PepsiCo and Paul Quinn College Seed a New Enterprise With the Creation of an Urban Farm From a Football Field

DALLAS, May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- PepsiCo and Paul Quinn College today inaugurate the PepsiCo Food for Good Farm at Paul Quinn College with the farm's first planting. The urban farm, located on the school's former football field, will be a fully operational farm that emphasizes sustainable growing practices, stewardship, and community engagement. Paul Quinn College is developing an innovative curriculum that will integrate the farm into its academic program, teaching principles not only of biology and botany, but also of social enterprise. PepsiCo is working with the college's students and staff to develop farm-related businesses that will serve the surrounding Highland Hills and South Dallas communities, as well as local chefs and restaurants.

Paul Quinn will eventually develop a new curriculum and degree under Social Entrepreneurship, which will teach students how to use entrepreneurial principals to organize, create and manage a venture to make social change. Students will work together to cultivate, weed, plant, harvest, and sell the fruits, vegetables and herbs. Using the Food for Good Farm at Paul Quinn College as a hands-on teaching tool, students will gain a broad range of experiences from observation and decision-making to physical fitness, culinary appreciation and business development. In addition to regular farm activities, students will gain experience marketing produce to local restaurants and chefs and at a community market that will be established by the school to serve the college and the Highland Hills community, building customer service and entrepreneurial skills.

"At PepsiCo, we believe that business can do good and do well at the same time. When you combine the passion of our people, the discipline of business, and a deep sense of purpose with the commitment and energy of a partner like Paul Quinn College, you have a recipe for real transformation," said Amy Chen, project manager, Food for Good initiative, PepsiCo. "We are so excited to work with Paul Quinn College to create a holistic business proposition that provides access to nutrition in an educational, transformative, and community-focused way."

Paul Quinn cancelled its football program in 2006 as the administration sent a message to the community that real success occurs not just on the gridiron but in educational and entrepreneurial business endeavors. The former football field was the perfect site for the Food for Good Farm at Paul Quinn College.

"Part of Paul Quinn's mission is to prepare students to be servant leaders and agents of change in their communities. PepsiCo shares our vision of building minds and communities through innovative urban transformation and renewal," said Paul Quinn President Michael Sorrell. "But, we're transforming more than a football field. Our aim is to continually bring unique, academic and cultural opportunities to our students and extend that knowledge, know-how and value to the community where they live."

PepsiCo's Food for Good initiative was launched in Dallas in 2009 to help transform urban communities by increasing access to affordable nutrition and providing jobs and skills development through innovative community partnerships. Food for Good's first program was a mobile summer food service program in partnership with Central Dallas Ministries, which was piloted in summer 2009 and will be expanded this year. The farm is its second undertaking.

About Paul Quinn College

Paul Quinn College was founded by a small group of African Methodist Episcopal circuit-riding preachers in Austin, Texas in 1872. The College was later relocated to Waco. In 1990, under the leadership of Dr. Warren W. Morgan, Paul Quinn College relocated to Dallas, Texas. The first semester in its new home began on September 20, 1990. The mission of the College is to provide a quality, faith-based education that addresses the academic, social and Christian development of students and prepares them to be servant leaders and agents of change in their communities. For more information on Paul Quinn College, visit www.pqc.edu.

About PepsiCo

PepsiCo offers the world's largest portfolio of billion-dollar food and beverage brands, including 19 different product lines that each generates more than $1 billion in annual retail sales. Our main businesses - Frito-Lay, Quaker, Pepsi-Cola, Tropicana and Gatorade - also make hundreds of other nourishing, tasty foods and drinks that bring joy to our consumers in more than 200 countries. With annualized revenues of nearly $60 billion, PepsiCo's people are united by our unique commitment to sustainable growth, called Performance with Purpose. By dedicating ourselves to offering a broad array of choices for healthy, convenient and fun nourishment, reducing our environmental impact, and fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace culture, PepsiCo balances strong financial returns with giving back to our communities worldwide. In recognition of its continued sustainability efforts, PepsiCo was named for the third time to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World) and for the fourth time to the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index (DJSI North America) in 2009. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com

SOURCE Paul Quinn College