Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sara Continenza. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Food Strong: A nonprofit 501c3 organization serving Northeast Ohio.

Vision: We are building a world where fresh foods are widely accessible and appreciated, and where we are all readily able to lead healthy, high-quality lives. We plan to increase access to local foods to about 50% in the Greater Cleveland area. We also hope that every school will have a vibrant breakfast and lunch feeding program.

Mission: Our mission is to use fresh food as a tool to educate, empower and cultivate health across Northeast Ohio.

Values: We utilize nutritious, locally-sourced foods as the common ingredient to:
– Create and bring people together in vibrant atmospheres
– Educate and empower communities to adopt healthier lifestyles
– Support economic growth and economic development
– Inspire the consumption and cultivation of healthy local food amongst low-income youth across the region

Programs:
– School Gardens and Culinary Arts Programming: We go into schools and other institutions to guide young learners through the process of planning, building, planting, maintaining, and harvesting fresh food, herb, and native flower gardens. We emphasize STEM, the arts, environmental and community stewardship, nutrition, and entrepreneurship. We also teach our students how to cook healthy food from scratch. We focus on promoting minimally processed whole foods and teaching by showing that healthy food can be inexpensive, quick to prepare, and delicious.
– Youth Entrepreneurship: We fold the concept of entrepreneurship and food-based businesses in all of our educational programming. We also offer a series of workshops th teach our youth business skills such as marketing, financial literacy, elevator pitches, and product development. We bring in mentors from a variety of seatctors to inspire, support, and educate our students whenever possible. As we assist with business incubation, we will keep a portion of sales revenue for the first few years before we phase out.
– Food Strong Learning Garden: This is our urban farm located at our partner organization’s site, the Coit Road Farmers Market. We use this space to host field trips and learning experiences and use the food we grow in our culinary education. We also allow our students to help to sell freshly-grown produce at farmers’ markets to gain valuable entrepreneurial skills.
– Care-A-Van: This community initiative brings people together to eat, learn about, and support local foods in vibrant, multicultural atmospheres. We create linkages to a holistic array of vital community health and wellness programs and services provided by participating partner organizations.
– Care Strong Project: This partnership with the Case Physician Assistant program and University Hospitals Department of Family Medicine brings free health screenings, education, and information to clients of emergency feeding programs. Clients are incentivized with PPE, health products, and coupons to spend at nearby farmers’ markets.
– Farmers’ Markets: We partner with different community development groups and municipalities to bring farmers’ markets to life. In 2020 and 2021 we partnered with the Flats East Bank to support, recruit for, and promote the new Market. We also partnered with the City of South Euclid to launch a new weekly community farmers’ market.
– Vacant Lot Restoration Initiative: This is our newest endeavor. We are partnering with the Rid-All Green Partnership and Cuyahoga County to guide community groups through turning vacant spaces into vibrant agricultural and gathering spaces.
– Fresh Food Connect: This is an anti-food waste app that assists in the redistribution and allocation of excess locally grown food sourced from small-scale home gardeners. We use food obtained through this app to supplement our school culinary arts program as well as distribute the food to students in our program for them to take home and share with their families.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Everyone goes through challenging times. In fact, 2020 was a year that everyone struggled through. I am no different. The uncertainty caused by a pandemic can be very fearsome. As an extrovert, it was extremely difficult for me to have so few social options in which to participate. On top of that, in August 2020, I was brutally mauled by a vicious dog that ripped open my face and almost killed me. I am still not fully healed emotionally or physically from that experience. Also in 2020, Food Strong was working with a consulting company that had offered pro-bono marketing and organizational assistance to help us grow. Unfortunately, there were numerous conflicts that arose with the team that this firm sent our way. It got to the point where I felt unwanted by my own organization- all because of the dynamic that was created with the team. 2020 ended with just 2 members left of our board, as everyone else parted ways due to the negative environment created by this outside entity claiming to help us. I thought Food Strong was done. The whole year was one of the most challenging times of my life.

In order to survive as I built Food Strong from the “ground up,” I put extra rooms in my home up for rental on Air BnB. I also paid myself from the school garden contracts I had been getting. Food Strong, still a baby organization at the time, also relied upon these contracts to survive. When the lockdowns occurred, Food Strong was in a difficult spot. Our bread and butter was forced to cease for a while. However, as most organizations stopped or went fully remote, I pressed on. I got unemployment benefits to pay bills. Food Strong was gifted a large plot of land at the urban farm across the street from our partner organization, the Coit Road Farmers Market, where we offer our monthly Care-A-Van program. The Market is located in the very underserved City of East Cleveland, a community that currently has zero grocery stores. Children in that area are heavily reliant upon school feeding programs to survive. These programs stopped during lockdowns. There were some pickup points for parents to get meals for their children, but if they worked during the day, lacked transportation, or didn’t care enough, the food was inaccessible. Children in these communities suffered harder than most during these times. Hunger spiked, and mental health tanked. I couldn’t stand by and wait for times to change. So I worked with my Food Strong family to pivot our garden programming and turn our donated plot of land into a Learning Garden. We brought in our students from a neighboring school which closed permanently a couple of weeks after the lockdown started. This kept our already traumatized students from even being able to say goodbye to one another. So, we created a space for them to safely gather outdoors to garden. They were able to bring home this produce, and they were given meaningful, educational activities to participate in when they would otherwise have had none. This garden therapy also helped me and my mental health as I navigated one of the most traumatic, stressful years of my life. I stayed positive throughout all of this, and now we still have our Learning Garden and have expanded to 12 additional school and community sites. Our board has been rebuilt, and it is now stronger than ever.

2020 taught me who to trust. It taught me to be flexible and creative…to pivot when challenged, not give up. It taught me to be a stronger leader and not to crack under pressure.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

As I have grown as an entrepreneur and Executive Director, I continue to refine my leadership strategies. I am blessed to have built a team of passionate, kind, professional leaders. As a small nonprofit, I am unable to pay these amazing people what they are worth…but they still offer their time, passion, and professionalism to our movement. I do whatever I can to create a positive work environment where my staff feels valued…and heard. I am by no means a perfect leader- I take on too much, can be disorganized, and can get overwhelmed. But when a team member mentions a concern or offers feedback, I do my best to listen and make improvements. Flexibility is also key- when someone works extra hours, I make sure they get them back- either by taking time off another day, or taking back PTO or sick days. I want them to know that I value their time, and would never try to take advantage as many employers of salaried staff have done. I also feed my team whenever possible, and do whatever I can to show them how much I value them and what they bring to our Food Strong family.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.foodstrong.org
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/foodstrongcle
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/foodstrongcle
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/69438729/
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/foodstrongcle
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsc2eH7xX5ZpNK9CRcjdlXg
• Other: tik tok: foodstrongcle