Staff Addition

Lauren Howard Joins the Urban Gleaners’ Staff

Lauren joins Urban Gleaners with over 8 years of experience in the non-profit world. As an undergrad at DePaul University, he joined a literacy-based school readiness program and was placed at a Headstart preschool center in one of Chicago’s many Latino neighborhoods. He quickly forged a familial bond with the center, their staff, and the community that they served. What started as a part-time college job blossomed into a career as an early childhood educator, child and family advocate, and a staff development writer.

While he is relatively new to the Portland area, he is all too familiar with the challenges that low-income children and families face on an everyday basis. As a preschool teacher, Lauren helped organize a committee of teachers, support staff, and administration to analyze and improve the nutrition of the menu that was being served to children in the program. In doing so, the center eliminated a lot of processed foods and created curriculum and workshops to promote healthy food options outside of school. Analyzing what the children in his classroom were eating on a daily basis, and in schools across the country, served as motivation to do what he could to attack the lack of health and nutrition provided for low-income children and families.

Lauren is ecstatic to be able to attack the issue of food insecurity on a daily basis through Urban Gleaners’ Food To Schools program.