Episodes

  • Food Secure Nation_If We Are Serious About Outcomes, Partnership Isn't Optional

    Food Secure Nation_If We Are Serious About Outcomes, Partnership Isn't Optional
    May 3 2026
    In this episode of Food Secure Nation, we sit down with Brian McGrain of Michigan Community Action to explore what it takes to move from disconnected efforts to coordinated solutions. Families don’t experience our systems—they experience whether life works. Real impact happens when organizations align their strengths, navigate the gaps, and work together to meet real-life needs.
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    38 mins
  • Food Secure Nation with Jason Jakubowski - Competence Leads to Trust

    Food Secure Nation with Jason Jakubowski - Competence Leads to Trust
    Apr 26 2026
    In this episode of Food Secure Nation, Phil Knight and Gerry Brisson welcome Jason Jakubowski, president and CEO of Connecticut Foodshare, for a conversation about leadership, trust, and the power of doing hard things well. Jason shares the story behind merging two legacy food banks into one unified statewide organization—an effort that strengthened efficiency, amplified impact, and created a single voice for fighting food insecurity across Connecticut. More than a story about structure, this episode highlights what happens when courage, competence, and mission come together to better serve families and communities.
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    38 mins
  • Food Secure Nation: Leadership - Part Art, Part Science with guest Dan Flowers

    Food Secure Nation: Leadership - Part Art, Part Science with guest Dan Flowers
    Apr 19 2026
    Leadership isn’t just about getting it right—it’s about how you show up when it matters most. In this episode of Food Secure Nation, Dan Flowers—CEO of the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank and one of the most respected voices in the Feeding America network—joins Phil Knight and Gerry Brisson for a candid, deeply human conversation about what it really takes to lead. With nearly three decades in the work, Dan unpacks the tension between conviction and collaboration, the power of relationships, and the courage required to navigate an increasingly divided world. If you care about leadership that lasts—and work that brings people together—this is a conversation you don’t want to miss.
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    38 mins
  • FSN_Funding Fuels the Mission, Innovation and Sustainability

    FSN_Funding Fuels the Mission, Innovation and Sustainability
    Apr 12 2026
    Behind every meal served is a system most people never see. In this episode, Liz Lowe shares her journey from growing up in a food-insecure household to helping organizations across the country build sustainable funding strategies. Alongside Phil and Gerry Brisson, she explores how funding, relationships, and lived experience come together to shape what’s possible in the fight for food security.
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    37 mins
  • FSN_Know Better Do Better, LLC - Creating Connections to Drive Progress

    FSN_Know Better Do Better, LLC - Creating Connections to Drive Progress
    Apr 4 2026
    This episode goes beyond inspiration and gets to the real challenge at the heart of food security: not a lack of caring, not a lack of ideas, but a lack of connection. Dr. Phil Knight and Gerry Brisson reflect on decades of experience to unpack why so much good work struggles to scale, and why better frameworks, shared learning, and the Six Dimensions of Food Security may be the key to moving from isolated effort to real national progress. If you want to understand what connects the voices, vision, and momentum behind Food Secure Nation, this is the episode that brings it all together.
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    38 mins
  • FSN_A Statewide Lens on the 6 Dimensions of Food Security

    FSN_A Statewide Lens on the 6 Dimensions of Food Security
    Apr 4 2026
    About This Episode Food security gets real when you stop talking about programs and start looking at systems. In this episode, Joree Novotny and Mandy Pullaro break down the six dimensions of food security from a statewide lens—where every decision carries tradeoffs between resources, dignity, and results. What happens when agency becomes the difference-maker? When emergency response turns into everyday reality? And what shifts when we treat people not as problems to solve, but as partners in the solution?
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    37 mins
  • FSN_The Leadership You Never See - Partner State Associations and Their Influence

    FSN_The Leadership You Never See - Partner State Associations and Their Influence
    Apr 4 2026
    Everyone sees the front lines of hunger relief—but who’s aligning the system behind it? In this episode, Joree Novotny and Mandy Pullaro share how state associations in the Feeding America network quietly connect policy, partnerships, and people to move entire networks forward. If food insecurity is a systems problem, this conversation reveals where real alignment—and real progress—actually begins.
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    37 mins
  • FSN_Creating Agency with Feeding America CEO Claire Babineaux-Fontenot

    FSN_Creating Agency with Feeding America CEO Claire Babineaux-Fontenot
    Apr 4 2026
    As she steps down as CEO of Feeding America, Claire Babineaux-Fontenot shares the leadership philosophy that helped reshape the national hunger conversation. At the heart of it: agency. What happens when people experiencing hunger are no longer on the margins—but at the center of decision-making? This episode explores the courage, tension, and impact of that shift.
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    38 mins