Washington, D.C., resident and longtime Hill Havurah member Jody Tick has worked in food-related industries for almost two decades after attending graduate school at Tufts University.
Tick spent 10 years as a senior director and another five as chief operating officer at the Capital Area Food Bank in Washington, D.C., where she helped people struggling with food insecurity, before becoming the executive director at Sunflower Bakery in August 2021.
Tick said that Sunflower, whose mission is guided by Jewish values, allows her to combine her professional passion for food with a personal passion for providing opportunities for people with learning differences, as she has a son in that category.
What made you interested in moving from the Capital Area Food Bank to Sunflower?
It just felt like the right position at the right time. One, I’ve been working in food in some way, shape or form my entire career. I’ve been in nonprofits for 20-plus years. I am part of the Jewish community. I live in Washington, D.C., and we’ve been members of Hill Havurah for decades. And I have a son who has a developmental disability. So, it really merged a lot of personal and professional components into one position.
What is the mission behind the work you do at Sunflower?
Our mission is, as part of a working bakery, we provide workforce development training to young adults with learning differences in pastry arts and hospitality, and I’m so pleased to say we’ve just launched a pilot culinary training program … We provide training to young adults with learning differences in these areas, with the plan of them finding competitive employment in the communities where they live.
So, we help them find jobs, meaningful employment — and that’s really the gist of Sunflower and why it started. There was a group of concerned citizens in our community, and they wanted to change the dynamic of the employment gap because it is low for people with learning disabilities. So, this is what we continue to do today. [We’re a kosher bakery as well].
What does your day look like as executive director?
I’m on the phone talking to stakeholders, working with our staff. For this week, we have our end-of-the-year board meeting where we’re going to be reviewing and approving our fiscal year ‘25 budget, [and I also am] working on marketing and communications. You name it, I probably do it. And every day is a little different, which is also why I love my job.
What are some rewarding aspects of your job?
Not only do I love seeing and interacting with all the students when they are here, because we train students, but the second half of their training, they’re working with supervision in our bake shop, or our café, which is in the Executive Boulevard office building with the Federation … They’re getting real-world experience producing for our inventory and orders.
I love seeing the dynamics of our students as they matriculate through the program and getting to know them. We work with our students for 26 weeks, which is significantly longer than the average workforce development training program, which runs from about 12 to 16 weeks. So, we get to know our students deeply and well, and we make sure that they absorb and retain information and we help them find jobs in the community.
Is there a tie-in of Jewish values to the work you’ve done throughout your career?
It’s an equity piece, but it’s also the different levels of tzedakah. Whether it’s been at the food bank, looking at root causes [of food insecurity] or at Sunflower, it’s about providing the training and the opportunity for people to be able to realize their own potential themselves. There might be times where, in terms of food security, you have to provide the food while you’re helping people get to the next level. But ultimately, you want people to be as independent as they possibly can, because that’s what everybody wants, isn’t it?
You and your family are very involved in the local Jewish community, can you describe the importance of the community to you?
It’s important for me but also for my family to give back to the Jewish community. I grew up in Paducah, Kentucky, so not a very big Jewish population, as you can imagine. I grew up going to summer camp, and that became my Jewish identity. I grew up going to Camp Ben Frankel in southern Illinois and I met my husband there, which is also why we have your strong priority and value around Jewish camping, but also being a big part of the Jewish community.
My husband was chair of the board of Hill Havurah at a certain point. We’ve been involved in a variety of ways at the Jewish Federation. So with what Sunflower does as a partner agency [of the Federation], it’s important for us to give back, contribute to the Jewish community and make sure that we have a voice there for inclusivity. That everyone has a role in our community, everyone belongs. Whether it’s in the workforce, the Jewish community, whatever community it is, so I think that’s the lens with which we view our activities.
What should people know about your work at Sunflower?
Our work is ultimately about creating a more just and inclusive community for everyone. And so what does that look like? Sunflower has a small role in that in terms of training and helping folks get jobs in the community. And personally, I have a sense of urgency around that because I have a son who’s 15, who is looking at his future and what that future looks like.
If I can bring to this work my interests, my skills, this sense of urgency, hopefully, we can create more pathways for more young adults with learning differences, to define their purpose, define their meaning, to find employment, to find belonging. And I think that’s the role that Sunflower plays. And that’s something that I feel very privileged to be able to contribute to as the executive director of this amazing organization.