My interview was with the director of farming at the New Bedford YMCA. She provided me with a wealth of knowledge about the state of communal agriculture in Massachusetts, the US, and around the world. One thing that stood out in our conversation was her identification of social dysfunction and disorder in the modern age. She directly attributes this to a hyper individualist ethos that has caused us to forgo our sense of community and humanity. This is described as a “lot of fear and anxiety that’s causing a lot of dysfunction within our culture, and a fear of sharing resources, or a fear of losing resources that causes…a lot of social dysfunction.” I believe that this is pertinent to the focus of my web-case, as Belo Horizonte tried to remedy this dysfunction by changing this paradigm. Creating a sense of community was instrumental in achieving Belo’s goals to eradicate hunger. She further elaborated upon this concept by saying, “I think community, in my mind, is looking out for your neighbors, knowing your neighbors, you know, being aware of the challenges that exist within, that your neighbors might be facing at the moment and having compassion to reach out and lend a hand.” Belo Horizonte’s initiative to allocate plots of land to farmers also ties into another topic that we discussed, which is giving opportunities to underserved and struggling populations. She mentioned that “there’s going to be a gap of finding, you know, a younger generation to grow the food that we’re relying on in our food system. So ensuring that we have, that we value our farmers and encourage new farmers and I think encourage farmers of color to stay in farming and improve their access to land. There’s this historic USDA lawsuit that…lots of farmers of color, you know, were denied access to their land or their land was taken away. And so there’s this historic injustice within our food system. So I think addressing that, encouraging people of color to stay in farming or take up farming again would be part of a more equitable food system”. This segued into building multigenerational coalitions, something that Belo was able to sucessfully achieve. Part of this objective including educating and informing the next generation on the logistics of food, where it sourced from, and the farmers who produce it. She also added the importance of connecting with the land and getting back to the refuge of nature. She highlighted that “… we need to include younger voices into… creating a new paradigm…teaching people how to grow their own food”. This educational effort ties into the workshops and classes that Belo Horizonte has offered to help its young citizens become more learned about the reality of where their food is coming from.  This interview gifted me some expert advice on the state of farming, agriculture, and how it relates to Belo Horizonte.