These twelve individuals will participate in the first Seeding Power Fellowship, launching this month and concluding in August, 2020. They will embark on an emergent learning journey, designed and facilitated by Simran Noor of Noor Consulting, consisting of five in-person retreats, monthly peer coaching calls, site visits and more!
For 20 years, East New York Farms! has offered an intensive Youth Internship to build the skills, knowledge, and confidence of youth in East New York. As part of the mission, they have made intentional opportunities to hire and retain youth alumni on staff, creating pathways to positions of power. Join us for a conversation with current staff of ENYF! to learn about how they transitioned from youth participants to program leaders. Funders will learn how they can support organizations to create these pathways and build a movement of leaders who come from the communities they serve.
Narrative change has taken a central role in the organizing around food, agriculture and climate justice in United States. Join us in this conversation with grassroots leaders who are finding inspiring and effective new ways to “change the narrative” and build power. Food First’s intensive WriteShop method brings together frontline leaders from the food, farm and climate justice movements to produce a compelling book and generate shared strategies for community action. This broad-based initiative aims to turn the growing momentum behind the Green New Deal into an opportunity for community organizing and national movement-building to transform the food system—and our society.
The Closing the Hunger Gap Network – a coordinated space for food banks and pantries moving beyond food distribution towards strategies that address the root causes of hunger – is undergoing a national story-based narrative change process to challenge the dominate narrative of hunger in U.S. and redefine the role of food emergency organizations in building a more just food system. This ongoing initiative is helping to organize, build power and ultimately change the story of hunger in the U.S.
On December 4th, CFF partnered with Philanthropy New York, Sustainable Agriculture and Food System Funders, and Surdna Foundation to host a briefing on three new leadership development programs in the food and farming sector. Navina Khanna, Director of the HEAL Food Alliance, spoke about their School of Political Leadership that supports 10 food and farm justice leaders with the tools, knowledge, and skills they need to run for office, work on campaigns, and drive political change. Next, Farzana Serang, Executive Director of the Castanea Fellowship, described how Castanea will provide a diverse cohort of leaders with the time, space, and resources they need to connect and innovate on long-term solutions that can foster vibrant communities and the creation of a more equitable, sustainable, and healthy food system. Lastly, Adam Liebowitz, Director of Community Food Funders, outlined the new Seeding Power Fellowship for experienced food justice leaders working across sectors to build equitable food systems in New York City, the Hudson Valley, and Long Island.
On November 1st, CFF partnered with The Marcus Foundation and SAFSF to host a briefing about the living and working conditions faced by most farmworkers in the US, and food certification programs that are trying to address and ameliorate these issues. Jessica Culley described the work of the Farmworkers Support Committee (CATA), a grassroots member-led organization. CATA was also a founding member of the Agricultural Justice Project that issues the “Food Justice Certified” label. Peter O’Driscoll talked about the Equitable Food Initiative and all it has accomplished in the past five years with its “Responsibly Grown, Farmworker Assured” label that comes only as the result of multi-stakeholder engagement and agreements across the supply chain. And Michael Rozyne talked about his years in the farming and food distribution business with Red Tomato, what it will take to maintain farms in our region, and a pilot project he is engaging in with EFI in Connecticut to explore the model on smaller farms.
Over the past two decades, food has emerged as a central strategy and focus of nonprofits worldwide concerned with environmentalism and climate change, public health and hunger, community and economic development, human rights, and racial and social justice. Despite gains on certain issues in some geographic areas, a coordinated and unified ‘food movement’ has yet to realize the true potential of the millions who care deeply about these causes. Now, the infrastructure is being put in place for that to change. You’re invited on December 4th for a special discussion about three initiatives designed to bring together diverse leaders of this nascent movement, break down silos to encourage dialog, and support them in reaching their fullest power.