"From 2009 to 2012, I taught English at the East River Academy, the high school at Rikers Island correctional facilities in New York. There was a culinary arts class there, and it was one of the only places inside this terrible environment where the young men were happy, excited, and focused. That got me thinking about how much pride can come from cooking. So I left my teaching job and spent a year managing a kimchi taco truck and working for a reentry program.

"In April 2014, I launched Drive Change. We operate Snowday, a food truck that hires young people just released from prison. We provide six to eight months of training in the culinary arts, social media, marketing, money management, and hospitality for up to eight participants at a time. 

"In many cases, our employees have not been able to travel to different countries, or even within the city, to try different flavors and spices, so we bring that exploration to our kitchen. It's part of our practice for everybody to try everything.

"Snowday is New York's first farm-to-fork food truck. We work with a central New York State ingredient, maple syrup, and have a "gourmet lumberjack" seasonal menu. All our food comes from urban and New York State farms. We visit the farms that we work with and go to the farmers' market and talk to the farmers. I think that personal relationship with food changes everyone. It changed me—that's for sure. I've always been a relatively healthy eater, but I never used to think about sustainability or exactly where my food came from. Now I'm completely invested in it.

"Mobility is key for us. We're able to go to a lot of different communities. While customers wait for their food, we give them a quiz about the criminal justice system in New York. Often people are surprised to learn that 16-year-olds are tried as adults here; in many states, 18 is the minimum age.

"Can a food truck promote social justice? One of the ways we make that happen is by connecting over a shared meal."