Episode 214: Agriculture Reentry Program and the Healing in Producing
About the Podcast
In this episode, Clancy speaks with Delphine Sellars, co-founder and Executive Director of UCAN (Urban Community AgriNomics). UCAN is a nonprofit that focuses on integrating agriculture into the wealth, health and well-being of urban communities. You won’t want to miss their discussion about UCAN and its fight against food insecurity. They also talked about bringing food resilience to people, the agriculture reentry program, and agriculture for incarcerated people. Listen and enjoy the show!
About Delphine Sellars
Delphine Sellars is the co-founder and Executive Director of UCAN (Urban Community AgriNomics). In 2016 she retired as Director of the Durham Center of North Carolina Cooperative Extension and Durham County Government departmental director. Before joining the Durham workforce, Mrs. Sellars served as Director of the Center for Employment Training (CET) an adult vocational education center, Social Worker focusing on youth and as assistant director of an Adult Nonviolence Pre-release facility. Currently, she serves on the boards of the Eno River Association and is a partner, collaborator and advisor to several organizations and groups involved in increasing food security, access, and the environment to include land stewardship, and abating climate change.
Discussion Takeaways
- The purpose of UCAN is to increase food security and build resilience.
- Being food resilience means teaching people how to grow their food, so they do not create a dependence on someone else or others.
- People need to know that regardless of their circumstances, they are valued as human beings, no more, no less and they deserve to be treated with such dignity.
- The agriculture reentry program is for people who are formerly incarcerated and they have an interest in agriculture. With this program, they work with these people for three years and teach them everything about agriculture.
- Research shows that there is healing in producing and working with the soil and working with your hands. It brings life to the person and brings back a sense of joy.
- Food dignity is access to the nearest grocery store and being able to talk about your cultural food preparations and practices.
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Each week on the Food Dignity® Podcast, the Food Dignity® Movement’s Clancy Harrison hosts a wide variety of hunger experts and other people making changes on the frontlines. Join us as we dive deep into conversations that will change the way you think about food insecurity.
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