Q: Tell us about you, and the organization you lead.

I am Chef Shanita, I’m from Kansas City and I run The Prospect KC.

We are a culinary workforce development program, and so we focus on workforce development, food access, and nutritional literacy.

Q: What’s it like to have a community that you can count on?

I came to REDF in a different space than some of the people in my cohort, as a founder of an organization and not necessarily an employee of an already established organization.

So, being in community with people who have different best practices and different experiences was validating for me, because some of the stuff that you encounter, you’re like, “Gosh, I don’t know how to do that.”

It also helped me deal with my imposter syndrome, because when you start something, you feel like, “Who am I to try to change the dynamic or the economic field of the area around me? What is my expertise to do that?”

And then you get to be surrounded by people who are as passionate and as innovative [as you], and encountering some of the same things that you are encountering and approaching it from a different way. I always leave from these encounters feeling validated and revived because so much of our work when we get home is, “OK, put my head down, I’ve got to do the thing.” You rarely get to come up for air.

When you’re in the Accelerator, you spend seven months with people having these very vulnerable and intimate interactions and conversations. Particularly for me as a person who’s super introverted, this process helps you build a very authentic relationship.

And so, when you face a challenge – because we have faced a lot of challenges over the last few years – these are people that you can go back to. And you know that if it’s tough, they’re going to tell you! Because you guys have been in this space with each other, sharing the most intimate parts of your experience together, that what they share is in love and care for what you’re experiencing. Maybe they’ve experienced it too, or if they haven’t experienced it, they have a different viewpoint of what you’re going through. But they understand your passion and your humanity, and they’re candid with you about the things that you’re going through.

Q: What advice would you give to other leaders in the ESE space?

I think the thing that I’ve seen with people who are starting in this space new is they have somehow divorced themselves from the fact that they’re not much different from the individuals or the population that they’re serving. And I don’t think that you can really serve unless you’re ready to acknowledge that you’re on equal footing.

I’m not any better or are above the people that I’m that I’m working with. I’ve just learned how to navigate through it a little bit differently, but I’m not any better. So, I think if you’re coming into this thinking, I have something to teach, not like I have something to learn and share… then it’s going to be a bit of a struggle.

Our case manager always says, “You’re not going to know that you’re triggered by the work until you’re triggered by the work.” Every time I’m working with a new group of cohorts in our program, I always discover a little something more about myself and my experience.

More on The Prospect KC

The Prospect KC is an Accelerator alum, REDF Impact Investing Fund (RIIF) loan recipient, and a nonprofit based in Kansas City, Missouri, working to address food justice in the city’s Eastside neighborhood.

The Prospect KC runs a cafe and catering business, through which it hosts a culinary training program, employing those striving to overcome barriers, particularly people who have a history of homelessness or unstable housing.