1. Give a brief introduction of yourself. What was your path to the position of CEO/President of Healthy Day Partners?
Hello! My name is Mim Michelove. I’m the CEO and President of the San Diego-based nonprofit Healthy Day Partners (HDP). We have been creating and elevating educational garden and farm programs for over a dozen years. We are probably best known for establishing the first certified organic school farm in the country growing food for its own District Lunch Program. Our focus has been on the integration of school gardens and farms into general classroom education as well as helping to improve school lunches, the health of our communities, and the health of the planet by advocating for and teaching about the importance of food grown and sourced as close to our plates as possible. Since 2018, I have been focused on bridging the gap in access to healthy food by empowering people in low-income and marginalized communities to grow food for themselves, their families, and the community. We also empower home gardeners to donate their excess produce to help nourish neighbors in need. When I’m not working (which is rare these days) you can find me growing my own food in my small but mighty front yard garden.
2. What do you do in a typical week?
My weeks are packed with running several of our local hunger relief programs, writing grants, attending meetings, identifying collaborative partners, managing volunteers, going on supply runs, honing my crafts, and endlessly learning new things – both in and out of my career. For our Grab & Grow Gardens program, I work with volunteers 2 or 3 days a week to seed, grow, pack, and distribute organic garden kits to food-insecure folks. We distribute these kits through local hunger relief agencies like Feeding San Diego. For our Homegrown Hunger Relief program, we currently set up 7 donation stations a couple of days a week to empower home gardeners to help end local hunger by donating their excess bounty. We bring fresh food to local feeding programs that operate as close to where the food is grown as possible. Healthy Day Partners also manages SDG&E’s Healthy Communities Fruit Tree Program which donates fruit trees to low-income schools and community gardens that help to increase access to healthy food for all. All HDP programs look for new approaches to addressing issues around health, climate, and justice.
3. What specific problems of the food justice movement is your organization trying to address?
So many food justice issues are connected so I can’t prioritize this list. HDP addresses ending local hunger by moving toward a food system that grows food when and where it is needed. This means increasing the number of local farms, community gardens, and home gardens. This also means sharing the food that we have. We waste 35-40% of our food while 25% of our community doesn’t know where their next meal will come from. That is not acceptable. So, we have enough food – but the system does not distribute it equitably. A local and just food system eliminates the need for much of the resource mismanagement of the current food system. We can relearn how to eat seasonally and locally to eliminate global transportation of out-of-season foods, we can also reduce the massive amounts of warehousing, cooling, and packaging of our food. And there would be an opportunity to grow regeneratively to create healthy soils, eliminate toxic chemicals in our food, and have cleaner air, groundwater, and drinking water.
4. How does your work fit into the broader movement for food equity and justice?
Creating a healthier local food system ensures healthy food for all which translates into more than increased access to healthy food. Healthy food and healthy habits help reduce chronic disease disproportionally seen in marginalized populations and low-income neighborhoods. Everyone’s health is of critical importance to public health, community resilience, and overall quality of life for all.
5. What are the greatest strengths and challenges of your particular work in the movement?
I think that Healthy Day’s greatest strengths are the ability to innovate, collaborate, and successfully pioneer original projects.
Our greatest challenges are 1) Being seen as too small of an organization by funders who look at budgets instead of successes, impact, and the potential of original thinking. 2) Being perceived as pushing too hard and/or too quickly to make the real and lasting change that must be made to create a healthier and more just world – starting in our own communities.
6. What keeps you going? Why do you get involved? Can you tell me a story that sums up the experience?
This is an intriguing question because my work is an extension of myself. I am appalled that we allow hunger in this world - in any society. I just keep moving forward because I have to. I want to be helpful. I want to help improve my community in whatever way I can.
7. Thinking about the future, how concerned are you about food insecurity in the coming years? Is there anything you think the community could be doing now to plan for future food insecurity?
In my mind, the idea of food security is a fairytale. How can we be food secure if the food system is not at least somewhat in the hands of the people? Global conglomerates just can’t control everything and then say the supply chain is failing. We need to create local food supplies again. We need to plant food in our front yards, on city corners, at every school, and on public land.
8. What is your best piece of advice for students who want to be involved with food equity and justice in their communities?
I’m not sure I’m qualified to give advice…but…I would say be willing to roll up your sleeves and get your hands in the dirt. Learn what it takes to grow food on a small and large scale if you want to help the movement. Use your individual skills to help improve your community. Find your collaborators. Don’t be afraid of standing up for your values, and trying something that hasn’t been done before – that’s the only way to make real change.
9. Would you like to share any fun miscellaneous facts about yourself?
I never answered your question about my career path. It could not be more convoluted. Though it is a lesson in chasing your passion, curiosity, and personal values. For many years, I was a celebrity photographer working with musicians, artists, national magazines, and record companies. Then, my interests brought me into the world of welding and blacksmithing where I created lamps and furniture for movies and TV shows. My next foray was into family life and parenthood. At some point, I became passionate about improving my community by creating gardens and farms that have the power to elevate education and community health. Now, I find myself happiest when focusing all of my knowledge and life experience on teaching others how to grow food, and finding ways to end hunger – one garden and one community at a time.
Mim distributing the Grab & Grow Gardens®️bags at the Produce Pantry at Feeding San Diego. It is on the first and third Saturdays of the month. Address: 9477 Waples St. Ste. 100 San Diego, CA 92121.