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CFF Champions Award

BK ROT

Spring 2022 Update

BK ROT, the winner of the 2021 CFF Champions Award, was chosen in recognition of their community-based food waste hauling and composting programs, environmental and social justice principles, and youth development.
Click here for the 2022 nomination form (deadline Friday)
BK ROT is New York City's first community-supported, bike-powered, fossil fuel free food waste hauling and composting service. The project is staffed by young people of color who haul residential and commercial organic waste and transform it into high quality compost. Their operations provide accessible jobs and sustained professional development for emerging environmental leaders.

BK ROT is designing and implementing a new kind of waste system, one that uses food waste as the foundation for a healthy urban ecosystem, that uplifts the people and places responsible for managing waste, and that demonstrates the power of a regenerative green economy.

Read on for an update on what they've been doing since we last heard from them last year. And sign up for their newsletter to stay updated!
This past year, BK Rot opened a new site at 1291 Dekalb Avenue! This location will be an opportunity for community building and upgrades to their operations. 1291 Dekalb, down the block from their Know Waste Lands site, previously served as an overflow area for composting windrows.

To date, BK Rot has built the structure, roof, and walls for their new microhauling shed. Designed by the Urban Design Forum Forefront Fellows, the buildout in December was led by Brett Van Aalsburg, powered by youth workers, and supported by friends, neighbors, and partner gardener/composters.
 

BK ROT In The Press


Inside the Battle to Save Compost in New York City, Rachel Nuwer,  Outside Magazine, Mar 10 2022

Introducing Plantita: Like a Little Free Library, but for Plants, M.E. Lewis, Bushwick Daily, Nov 2 2021

Video: A&E Voices Magnified
In this short video, BK ROT co-directors Dior St. Hillaire and Nora Tjossem discuss how NYC's first community-supported, bike-powered waste hauling and composting service helps young people understand that they have the power to create change.

Youth Leaders Program - Applications Open

BK ROT's Youth Leaders program provides an opportunity for youth ages 15-19 to learn more about microhauling (small collection of materials by low emission vehicles) and composting. Through this summer program, participants will dig deeper into food, climate, and environmental justice, learn practical skills and learn how to create positive change with our communities. The Youth Leaders program is stipended and runs 3 days a week from June to August.

Applications open now through June 1st. Please share widely with NYC youth!

Ceci's farewell


In December, Executive Director of BK ROT, Ceci Pineda, left the organization and welcomed in two new co-directors. Here is a some of what they shared in their transition letter:

I am honored to have belonged to BK ROT’s ecosystem for the past five years and have served as BK ROT’s Executive Director for the past two. In 2019, BK ROT had six staff members, one primary garden partner, and deep roots in a vibrant regenerative eco-community. Since then we doubled our staff size, began stewarding composting operations at three additional partner gardens, grew from serving 75 residential households to over 300, launched our seasonal and educational Youth Leaders program, and began transforming and stewarding a site that had been abandoned for over 40 years. Most importantly, in the midst of a global pandemic and increasing climate impacts, we centered youth, relationships, and workers.

I am proud of the ways our team has evolved and adapted with integrity to our values and our work. It has been a great joy and honor to witness youth rise in leadership and autonomy over our work.

My time in Executive Leadership made it clear that BK ROT, our team, and our web of partners deserve two people at the helm. I am excited about this new iteration of leadership, which will create a more sustainable leadership culture that nourishes respect, honorable work, and BK ROT’s core values. Our new Co-Directors will bridge us closer to our goals to further decentralize BK ROT so that not only our operations but also our organization is more youth-led.

Welcoming New Leaders


BK ROT’s new leadership team consists of two new co-directors, Dior St. Hillaire and Nora Tjossem, and Board Chair Priya Mulgoankar!

As Co-Directors, Nora and Dior will be deepening BK ROT’s investment in youth leadership and their capacity to create and reimagine what is possible for their lives and the world around them. BK ROT's goals of building the local green economy, repairing land through compost generation and soil remediation, and fighting for environmental justice in Brooklyn and beyond will always prioritize the growth and initiative of youth leaders and workers.

"We're so honored to be stepping into leadership at the turning of this new leaf. Together, our curiosities and ideas, visions for food and climate justice, and commitment to changing the world ground our commitment to this work!"

 
Pictured: BK Rot Co-Directors Nora & Dior (left); and Board Chair, Priya Mulgaonkar (right).

BK ROT Happenings

 

New Youth Led Drop off sites

BK Rot’s 2021 cohort of the Youth Leaders Program worked on opening new drop-off sites at partner gardens in central Brooklyn, which include: Good Life Garden, Know Waste Lands, and Aberdeen Community Garden
Youth worker Nevaeh opening dropoff at Aberdeen Community Garden

#BlackGold Campaign

BK Rot raised $7,813 through #BlackGold, their annual end-of-year fundraising campaign. BK Rot fundraises by inviting their collective of friends, family, and (eco)communities to invest in their roots. Stay tuned for our Summer Soilstice fundraising event!

2022 Champions Award Nominations

Deadline May 27, 2022


In 2017, The Community Food Funders steering committee created the Champions Award to recognize the leaders empowering food system change in our region. The award aims to promote the work of an outstanding organization that is working towards the transition of our food system to one that pursues a true triple bottom line: a system that honors and values people, the environment, and sustainable economic models. We are now accepting nominations for the 2022 award. 

We made some changes this year, to better align the award with its intended purpose and with our values as a network. Now, anyone can nominate an organization, including self-nominations. Read more about the changes we've made, including doubling the award amount to $10,000.
Copyright © 2022 Community Food Funders, All rights reserved.


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