Full Circle Gardens Associate
Ozarks Food Harvest
Jessica Allen currently works for Ozarks Food Harvest as a Full Circle Gardens Associate. Her team works to grow healthy local food for area pantries, domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters, afterschool programs, and other local programs working to alleviate food insecurity. The program also works with local growers to glean produce to share the harvest with hungry folks and to prevent unnecessary waste, as well as to educate the community on food sovereignty, nutrition, gardening skills, and waste diversion.
Previously, Jessica worked with Springfield Community Gardens and helped to build the Amanda Belle Farm in partnership with Cox Health. She has worked for Victory Mission’s Help and Hope Food Pantry as the Pantry Coordinator and co-founded the Bear Pantry at Missouri State University during her Graduate studies. Food justice and holistic wellness is a big passion for Jessica, and her time at Missouri State helped to nurture that passion and provided many opportunities to follow those ambitions and build a career out of caring for others.
Jessica completed her undergraduate and graduate studies in Social Work from Missouri State University.