five questions for claire coen ‘15

friends forever

five questions for inspiring changemaker claire coen ‘15

After her college roommate introduced her to food and environmental justice issues, Claire Coen ‘15 was inspired to get involved, leading her to start her own advocacy organization, The PB&J Project, which seeks to make people more aware of where their food comes from and factory farming. Claire will be pitching PB&J to The Changemaker Project this summer in a bid for funding so that she can expand the scope and reach of her work.

1) How did you first hear about the Changemaker Project, and what inspired you to get involved? Can you explain more about the organization?

My roommate from college, Ella Rosenblatt, has been a lifelong vegan and advocate for animal welfare and sustainable practices. I credit so much of my growth and knowledge around factory farming and plantbased eating to her. She was invited to join the Changemaker Project because of her involvement with the Factory Farming Awareness Coalition (a great organization that I recommend everyone checks out).

Once she explained the project, I couldn’t help but join in. The Changemaker Project equips young people to build and execute an initiative of their choosing and pitch it in front of judges to potentially receive funding. After following a curriculum that covers various social justice issues, participants form teams, pick an issue to tackle, and begin designing their projects. In June, selected teams attend the Global Pitch and compete to receive funding. I encourage people to visit thechangemakerproject.org to learn more.

2) Why did you choose to pursue PB&J as your social justice issue / project for the Changemaker Project? How did that idea come about?

As people particularly passionate about animal welfare and environmental protection, Ella and I wanted to focus on a topic that encompassed both of these issues: factory farming. We aim to address the global issue of factory farming by addressing the lack of awareness surrounding it. Factory farms are intentionally hidden from society so that people can go on consuming their products without any moral qualms.

Our goal with this project was to break this invisibility and begin to shine a light on the true horrors of animal agriculture, starting with younger audiences.

We present factory farming as the problem and propose plant-based eating as the solution. With factory farming, the issues of animal cruelty, human illness, and environmental degradation intersect. In this intersection, a plant-based diet works to combat all three issues while being individually attainable. We also want young people to understand that plant-based food is delicious and nutritious, and offers tremendous ethical and environmental benefits.

According to American food journalist, Mark Bittman in his latest talk about his book Animal, Vegetable, Junk, “eating is a language” and

The founders of the PB&J Project, Claire Coen ‘15 (left) and Ella Rosenblatt (right). Maya Roytman, their friend and a student at Loyola University Chicago, also recently joined the team.

our food habits are learned in early childhood. It is a necessity, according to him and other prominent authors, to educate children as early as four years old on their eating habits and their impacts on our planet.

Thus, we began to develop The Plant-Based and Justice Project. The PB&J Project is more than a website—it is an education toolkit for pre-teen audiences and their families to learn about factory farming and plant-based eating with content focused on cultural competency and experiential learning.

Unlike other websites that discuss plant-based eating, the PB&J project brings students and their families on a unique educational journey. Our site is conveniently divided into three sections—the problem, the solution, and the commitment—as a way of organizing material and providing a road map for learning/exploration. Each section provides in-depth and comprehensive resources, with a variety of mediums ranging from readings to videos to audio recordings to activities. The site integrates original artwork, curricula, commissioned cooking demos by renowned chefs such as Traci Des Jardins, recipes to enhance cultural learning for children through plant-based food, inspirational family features, and interactive activities that help children explore this pressing issue. We are so excited to share this site and hope to inspire the next generation of changemakers to take on this pressing issue!

3) If you secure funding from the Changemaker Project for PB&J, what are your hopes for the project and its future?

Our ultimate goal is to spread this resource to families and empower them to learn more about this issue. If we receive funding, our hopes are that the site continues to reach more audiences. We would love to see the site utilize not only in at-home learning environments, but in classroom settings, as well. We also want to implement new and updated content, namely more cooking demos; more interactive activities; and more collaborations with chefs, educators, and plantbased advocates.

4) What did you learn about community engagement and activism during your time at Friends? Would you say that the emphasis on social justice at SFFS influenced you beyond your time there?

The dedication that I witnessed in my teachers towards their students

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