UNO MBA students collaborate with No More Empty Pots during Spring 2021 to increase their efforts in providing equitable access to local food within the Omaha metro area.

NMEP has a long-term goal to become mostly self-sufficient so they can focus on growing their impact in fighting poverty. Co-founder and CEO, Nancy Williams, expressed the importance of walking the walk, “We tell people to generate income through entrepreneurship so we should be doing that as well. We need to be demonstrating that ourselves.”

Each semester as MBA students look forward to graduation, one of the final steps is to complete a project-focused capstone. The Spring 2021 class had an opportunity to work on projects focused on social justice issues. Carolyn Chamberlin, Sara Irvine, and Samantha Roebuck consulted with NMEP. These students worked closely with Emily Barber, Food Access and Justice Manager at NMEP. “I am passionate about the work No More Empty Pots does through the Community Harvest program because it offers an opportunity for our participants to eat and live how they want. Providing equitable access to local foods is an act of justice. Community Harvest serves to remove practical barriers and works to uproot systemic injustice by offering access to the same high-quality foods across all communities.”, Barber said.

Carolyn, Sara, and Samantha analyzed financial information, business and marketing practices, the industry and researched what’s working for other businesses that NMEPs can pull from. “This project brought it all together for me. I used knowledge gained throughout all of my courses in the MBA program.”, Irvine said. The MBA coursework includes accounting, analytics, ethics, finance, human resources, marketing, information technology, and strategy. Combining the concepts and practices from all of these areas of business prepares MBA students for the consulting project.

About No More Empty Pots: NMEP was founded in 2010. NMEP is a non-profit corporation whose mission is to connect individuals and groups to improve self-sufficiency, regional food security, and economic resilience of urban and rural communities through advocacy and action. The Community Harvest Program offers prepared & packaged meals as well as community-supported agriculture (CSA) box subscriptions. The prepared & packaged meals are plant-based, and the produce is sourced from local farmers. Participants who subscribe to the CSA receive a share of in-season goods provided by local producers.