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Dear Community,
We are honored to welcome a truly inspiring leader and changemaker, Dr. Ja’Sent Brown, as a special guest speaker for our 2026 Food as Medicine for All - Livestream Conference.
Dr. Ja’Sent Brown is the Chief Impact Officer at DC Central Kitchen, spearheading the organization’s programming, including implementation, workforce development, education, healthy food access, and measuring impact on the community. Dr. Brown, affectionately known as Dr. Ja' (pronounced Jahhh), joined the DC Central Kitchen team in 2020, bringing with her a successful track record of program implementation, grants management, programmatic “start-up to success”, government and community relations, and addressing social determinants of health including access to nutritious foods and gainful employment in under resourced areas of the city.
Prior to DC Central Kitchen, Dr. Ja’ has worked for over thirteen years in DC Government programs addressing the needs of underserved families and individuals including serving as the Homeless Education State Coordinator and the inaugural Director of the Reengagement Center, the District's coordinated onramp to education and services for youth who have dropped out of school.
Dr. Ja’ received her BA in English at her beloved HBCU, the University of the District of Columbia, and a Master of Social Work and Doctor of Public Health at Walden University. Outside of DC Central Kitchen, Dr. Ja’ spends many volunteer hours serving the community through her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, and her board service at One World Education and Infinite Minds. She is the proud mother of two children, and wife of a DC police officer.
The Real Power of Fighting Hunger
Food is a basic necessity that can bring people together, but hunger has the ability to drive communities apart. Hunger is a profound, primal, and spiritual force, acting as nature's strongest motivator for survival, productivity, and personal growth. Physically, it dictates brain activity to prioritize food acquisition, while metaphorically, a hunger for success drives intense focus, sacrifice, and deep personal transformation. But what happens if you can’t access food or opportunities? How then, do you address hunger and the root cause…poverty?
DC Central Kitchen (DCCK) is an iconic nonprofit and social enterprise that combats hunger and poverty through job training and job creation. The organization provides hands-on culinary job training for individuals facing high barriers to employment while creating living wage jobs and bringing nutritious, dignified food where it is most needed. DCCK’s social ventures include serving scratch-cooked farm-to-school meals in DC schools, delivering fresh, affordable produce to corner stores in neighborhoods without supermarkets, and operating fast-casual cafes throughout the District of Columbia.
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