have time to preserve product during the season when they're growing and selling it.”

The Good Acre has about ten food makers in the space right now who are looking to source more product. “We focus on local, produce-heavy food makers such as kimchi makers, salsa makers, and chutney makers,” said Mabe. Emily Paul, Program Director of The Good Acre, quickly converted the space into a teaching kitchen to the public as well as a space for food makers.

The Good Acre does not itself prepare or process food, but many institutional accounts buy a significant amount of prepared or processed food. The non-profit is working on a pilot program to determine if it can develop the capacity to begin food processing activities. “A lot of the processors in the area go fresh, but they're not using a large amount of local produce due to variability, quantity, consistency,” noted Mabe. “We're trying to bridge that gap for them.”

The commercial kitchen runs two to five cooking classes each week, partnering with chefs from around the Metro area. “We just had Chris Uhrich from Mucci’s come in and teach a class about making gnocchi, fettuccini, and other Italian signatures,” commented Mabe. In the coming weeks, The Good Acre has Sara Johannes from Top Chef, Heidi Skoog from Serious Jam, and Restaurant Alma coming in to teach cooking classes to the public.

The classes are provided at a more affordable price point and many are geared toward seasonal produce and products that The Good Acre supplies from partner farms. Classes range from basic knife skills to a three-day, adult cooking class boot camp. They also offer cooking classes for teens and children ages five to eight. For companies interested in corporate events, The Good Acre can provide meeting space and a unique team activity. “If a company wants to get off-site for a few hours, they can have a meeting in our conference space and then do a team building exercise,” said Mabe. “We can have them come in, teach a recipe, and have them work on it together.”

The Good Acre recently partnered with Lakewinds Food Co-op for a maker-to-market program. “Lakewinds had some different products they were looking to source and source locally but found some holes in the market,” explained Mabe. “There are food makers out there that need some assistance scaling up to sell to co-ops and other institutions.” Out of 25 applicants, Lakewinds selected four. Lakewinds is helping these food makers with marketing, price points, and sourcing, while The Good Acre is providing distribution and distribution advice.

By partnering around local food purchasing, providing a hub for food connections, and developing a dynamic commercial kitchen space, The Good Acre is bringing farmers, food makers, and communities together using a sustainable approach.