Creating an ecosystem of healthy food and entrepreneurship

A city lined with green trees stretches to a hazy blue horizon. Gentle acoustic music plays. In the lower left-hand corner, a blue banner appears with white text inside:

ONSCREEN TEXT:        Milwaukee, WI

An orange mural on the side of a brick building reads “Sherman Park Grocery.” A man with glasses and an orange polo shirt bearing the grocery logo speaks in front of the mural. A blue banner appears beneath him with white text:

ONSCREEN TEXT:      Maurice Wince
                                    Co-Owner, Sherman Park Grocery

MAURICE WINCE: Most of our folks, our customers who come through that door, they’re facing two things: quantity and quality of groceries.

Inside, a man in a navy button-up shirt speaks. He wears gloves and talks with his hands.

ONSCREEN TEXT:      Jason Mims

                                    Congregational Care Pastor at Embassy Center

                                    MKE and Cultivate

JASON MIMS: When they would come in, their dinner would be chips and soda. They would come through and say "There’s a better way where they could receive quality of nutrition that tastes good at the same time."

White text fades in over a view of the grocery from above.  

ONSCREEN TEXT:      UnitedHealthcare provided an $80,000

                                    grant to support these efforts and

                                    nurture greater food security in the

                                    Sherman Park neighborhood.

A teenager speaks inside, in front of a green wall decal reading “Cultivate.” A blue banner shows his name and age in white text:

ONSCREEN TEXT:      Jairus Lawrence

                                    15 years old

JAIRUS LAWRENCE: We really stand out because we’re trying to offer the healthy options that like, most places around the Sherman Park neighborhood don’t offer.

Outside, a billboard on the roof of a building reads “Sherman Park Strong: Listening, Learning & Leading Together.” The billboard features the logos of Sherman Park Grocery, Cultivate, and other community organizations.

MAURICE WINCE: We’ve addressed that here at Sherman Park Grocery Store by bringing fresh fruits and vegetables to our community.

In the grocery, Maurice examines cans stacked in neat rows on a shelf. Produce crates feature bundles of fresh collard greens and fresh fruit and vegetables line a cooler. Grow lights shine done on sprouts in a container. A teenage speaks as he holds up a sprout, and white text in a blue banner states his name and age:

ONSCREEN TEXT:      SONTAY DAVIS

                                    16 years old

SONTAY DAVIS: Hydroponics is basically like, the process of growing plants without soil. This is Rockwool—we use these to basically put seeds in here and fill it up with water inside of these containers and put a bag around it to create moisture. We have the two tanks here, which are like the foundation that holds the root chambers and the panels that ultimately grow the plants.

Sontay and more young people sort sprouts into their containers with Jason. He gives a tour of the root chambers and panels of the hydroponics system.

JASON MIMS: These herbs, these produce and food products are being grown by their children right in their neighborhood. We want to work towards an agri-hood here in Sherman Park community, providing fresh, quality leafy green vegetables, culinary herbs, and food products that combat diabetes and hypertension.

Fresh greens line the inside of the vertical chambers. Now a man in a blue dress shirt speaks in a lobby. White text appears in the blue banner beneath him:

ONSCREEN TEXT:        Kevin Moore

                                      CEO, UnitedHealthcare Community Health Plan of Wisconsin

KEVIN MOORE: In UnitedHealthcare, what we’re serving as is an amplifier. We’re taking the great work that’s already being done at the local level, and through our investment and our partnership, we’re saying ‘What else can we bring to the table’?

Another teenager speaks as she smiles by the containers. White text appears in a blue banner:

ONSCREEN TEXT:      Natalia Davis

                                    15 years old

NATALIA DAVIS: When you first think about it, it’s like, crazy! It’s like ‘Wow, I just did this and now you’re going to eat it.’ But after a while you come to terms with it, and you’re like ‘Yeah, that’s really cool.’

JASON MIMS: It gives our young people something—a tangible example to see that people care, and believe in them, and that further goes into the work that they’re willing to do to make the impact in the community.

The youth check moisture meters and use utility knives to separate the sprouts.

KEVIN MOORE: We’re investing in them with the goal of them to be able to build capacity. And by building capacity, that means they can sell more product, and by doing that there’s an ongoing sustainable revenue stream that’s going to allow the work that they’re doing today to be there for the next group of kids, and the next group of kids.

Maurice stands outside in front of the mural:

MAURICE WINCE: And placing that product, as young entrepreneurs, on our grocery store shelves—and learning business, and learning how to manage money, and learning marketing and branding themselves, that helps me see that there is hope in our community.

The view fades to a white background with the blue UnitedHealthcare logo in the center: a U with three stripes on the right-hand. arm. As the music fades, the logo transforms into blue text in the center of the white background:

ONSCREEN TEXT:      United
                                    Healthcare