Despite the fact that the world produces an abundance of food each day to feed everyone alive, there are still areas like South Central Los Angeles, one of America’s poorest areas, plagued by low education rates and limited access to fresh food. A few years ago, the city tried to drop the “Central” from the name in hopes of rebranding away the stigma of high crime and poor people. It worked as well as you’d think.

I caught up with Ron Finley, an urban farmer and motivational speaker, working to change South Central’s current reality. Last year, Finley gave a potent TED talk with an idea to elevate poor kids that were stuck on dead-end paths toward crime or drugs by