Community Crops Hires New Executive Director Ben McShane-Jewell

Community Crops (www.communitycrops.org) has hired Ben McShane-Jewell as their new Executive Director. Ben brings a passion for local food and great leadership skills to the position.

Ben has been the Community and Youth Gardens Program Manager for three years. Before Ben came to Crops, he focused his work and academics around food access for communities across the country. For ten years, he has worked across the country to create programs that increase food access through various means, including urban agriculture.

Ben earned a Master’s degree at Colorado State University, where his research focused on food culture and food insecurity on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. His subsequent PhD research at Arizona State University (ASU) has focused on urban poverty, food insecurity and urban agriculture in Detroit.

Ben is a voting member of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Food Policy Council, Community Garden Task Force, and a member of the Board of Directors of NeighborWorks Lincoln.

Community Crops is a Lincoln-based non-profit organization that helps people grow healthy food through a network of 12 community gardens, the Growing Farmers Training Program, school gardens, CSA (vegetable subscription) and educational classes. For more information, visit www.communitycrops.org or call (402) 474-9802.