On June 12th, 50 CFF members gathered at Project Farmhouse for the 7th CFF Annual Gathering. Local food and drink was supplied by Community Chef Kitchen, a new catering company cooperatively owned by women of color from Brooklyn. The evening featured a presentation by Groundswell Center, our 2019 CFF Champions Award recipient; an update on the Seeding Power Fellowship; and a keynote presentation by Dr. Monica White, author of the new book Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement.
Groundswell Center for Local Food and Farming was represented by Elizabeth Gabriel, Executive Director, and Alexas Esposito, Farming & Food Justice Program Coordinator. Their presentation can be seen in the video below, and can be downloaded here. Groundswell Center won the Champion Award in recognition of their efforts to train the next generation of sustainable farmers, targeting their programs to marginalized communities, providing business and technical assistance to help them flourish, and doing so with a social justice and equity framework.
Simran Noor, principle of Noor Consulting and lead designer and facilitator of the Seeding Power Fellowship, then gave a presentation about the fellowship and introduced the 12 inaugural fellows who were also in attendance. The slides from Simran’s presentation can be downloaded here.
The evening concluded with Dr. Monica White, who shared some of the findings from her book, and regaled us with insights and anecdotes from the research.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for a special evening
You can view all photos from the event online. Below is a video of the night’s speakers including all presentations. The following time markings can be used to find specific moments:
- Start – Welcome by Adam Liebowitz, Community Food Funders Director
- 1:50 – Evening overview by Danielle Levoit, CFF co-chair
- 6:00 – Introduction of CFF Champion Award recipient, Groundswell Center
- 8:30 – Groundswell Center presentation by Elizabeth Gabriel and Alexas Esposito
- 26:45 – Remarks on CFF’s work by Adam Liebowitz, CFF Director
- 32:00 – Seeding Power presentation by Simran Noor, Seeding Power designer and facilitator
- 41:45 – Intro of Monica White by Kolu Zigbi, CFF co-founder
- 45:45 – Presentation by Dr. Monica White