The People’s Treasury created a new conversation around food deserts, and a new perspective on growing food. Amidst the highest inflation rates in 40 years, we showed underserved communities that growing your own food isn’t just healthy, it’s like printing your own money. It’s a hedge against inflation. We sent special bills that can yield the equivalent amount of dollars in vegetables to people living in food deserts. To let the communities know about it, gardener activist Ron Finley planted them in front of the Federal Reserve in Washington D.C., where the U.S. dollar is printed.

Food injustice is one of America’s biggest problems. Every major city throughout the U.S. has a food desert—underserved communities where people have to travel on average 3 miles (4.9 km) to find fresh produce. But with fast food restaurants and liquor stores on every corner. And the lack of fresh food in people’s daily diet 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.

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., where money is printed.

With zero media money to invest, our target market was the 20 million Americans currently trying to survive in food deserts. So we needed something bold to make the word spread: growing your own food is like printing your own money. First, we created the first 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. The more expensive the vegetables get, the more valuable the bills become. Available exclusively to people living in food deserts. To let them know, gardener activist Ron Finley marched alongside with people from the community of Anacostia, a food desert located in Washington D.C., to the Constitution Gardens, in front of the Federal Reserve. There, where money is printed, Ron planted some bills and taught the community how growing your own food is like printing your own money.

On National Food Day—October 24th, 2022—Ron Finley led a march from the food desert of Anacostia to the Federal Reserve building in D.C., where money is printed. They marched the same 3 miles food desert communities must walk to find fresh vegetables. But this time, they could learn how to never march for food again. The march was transformed into a video and a call to all food deserts in America, so everyone could ask for theirs. Leading up to the march, we used a social outreach strategy to let people know about the bills and what we would be doing in D.C. This led to news coverage and people from all over the country coming to march alongside Ron. Immediately after the march, we created a website for those living in food deserts to apply and get their seed bills.

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, where the U.S. dollar is printed.