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Maurice Small

The Nominator: Brad Masi, New Agrarian Center

How has the nominee implemented sustainable business practices?
Maurice Small serves as the Coordinator of the City Fresh program, a social enterprise that seeks to improve local food access in inner-city neighborhoods in Lorain and Cuyahoga Counties. Because City Fresh is a community-based enterprise housed in a non-profit organization, it’s success as a social enterprise has been through the collaboration of multiple organizations and businesses and the coming together of multiple people (both urban and rural) who all played a role in making it happen. Maurice’s work as a community organizer played an essential role in enabling City Fresh to grow from four neighborhood Fresh Stop in 2006 to 17 in 2007. Shareholders have grown from about 80 families per week in 2006 to over 500 per week in 2007. Gross revenues or (in non-profit terms) earned income has grown from $25,000 in 2006 to over $120,000 in 2007. Maurice’s work as a community organizer has helped to create a new paradigm for non-profit organizations as social enterprises. The community organizing was the driver for opening up new markets for local food in urban neighborhoods, particularly areas where traditional food retailers have shut down operations. Maurice has exhibited an ability to work across boundaries, finding ways to blend the needs of rural farmers with the demands for urban neighborhoods to have access to the local foods needed to support a healthy diet. In addition to supplying local food at the neighborhood level, Maurice has helped to cultivate markets with Oberlin College, Case Western Reserve University, and the Great Lakes Brewing Company to increase local food access while reducing the costs of transporting food to neighborhoods in proximity to these markets. The Bon Appetite management company, which oversees accounts at Oberlin and Case, further provided containers of waste grease to be picked-up as food was delivered. Through this and other grease contributions, including grease from small vendors that operate at fairs or special events, all of the City Fresh distribution has been powered by vegetable oil, with over half of it coming from recycled restaurant grease. Maurice also coordinated a youth mentoring program that provided jobs for 10 Cleveland youth who assisted with a variety of urban garden projects across Cleveland. The youth also assisted with food distribution and Fresh Stop operations, gaining valuable skills in all aspects of running a sustainable food system.

What is the triple bottom line benefit (people planet prosperity) of the nominee`s work?
The work of Maurice has helped people by improving nutrition and local food access in inner-cities plagued with grocery store closures. He has helped the planet by implementing a fuel-system based on recycled waste grease while a the same time reducing the fuel miles and carbon impacts of long-distance food shipments. He has helped prosperity by improving economic opportunities for area farmers and opening up market opportunities in traditionally under-served areas.

How has the nominee inspired you to implement sustainable business practices?
Maurice along with the dozens of volunteers, youth, and staff that made City Fresh a new phenomenon in Northeast Ohio have created a social enterprise with high replication potential. In the early spring of 2007, only eight Fresh Stops were planned. The fact that another nine came on board throughout the growing season demonstrates the high replication potential of City Fresh to support self-managed, self-organizing networks that can improve food access through the strategic cultivation of social capital.

How can someone else translate the success of the nominee? Is the work an example or model that others can follow?
See above. Maurice has visited or hosted other “rust-belt cities”, working with initiatives in Youngstown, Detroit, Pittsburg, and Buffalo to learn from what others are doing and to share some of the successes of City Fresh.

How does the nominee actively participate in the sustainability community? How do they collaborate and share their knowledge with others?
Maurice regularly attends E4S events and circulates widely between rural farmers, urban farmers, youth, community organizations, businesses, and others.

Back to the List of 2007 Sustainability Champions Nominees