Food injustice is one of America’s biggest problems. Anacostia and South LA are both food deserts —underserved communities where people have to travel on average 3 miles (4.9 km) to find fresh produce. With fast food restaurants and liquor stores on every corner and the lack of fresh food in people’s daily diet, it creates lower life expectancy, a higher percentage of diabetes rates and other chronic diseases, and a continuing cycle of poverty. Add the rise of inflation during 2022, and what was an already difficult situation became even worse.

Over 20 million people are living in food deserts in the U.S. These are places where people need to travel on average 3 miles to find fresh produce according to the CDC. In Washington D.C. each Ward has an average of 12 or more grocery stores, except Wards 7 & 8. They have a combined 3 grocery stores for over 140,000 citizens. If eating healthy was already a challenge for those communities, in 2022, record-high inflation made it almost impossible. Most people living in food deserts are minority, poverty-struck groups—exactly the people most affected by inflation. Culturally, people don’t see enough value on fresh food to make such big sacrifices to get them. So we needed to shift the cultural perception around growing your own food. Instead of giving them reasons to eat better to protect their health, we gave them reasons to protect their money.

To shift people’s perspective about the value of growing our own food, we created a global inflationary-hedge currency. Money printed with Ron’s face that grows fresh produce. With a true-to-life amount of dollars each bill can yield. Each bill grew a different type of vegetable, such as rainbow carrots, arugula, collard greens, and red cherry tomatoes. The more expensive the vegetables get, the more valuable the bills become. Those living in food deserts could apply to get their bills through a website. And to launch it, Ron Finley led a march, for the same 3 miles those communities must walk to find fresh vegetables. But this time, it was so no one had to march for food again. From the food desert of Anacostia to the Federal Reserve building in D.C., the heart of the US financial system.

Our target market was the Americans currently trying to survive in the Anacostia and South LA food deserts. These Americans are living in extreme poverty and struggling to put good food on their families’ plates. Especially with the record-high inflation affecting food. We want them to know there is a way to get fresh food, and save money.

Each bill was printed to look and feel identical to the actual American dollar: same paper and weight, serial numbers, raised printing, 3D security ribbon, foil-stamped numerals. We embedded real seeds with a technique making it easier to grow. Each bill yields the equivalent dollar of the bill. The higher the inflation, the higher the value. The launch activation highlighted the distance people living in food deserts must travel just to get fresh vegetables. Ron Finley marched the same 3 miles alongside with people from the community of Anacostia, a food desert located in Washington D.C. This march wasn’t made to protest, but to show people how they can stop marching for fresh food: by growing their own vegetables. In front of the Federal Reserve, the heart of the US financial system, Ron taught the community how growing your own food is like printing your own money.

So far, the campaign has distributed the equivalent of over 1 million dollars in fresh produce. MasterClass joined the fight and made every bill into a 1-year free subscription voucher on the platform, so everyone could learn gardening from Ron Finley’s class. Schools and communities across the U.S. are using the bills as a starting point for their community gardens and saving money by growing their own fresh food.

Ron faced the city of Los Angeles 10 years ago when he got a warrant for growing food in the parkway, the piece of land between his house and the curbside. His fight changed the law in Los Angeles allowing everyone to grow food in front of their homes. Now the Gangsta Gardener needed a bigger act to show Americans there’s a way to fight the unfair food system and eat healthy. In America, there’s nothing illegal about marching and protesting. But breaking ground in the National Mall is a federal offense. So Ron had to challenge the rules again for a greater good: he planted his money with seeds in front of the Federal Reserve, the heart of the US financial system.