On May 16th, CFF partnered with Philanthropy New York to host a briefing titled, Seeding Power 2.0: Leadership for Our Region’s Food Movement.
Funders gathered online to hear about the relaunch of CFF’s Seeding Power Fellowship, a nine-month cohort-based food justice fellowship program for experienced leaders working across sectors to build equitable food systems in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
Kellie Terry, North Star Fund’s Philanthropy Programs Director, opened the meeting by emphasizing the importance of investing in grassroots organizing and movement building. She also spoke about North Star’s strategic goal to dismantle white supremacy as it works in philanthropy, and how Seeding Power fits with that goal.
We know who are answering these calls with courageous organizing – our leaders are, and we have an opportunity to step up and hold them; to accompany them in creating the change we want to see… Seeding Power is one way that we can answer this moment bravely as a social justice philanthropic sector.
Kellie Terry
Next up was Lisa Cowan, Vice President at Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, who helps support the Seeding Power Fellowship. Lisa spoke about her foundation’s commitment to supporting leadership development as an equity strategy, and what it means to be leaning into “liberatory leadership.”
Liberatory leadership invites leaders to operationalize this vision of personal and collective freedom, justice, and thriving through their individual approaches and through their organizations. It necessitates an internal interrogation of how race, gender, and power interact with our work.
Lisa Cowan
CFF Director Adam Liebowitz then gave a presentation about the Seeding Power Fellowship. He spoke about the original impetus to create Seeding Power, the design of the inaugural program and some outcomes, and how they landed at the changes for this next iteration. He shared that including funders in the cohort for this round was an acknowledgment of a missed opportunity the first time, and a responsibility to call philanthropy in to the same leadership development and movement building work we want for our grantees.
Sometimes to seed power as philanthropy, we have to cede power.
Adam Liebowitz
Adam was then joined by Bianca Bockman, Director of Our Food at RiseBoro Community Partnership, and Seeding Power alum from the first cohort. Bianca shared about her experience as a Seeding Power fellow, why she was compelled to apply, and what excites her about the new design.
I was eager for that. I really felt the need for a movement, to move together, and to think about our work collectively.
Bianca Bockman
Applications for the Seeding Power Fellowship are open until June 16, 2023. Read more about the opportunity, how to apply, and help spread the word by clicking the link above.
The following time markers can be used to jump around to different sections of the video:
- Start – Welcome and intro by Adam Liebowitz, CFF Director
- 3:50 – Kellie Terry, North Star Fund
- 8:15 – Lisa Cowan, Robert Sterling Clark Foundation
- 13:30 – Adam Liebowitz presents the Seeding Power Fellowship
- 34:30 – Adam interviews Bianca Bockman, Seeding Power alum
- 50:25 – Q&A
Resources
- Both Lisa and Adam mentioned the recent article in Nonprofit Quarterly, The Call of Leadership Now: BIPOC Leaders in a Syndemic Era
- Seeding Power flier
- Seeding Power page and FAQ’s
- Seeding Power outreach guide to help spread the word
