Mark Winne '72 is executive director of The Hartford Food System, a non-profit agency that has developed innovative ways to deliver high-quality and affordable foods to low-income urban families in Connecticut.

One of the Food System's ventures is Holcomb Farm, a community-supported agricultural project on 16 acres in Granby, Conn. Winne says that community based programs like Holcomb Farm can help solve a range of pressing social and environmental problems, including poor nutrition, loss of valuable farm land to development and ecologically damaging farm practices. When people have access to healthy food and know where it actually comes from, he says, they eat better and want to protect the land, their source of food.

"I do like the chance to express an entrepreneurial side with a social purpose," he said. "A lot of what we do sounds puritanical, but it's also a source of pleasure. I really enjoy good food," said Winne, who is also co founder and president of the 500-member Community Food Security Coalition, a national nonprofit agency funded in part by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Winne, the Hartford Food System's only executive director in its 21-year history, still gets dirt under his fingernails when he goes to work, but these days much of his time is spent on the business side of the operation, seeking support from various state and national foundations, including the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving and the Kellogg Foundation.