Copy
Food news and resources for NY-NJ-CT
View this email in your browser
August 18, 2022
 

 

Welcome to the August 2022 edition of the Community Food Funders Newslink. This is a monthly compilation of news, articles, reports, and upcoming events for funders in the tri-state region interested in an equitable and sustainable food system. Our past newsletter archive is available online.

We are now open to a wider audience, and invite everyone to sign up to receive this newsletter. You can also follow us on social media at the links below:
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
Vimeo

CFF Spotlight

 

NY to host 2022 NASDA Annual Meeting

September 26-29
Saratoga Springs, NY

Since 2017, CFF has been working with Sustainable Agriculture and Food System Funders (SAFSF) and Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG) to inform our peers about the annual meetings of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) and its regional affiliates. Since then, a group of practitioners has been attending each meeting under the banner of sustainable agriculture and food justice. This fall, the heads of the department of agriculture from all fifty states and territories will be convening in New York for their annual meeting. Registration is now open to attend in person or virtually. Please contact Community Food Funders if you plan on going so we can coordinate among attendees. 
 

Recording: Food for the Spirit award presentation

In June, Food for the Spirit of Buffalo, NY was named the winner of the 2022 Community Food Funders Champions Award. Selected by a committee comprised of past winners, Food for the Spirit was chosen in recognition of their grassroots efforts to build an equitable food system in Western NY, focused on BIPOC farmers and food system actors. In July, Rebekah Williams shared about the work of this amazing organization in an online award ceremony.
Food for the Spirit's Award Ceremony

Selected Events

View the complete events calendar online
 

Coop 101

August 23, 5:30 - 8:30pm EST
Virtual

Join Co-op Hudson Valley and Rock Steady Farm for an introductory workshop about cooperative businesses. This virtual (zoom) workshop is geared towards folks that are early in their journey of forming a cooperative project, and for people interested to see how the Worker Cooperative model works in an existing business.
 

Farm Financial Viability Field Day and Tomato Tasting

August 24, 4:30 - 6:30pm
Dirt Rich Farm

Join NOFA-NY and the Young Farmers Coalition of Western New York at Dirt Rich Farm for a two-part event: an educational presentation about making a living in farming at 4:30 pm, followed by a tomato tasting at 6:00 pm. You’re welcome to attend just one portion of the event or come for the whole thing!
 

Shaping a Better Farm Bill for New York State: Listening Sessions

A new Farm Bill is on the horizon. Let your voice be heard and help create a NYS Farm Bill policy platform by attending a series of virtual listening sessions co-hosted by Equity Advocates, Black Farmers United NYS and Food for the Spirit.
  • August 25: Urban Agriculture and Food Justice (Urban Agriculture Grants; Compost & Food Waste Cooperative Agreement; Community Food Projects)
  • September 7: Local and Regional Food Systems (LAMP; Value Added Producer Grant; Farm to School; Regional Food Systems; Regional Food Systems Partnership; Nutrition Incentives)
  • September 15: Benefits & Emergency Food Distribution (Commodity Supplemental Food, SNAP, TEFAP)

2022 NYS Funders Conference

September 14
Rochester, NY

A signature of NY Funders Alliance is the presentation of high-quality programming, connection opportunities, and networking forums. We are thrilled to announce the 2022 NYS Funders Conference will be held in-person, and we hope you will plan to join us! The event will include thoughtful plenary presentations, engaging breakout sessions, and new networking opportunities for grantmakers from across New York State. Each element of the conference will create space for funders to learn together and share best practices to advance effective philanthropy in our state.
 

2022 NASDA Annual Meeting

September 26 - 29
Saratoga Springs, NY

NASDA President and New York Commissioner of Agriculture Richard A. Ball invites you to attend the 2022 NASDA Annual Meeting, September 26 through September 29, in beautiful Saratoga Springs, New York. NASDA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit association which represents the elected and appointed commissioners, secretaries, and directors of the departments of agriculture in all fifty states and four U.S. territories. NASDA grows and enhances American agriculture through policy, partnerships and public engagement.

 

Farms Under Threat: 2040, Choosing an Abundant Future

Multiple Dates
"America’s farm and ranch lands are rapidly disappearing, threatening our rural communities and agricultural economy, jeopardizing future food security, and increasing vulnerability to extreme weather events. Each state faces a choice: let poorly planned development of this vulnerable resource continue or work to safeguard more farmland through better land-use planning and additional farmland protection tools. A new report from American Farmland Trust, maps three alternative futures out to the year 2040. Join AFT’s National Agricultural Land Network Director and guests in our upcoming, [state specific] webinars to explore highlights of our findings and what they mean for the future of agriculture in your state."

