Milk Not Jails - Change the prison system by eating more ice cream!

Website

www.milknotjails.org

Describe yourself, your project and how you’ll pull it off.

We all want an awesome food system. But what about an awesome food system that can also, in turn, make other systems awesome? Milk Not Jails is working to end upstate New York's economic dependence on the prison system. In New York State, as well as nationally, the vast majority of prisons are built in rural areas. In fact, 90% of New York's prisons are in rural towns, even though the majority of people in prison come from New York City. This created an unhealthy urban-rural relationship. Prisons are a major part of the rural economy, and the guards union and the politicians who represent them block improvements to the prison system because they fear job loss in their community. Milk Not Jails is working to offer another urban-rural relationship. We believe the need for rural jobs should not dictate sentencing policy. We believe that farming is a rich and viable industry in need of critical support and infrastructure. We show urban consumers that buying local is worth the extra cost because supporting farmers has so many positive impacts. Milk Not Jails partners with dairy farmers in New York who sign onto our political platform. In exchange for their strategic political support, we market, sell, and distribute their products to urban consumers through our non-profit marketing and distribution company. We believe our new political line of dairy products and its sales records will prove that ordinary eaters can change the prison system by eating more ice cream!

The Specifics

A $1,000 grant would be used to create promotional materials for displays at cafes, college cafeterias and independent grocery stores that make a commitment to sell or use Milk Not Jails products in their retail stores.

Just this summer, Milk Not Jails started delivering its products to Community Supported Agriculture sites in New York City and buying clubs at local workplaces. These consumers purchase products on our website and are familiar with Milk Not Jails. We are now working to sell milk to coffee shops and school cafeterias as well as grocery stores. We need colorful labels for the store shelves and decals for store windows to educate the public about the Milk Not Jails campaign and promote the stores that carry our products.

Discussion

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