What was your involvement with Mikva?

My involvement with Mikva was during my sophomore year in High School when I went with Mikva Challenge DC to the Iowa Caucus. It was preceded by a few months of training on what the Iowa Caucus was, how to use your voice for change, then it [culminated] to a final trip to Iowa with students from DC and Chicago. We went to campaign, canvas, and meet candidates. 

Later that summer I participated in Summer Fellows with the DC Council. It was an amazing experience for me. I worked with former council member David Grosso. I got to work on policy, media, marketing, and even got to sit on the dais with him. It was an incredible experience all thanks to Mikva.

Did your experience with Mikva impact the way you are involved in your community? Did it influence what you chose to do professionally?

Yes. I took the phrase “Democracy is a verb” to mean that you can be the change you want to see in your community. Whether that is in a political way or doing action to create change. Currently I am the president and co-founder of The Community Grocer, a non-profit that’s addressing food insecurity and promotes food justice in neighborhoods that are impacted by food apartheid. It was kind of those same values from Mikva, where you can be the change you want to see in the world if you take action. That's kind of what led me to this work and allows me to continue with that mission of using my voice at just 22 years old to change thousands of people’s lives.

What inspired you to address the food insecurity issue in that community?

Throughout college, I was volunteering in a neighborhood called Tasker just a few miles from the University of Pennsylvania campus. It was a completely different world from the University of Pennsylvania. It was a food desert. There are no grocery stores within walking distance, 85% of people are living below the poverty line, and most people in that community are on food stamps.

I was volunteering there on a daily basis during the height of the pandemic. We were working with another nonprofit that would pass out these USDA food boxes every Monday from the street corner. It was about 600 boxes of raw ingredients, including potatoes, onions, yogurt, cheese, and big bulk items that didn’t convert into a recipe. We were talking with people every Monday on the streets and asking them: What is their experience with the food? Do you like these boxes? What are you looking for? 

We kept hearing a few things: 1. I work three jobs. I don’t have a working kitchen. Raw ingredients are hard for me to use. 2. I don’t have the time to cook. 3. They don’t come with any seasoning and they don’t lead to recipes, so they don’t make sense. 

So, we asked people what they were looking for. People said they have a ton of food stamps, but nowhere to spend it. There is no grocery store in the neighborhood, so they were going to local corner stores that mostly sell chips and soda. 45% of food stamps are spent on things like chips and soda. It was really these conversations that got myself and my business partner thinking – as well as the community members we were working with – how can we use food stamps for healthy meals. Because every time we are talking to people, they say I want a healthy meal. 

There is no Cava, no Chipotle, there is no Sweet Green, and none of that is affordable in this neighborhood. And that is where the vision for Community Grocer came to life. We are using food stamps for what eventually becomes a hot meal. We are creating that in the community within walking distance. That’s our model and what we’ve been working on.

We know that you are a student from DC, what decision lead you to support the community in Philadelphia?

It was these two people who are neighborhood legends and community activists at Tasker. They do a youth sports league, coat handouts, and work with the food program and now they are our partner organization in this journey. It was really their experience, and through people we met, like their families, that we wanted to partner and help. Our dream is open our first store in Philly, which happens in about 9 months. And we’re hoping to have 3 to 4 more stores in Philly. We’re going to be expanding all over the Northeast quarter with Southeast DC being the next stop for us in the future.

We are reinventing the grocery store, making sure that all the items are accessible via food stamps. We will have prepared meal kits, that can then be cooked in the community kitchen of our partner organization to lead to a hot meal.

What advice would you give current Mikva students?

Take advantage of the program. The programs and opportunities are incredible. I was just 16 years old working at City Council and sitting on the dias, implementing policy, and giving the Councilmember my ideas on what our government needs and local community needs are.

Use your voice. You can do anything. No matter what your age is, if you believe in it and you’re passionate about it, you reach out for help, and use your resources, such as Mikva, to make it happen, you can really do anything. Age is not a barrier to change!