On September 29th, CFF members and invited guests gathered at New York Health Foundation for the 10h CFF Annual Gathering.
Catering was provided by Buffalo Jump NYC, a Native-led catering company re-indigenizing New York City through food. Drinks were provided by Bascom Catering, a catering company based out of the South Bronx.
Julia McCarthy, our host at New York Health Foundation, welcomed everyone to the space. Then Bronwyn Starr of Mother Cabrini Health Foundation introduced the 2026 CFF Champios Award recipient, Grinding Stone Collective (GSC).
GSC's founder Brooke Rodriguez shared about her organization's work to preserve indigenous foodways and culture. GSC strengthens Indigenous Food Sovereignty by reconnecting urban and rural Native people to ancestral food systems, land-based practices, and one another.
Adam Liebowitz, CFF Director, then spoke about CFF and gave an update on programing. He discussed a new initiatve being explored to create a fund that would provide bridge capital to recipients of reimbursible grants.
The keynote presentation featured a panel of food leaders in NYC Mayor Mamdani's administration: Scott French (Human Resources Administration) oversees benefits programs such as SNAP, TANF, and others. Siddhartha Sanchez is the newly appointed head of the Mayor's Office of Food Policy. Jamie Horton (NYC Economic Developmet Corporation) is in charge of the NYC Groceries initiatve. Qiana Mickie is the inaugural head of the Mayor's Office of Urban Agriculture. The panel was moderated Julia McCarthy.
The evening concluded with Q&A and more time to connect.
You can view all photos in an online album, or check out a slideshow of selected pictures here.
[JPEG, 77.92 KB]
[JPEG, 69.47 KB]
[JPEG, 59.67 KB]
[JPEG, 90.14 KB]
[JPEG, 93.92 KB]
[JPEG, 69.33 KB]
[JPEG, 61.76 KB]
[JPEG, 61.29 KB]
[JPEG, 74.24 KB]
[JPEG, 67.81 KB]
[JPEG, 64.43 KB]
[JPEG, 74.22 KB]
[JPEG, 81.15 KB]
[JPEG, 87.72 KB]
[JPEG, 46.90 KB]
[JPEG, 74.29 KB]
[JPEG, 86.97 KB]
[JPEG, 77.61 KB]
[JPEG, 49.23 KB]
[JPEG, 55.17 KB]
[JPEG, 52.13 KB]
[JPEG, 83.87 KB]
[JPEG, 92.79 KB]
[JPEG, 88.51 KB]
[JPEG, 92.55 KB]
[JPEG, 51.60 KB]
[JPEG, 84.18 KB]
[JPEG, 47.30 KB]
[JPEG, 77.08 KB]
[JPEG, 48.13 KB]
[JPEG, 46.54 KB]
[JPEG, 47.45 KB]
[JPEG, 52.87 KB]
[JPEG, 63.13 KB]
[JPEG, 74.84 KB]
[JPEG, 80.73 KB]Below is a video of the night’s speakers including all presentations. The following time markers can be used to find specific moments:
- Start - Opening Montage
- 0:38 - Welcome by Adam Liebowitz and Julia McCarthy
- 3:10 - Introduction of CFF Champion Award recipient by Bronwyn Starr
- 5:30 - Grinding Stone Collective presentation by Brooke Rodriguez, Founder
- 20:05 - Remarks on CFF's work by Adam Liebowitz, CFF Director
- 26:20 - Keynote Panel
- 1:15:05 - Q&A