Growing Power: NPA awards Will Allen with the Rachel Carson Environmental Award for his outstanding contribution to the natural products industry 1/4/2012 Winners to Be Honored at Natural Products Association MarketPlace 2012, June 14-16 in Las Vegas Milwaukee – The Natural Products Association (NPA) announces the winners of the 19th Annual NPA Awards for outstanding individuals and businesses that have made important contributions to the success of the natural products industry. Awardees will be honored for their achievements during Natural Products Association MarketPlace 2012, NPA’s annual trade show and convention, June 14-16 in Las Vegas. For more information, visit http://www.NPAinfo.org/awards. Honorees include Growing Power’s CEO, Will Allen, who will receive the Rachel Carson Environmental Award for his outstanding contributions to the environmental community. Through this award the NPA recognizes the breadth of Mr. Allen’s accomplishments within the urban farm movement. By receiving this award, Allen joins a prestigious group of individuals who have made similar significant contributions in the sustainable environmental arena. Past winners include Paul Anastas, known as the father of green chemistry; Denis Hayes, director of the Bullitt Foundation, and creator of Earth Day; Dr. Peter H. Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden and expert in biodiversity and species conservation; Dr. Michael Balick, director of the Institute of Economic Botany for the New York Botanical Garden; Alice Waters, chef and champion of locally-grown and natural ingredients; and Frances Moore Lappé, author of Diet for a Small Planet. Will Allen shared his gratitude for this honor and invited the greater community to join him and the Growing Power team this year as they continue to build the Good Food Revolution, “We offer monthly workshops, job training, farm outreach, internships, and youth programs to improve the environment locally and in communities across America.” He continued, “I believe that healthy communities cannot exist without healthy food systems, especially in urban areas, and I appreciate this recognition by the NPA for the work we have accomplished in Milwaukee, Chicago, and throughout the U.S.” For more information about the NPA Awards and winners, visit http://www.NPAinfo.org/awards About Growing Power Growing Power was started in Milwaukee, Wis., in 1993 by Will Allen, a 2008 winner of a MacArthur “Genius Award” who has long worked to produce and deliver healthy food to low-income communities. It is a national nonprofit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds, and the environments in which they live, by helping to provide equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities. Growing Power implements this mission by providing hands-on training, on-the-ground demonstration, outreach and technical assistance through the development of Community Food Systems that help people grow, process, market and distribute food in a sustainable manner. About Will Allen Will Allen, son of a sharecropper, former professional basketball player, ex-corporate sales leader, and now farmer, has become recognized as among the preeminent thinkers of our time on agriculture and food policy. The founder and CEO of Growing Power Inc., a farm and community food center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Allen is widely considered the leading authority in the expanding field of urban agriculture. At Growing Power and in community food projects across the nation and around the world, Allen promotes the belief that all people, regardless of their economic circumstances, should have access to fresh, safe, affordable and nutritious foods at all times. Using methods he has developed over a lifetime, Allen trains community members to become community farmers, assuring them a secure source of good food without regard to political or economic forces. In 2010 Mr. Allen joined First Lady Michelle Obama as she launched the White House’s “Let’s Move” campaign to address issues affecting American youth and the risk of obesity and Mr. Allen was also recognized as one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. About Natural Products Association The Natural Products Association (NPA), founded in 1936, is the largest and oldest nonprofit organization dedicated to the natural products industry. NPA represents over 1,900 members accounting for more than 10,000 locations of retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors of natural products, including foods, dietary supplements, and health/beauty aids. As the leading voice of the natural products industry, the NPA’s mission is to advocate for the rights of consumers to have access to products that will maintain and improve their health, and for the rights of retailers and suppliers to sell these products. Visit http://www.NPAInfo.org. Media Contacts: Growing Power Anne Eaton (414) 527-1546, ext. 102 staff@growingpower.org Natural Products Association Michael Keaton mkeaton@npainfo.org