Will Allen

This week, food and gardening visionary Will Allen pays a visit to Seattle. Allen is the CEO of Growing Power, a Milwaukee-based non-profit organization that promotes urban agriculture as a pathway to both physical health and social justice. Early in his career as a farmer within the city limits of Milwaukee, Allen recognized that the health problems of urban populations are a direct result of limited access to safe and affordable fresh fruits and vegetables. He pioneered a novel approach to urban farming, using low-cost production and distribution technologies. His two-acre site in central Milwaukee now produces vast amounts of food, both produce and livestock, which feeds more than 10,000 people. Allen won a MacArthur Genius Award in 2008.

Will Allen arrives in Seattle on Feb 3. He will be at the Yesler Terrace Community Center as a special guest for a “Peoples’ Roundtable," a daylong series of events designed to help brainstorm ways that Seattle neighborhoods can improve their health, empower their residents and create access to healthy food. He later visits the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center to speak with youth leaders involved in the Food Empowerment Education & Sustainabilty Team (aka. FEEST). In the evening, Allen speaks for free at the Mercer Middle School Auditorium in Beacon Hill, leading a discussion on food, urban farming and food policy.

More info on Allen and the Seattle events here.