April 2026 - Cultivating Connections Webinar

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Cultivating Connections: Hidden Hunger: Pregnancy and Nutrition in U.S. Prisons

Join us on Wednesday, April 15, at 3:30 p.m. ET to connect with partners across the U.S. dedicated to ending hunger and building healthy communities. This webinar will highlight successful strategies, food and nutrition system changes, multisector partnerships, and community-building efforts.

During this month's partner call, you will learn about how food and nutrition in U.S. prisons affect the health of incarcerated people, their babies, and our broader public health outcomes. Our panelists include Aishatu Yusuf, Vice President and Heile Gantan-Keo, Program Manager from Impact Justice; and Krista Lumpkins-Howard, Senior Director of Training and Community Impact at Birthing Beautiful Communities.

Aishatu R. Yusuf, MPA, Ed.D. (c), has more than a decade of experience developing innovative solutions to complex social problems. She approaches systemic change through an intersectional lens that confronts race and gender bias in justice systems affecting low-resource communities, system-impacted people, youth, girls, and women. At Impact Justice, she has helped create and sustain transformative projects, including California Justice Leaders, The Homecoming Project, and the Food in Prison Project. Aishatu has presented nationwide, provided legislative testimony, drafted education policy, and appeared in media and podcasts. She holds degrees from Johns Hopkins, Northeastern, and the University of Utah.

Heile Gantan-Keo is a Program Manager with the Food in Prison Project. Her background in nutrition, public policy, and lived experience with the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation drives her work to improve essential resources in jails and prisons. She partners with nonprofit, civic, and state organizations to support people affected by the criminal justice system. Her policy experience includes fellowships with the Underground Scholars Initiative and the Anti-Recidivism Coalition. Before joining Impact Justice, she supported food-insecure students, seniors, and justice-impacted adults through internships with the CalFresh Outreach Program. She holds degrees from California State University, Sacramento, and UC Irvine.

Krista Lumpkins-Howard is a respected maternal health advocate and community leader, serving as Senior Director of Training and Community Impact at Birthing Beautiful Communities, a Cleveland-based nonprofit working to reduce infant and maternal mortality. With more than 27 years of experience in behavioral health and perinatal support, she brings deep expertise and compassion to her work. As a full-spectrum doula, community health worker, and childbirth educator, Krista is committed to improving outcomes for Black and brown birthing people through culturally competent support across pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Her work centers on advocacy, equity, and training responsive doulas.

Ryan Souza is an attorney, lobbyist, and consultant based in Sacramento with experience in health and human services, criminal justice, and labor and employment. Mr. Souza has broad experience in local counties and the California State Government, including leading and coordinating with State agencies, the Legislative Analyst's Office, and the Department of Finance. Before opening his own law firm, which provides lobbying and consulting in addition to legal services, Mr. Souza lobbied for local counties through the California State Association of Counties, was associate county counsel over litigation coordination for the County Counsels' Association of California, and led criminal justice technical assistance efforts in improving local county probation programming. Before that time, he spent over 10 years at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He was twice appointed as Deputy Director of the Division of Rehabilitative Programs, where he oversaw the division's budget and legislative policy, administration, technology, and community-based programming. Before leading Rehabilitative programs, he held numerous other positions in the Department, including Chief over Institution Field Operations and Assistant Chief over Technical Operations. In the Budget Policy Branch he acted as the subject matter expert over budget, policy, and coordination with external stakeholders on issues around Health Care Services, Adult institutions, contract beds, juvenile justice, and technical state budgeting processes – helping lead the Department through complex and difficult budget times including championing efforts around increasing health care services under federal receivership, state furloughs, and rehabilitative expansion.