Regenerative Agriculture as a Model for Urban Renewal | Charles Rosen | TEDxNJIT

By increasing biodiversity and nurturing biological life in the soil, a regenerative agriculture practice builds a farm’s internal strength and stability, rather than a dependency on outside inputs. Charles Rosen, founder of Ironbound Hard Cider, tells how this lesson learned from working with nature – not against it – has impacted his approach to workforce development and urban renewal in Newark, NJ. Instead of following a typical strategy focused on luring in external resources, such as outside developers and white-collar corporate jobs, he is creating conditions that allow the most underserved members of the community, such as the formerly incarcerated, to participate in—and benefit from—the city's revival. Charles Rosen is the founder and CEO of Ironbound Hard Cider and New Ark Farms, a Newark-based social enterprise focused on workforce development and regenerative agriculture. In addition to New Ark Farm’s commitment to providing living wages to ex-offenders and other underserved members of the Greater Newark community, the company has developed a curriculum to educate employees in character development, conflict resolution, and communications skills. Charles believes that this “soft-skills” training will build a stronger workforce, while also arming his employees with the tools needed to better serve their own communities.As he builds this network of integrated companies, Charles draws heavily on his background as co-founder and former CEO of Amalgamated, a fully-integrated advertising agency globally recognized for its proprietary strategic approach known as Cultural Branding – a methodology for establishing brands as cultural leaders. In addition to his duties as CEO, Charles led the agency’s efforts in social justice and political advocacy. Charles, a former attorney and movie producer, sits on the Mayor of Newark’s Corporate Advisory Council and the Newark Workforce Investment Board. He graduated magna cum laude from Syracuse University College of Law in 1993. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx