Chef artist-activist and social entrepreneur Kurt Evans was born and raised in Philadelphia. Kurt found a culinary spark cooking southern style dishes alongside his grandmothers as a child. Since then, he’s honed his skills in some of Philadelphia’s most esteemed kitchens. Kurt has cooked professionally for over 14 years and continues to learn innovative cooking techniques and creative recipes.

He also uses his culinary skills to rally the community around ending mass incarceration. Through his End Mass Incarceration (EMI) Dinner series, EMI brings awareness to garnering solutions for this pressing community issue.

Following a stint as culinary director at New York-based nonprofit Drive Change, where he managed a professional training fellowship program for formerly incarcerated youth, Evans returned to his hometown, to establish a workforce development program and start Down North Pizza, a fair wage, equitable workplace for all its employees who have been formerly incarcerated. Kurt would be honored to serve on FPAC to bring an impact to his community’s access to food and power.