Urban Pastoral Startup Soirée Podcast

J.J. had the opportunity to sit down with Patrick Rife from Startup Soirée to chat about the role of food system sustainability in Baltimore's urban Renaissance. 

Listen Here:

Startup Soirée is an incredible organization that connects entrepreneurs from across Baltimore to fuel collaboration, and build networks.

Their next event is January 27th at the Arch Social Club in West Baltimore:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/startup-soiree-raising-a-seed-round-featuring-margaret-roth-shelly-blake-plock-of-yet-analytics-tickets-20769591407

-Forward Always

USA Pavilion Innovation Program

Expo Milano 2015

The Urban Pastoral Team just returned from an incredible month in Milan, Italy, showcasing our company at the World Expo. Urban Pastoral was 1 of 10 teams selected to participate in the USA Pavilion's hallmark Innovation Program, "Feeding the Accelerator." The notion of how our planet will sustainably feed 9 Billion people in 2050 is extraordinarily complex. Therefore, the U.S. State Department teamed up with the James Beard Foundation, Microsoft, FedEx, and urban design firm, Atelier Slice, to leverage the forum of the Expo to pinpoint entrepreneurs from around the globe who were tackling this problem from vastly different angels. 

At its core, innovation is the intersection of multidisciplinary minds. It creation occurs through friction, and illusory barriers collapse. To capture this notion, Savinien Caracostea, Atelier Slice Partner, and Curator of Feeding the Accelerator directed a film titled, "Mentor Minds," which is a series of short interviews with thought leaders from a wide range of fields discussing creativity, food, architecture, and expression. 

Savinien also filmed the entrepreneurs who brought all of these concepts together in the manifestation of their businesses, demonstrating the philosophy behind Feeding the Accelerator.

Our team had the opportunity to engage the conversation around food in the global arena. We collaborated with world renowned chefs, architects, investor, government leaders, and tech innovators to better understand our business model in a multidisciplinary construct.

It was an incredible opportunity to be involved in such an incredible gathering, and the amount of work that went into this Expo was astonishing. However, the work is just beginning, and we are creating a legacy of innovation so that the Expo will not simply be remembered as an event, but a nexus for global change.   

UPC Joins the 2014-2015 Cohort of Social Innovation Lab

Urban Pastoral Collective was selected to be one of the 12 teams to join the 2014-2015 cohort of entrepreneurs at the Johns Hopkins, Social Innovation Lab. The cohort consists of a multidisciplinary group of Hopkins' best and brightest student innovators who seek to solve significant social, environmental, and economic issues. Social Innovation Lab is led by Director, Darius Graham, and supported by the office of President Ronald J. Daniels. 

“The Social Innovation Lab is an early stage incubator located in Baltimore, Maryland that supports promising companies and organizations developing innovative solutions to local and global problems. The SIL provides funding, mentorship, and resources to transform nascent concepts into mission-driven organizations with sustainable business models. The SIL and its leaders are committed to the City of Baltimore and to a vision of inclusive economic development and community building. We believe that social entrepreneurship can serve as a transformative and empowering force capable of creating jobs, improving public welfare, and revitalizing communities. Through our programming and community efforts, we are working to:

+ Develop the next generation of (social) entrepreneurs passionate about the City of Baltimore
+ Create a flourishing environment for entrepreneurship and translation of novel ideas into tangible impact
+ Build a better Baltimore
”

— SIL

The incubator will culminate in March with a Demo Day, where the SIL teams will showcase their prototypes to the community. UPC is excited for their partnership with SIL, and looks forward to pursing their mission to redefine farming.