#5 Jose Oliva: Solving Food Industry Problems with HEAL Food Alliance

Jose Oliva, Campaigns Director at Heal Food Alliance, shares insights into the food industry's labor issues, food insecurity among workers, and systemic reforms needed for a fairer food system.Jose Oliva was born in Xelaju, Guatemala. In 1985 he and his family were forced to flee the civil war and come to the US. Once in Chicago he was called to be Executive Director of Casa Guatemala where he began to organize day-laborers in Chicago’s street corners. He founded the Chicago Interfaith Workers’ Center and then became the Coordinator of Interfaith Worker Justice’s National Workers' Centers Network. Jose served in several leadership positions at the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, the national organization of restaurant workers. Jose was the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Food Chain Workers Alliance, a national coalition of food-worker organizations that collectively represents over 350,000 workers. Jose is a 2017 James Beard Award recipient and a 2018 American Food Hero Awardee and a 2020 Castanea Fellow. Currently he is the Campaigns Director at HEAL (Health Environment Agriculture and Labor) Food Alliance, a national multi-sector coalition representing over two million people in the food system. He also chairs the Chicago Region Food System Fund and serves on the boards of Woods Fund of Chicago and the Growing Justice Fund.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.