 

Resources & Announcements

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

North Star Fund Giving Project (Info Session)

Do you want to learn more about exciting grassroots-led organizing in New York City and the Hudson Valley? Better yet, do you want to do something to directly support this work and strengthen your own leadership in the process? At North Star Fund, we believe in our collective power to transform New York by supporting grassroots organizing led by impacted communities. Our Giving Projects bring together New Yorkers from a wide range of backgrounds to share stories and develop a common analysis of how systemic oppression impacts our lives and intentions. Come to an info session on August 24 to learn more


Power in Land, Agriculture, Climate, and Equity (PLACE) Fellowship

The National Young Farmers Coalition’s Power in Land, Agriculture, Climate, and Equity (PLACE) Fellowship will build a grassroots effort to replace the corporate climate agenda and promote a more equitable paradigm that positions farmers – especially young, LGBTQ+, and BIPOC farmers – as the source of innovation for justice and climate resilience. This fellowship will take place over the course of five months, convening 10 farmer leaders from across the country in a BIPOC-majority, queer abundant cohort to develop their knowledge at the intersection of corporate power, climate, and farmland access. Deadline: August 22


The Castanea Fellowship

The Castanea Fellowship looks for dedicated leaders ready to deepen the impact of their vision to build a healthier, more equitable, and sustainable food system. The Fellowship is for engaged leaders who are already equipped with a deep understanding of how the food system could shift in a meaningful way and have had considerable impact, yet know they could do much more. The leaders we seek are those who have demonstrated commitment to the work, understand racial equity, believe in the power of diversity, and welcome collaboration. The Castanea Fellowship is a two-year, awarded program that provides fellows the space, time, and resources to grow skills, connections, and community. Deadline: September 16. 
  

ONLINE TOOLS

Neighborhood Fare: Tools for Connecting Local Food Systems

Urban Design Forum has created new tools that support city and community leaders strengthening community-led food efforts.  In 2021-22, the Urban Design Forum partnered with the Mayor’s Office of Food Policy and the Department of City Planning to explore how to strengthen community-based food infrastructure. UDF convened a diverse group of 25 emerging leaders to investigate this question as part of the Forefront Fellowship. Explore the resources they created to learn more about building a more equitable food system.
 

VIDEO/AUDIO

Radio: Meet BIPOC farmers in the Northeast and learn why many farmers silently struggle with mental health

Statistically, more than 98% of Connecticut’s farmers are white. Today, we’ll talk with BIPOC farmers and hear from a grower about her journey, and the challenges facing farmers of color. Gaby Pereyra, a Co-Director at Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust joins us. We’ll also talk about how working in agriculture impacts mental health and hear from Joan Nichols. She’s executive director of the Connecticut Farm Bureau Association. (Where We Live, Connecticut Public)
 

Podcast: Dr. Clint Carroll on Stewarding Homeland 

In this new episode of For The Wild podcast, Ayana and guest Dr. Clint Carroll, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, discuss the mobility of Cherokee ethical frameworks as they are applied to environmental governance projects for Land Back. Exploring various forms of Cherokee relationality throughout time, Dr. Carroll pushes back against dominant settler histories about Cherokee migrations and relations to homeland and provides insight into what audience members ought to glean from Indigenous philosophies imparting practices of deep reciprocity, responsibility, and relationship to the land and each other. (For The Wild).
 

Podcast: Walk in Her Footsteps: Harriet Tubman's Life in Auburn, New York

Many people are familiar with Harriet Tubman as a conductor of the Underground Railroad, but few know the rest of her story. The story that took place in the Finger Lakes region of New York where she owned property, fulfilled her philanthropic work, married her second husband – and where her legacy lives on today. Harriet Tubman’s legacy lives on in Cayuga County’s historic sites, the small businesses, the residents, and the community itself. Follow in Harriet’s footsteps and walk along the streets and floors of landmarks that welcomed Harriet Tubman to live her life as a free woman. (Cayuga Tourism and Whetstone Magazine). 
 

LITERATURE

Article: Food system activism and the housing crisis

The affordable housing crisis in the United States is leaving millions of Americans homeless or spend­ing over one-third of their income on rent, a con­di­tion housing scholars refer to as ‘shelter poverty.’ This problem has clear linkages to the food system in terms of the cost and condition of food workers’ housing, the availability of food in low-income neighborhoods, the relationship between food and housing policy, and how much money households have available to provision themselves after paying rent. This commentary explores four aspects of the relationship between the U.S. food and housing systems: the contradiction between abundance and scarcity; the role of racism and coloniality in creat­ing these systems; the role of the government and public policy in maintaining and supporting these systems; and how stigma affixes itself to both the hungry and the shelter-poor. 


Book: How to Sell A Poison

"In How to Sell a Poison, historian of medicine Elena Conis traces the history of DDT, its impacts, and the implications of the shifting science. In a masterful narrative style that reads like a novel, Conis tells the stories of ordinary people and the nascent environmental movement that sought to expose the chemical’s harms. Her book offers insights about the mechanisms of science denial, disinformation campaigns, and the role of politics and other social forces in shaping a nation’s approach to regulating a toxic substance." Read more about the new book and an interview with the author on Civil Eats. 

Food in the News


FEATURED ARTICLES

Inside the Brooklyn Packers’ Vision for a Community-Based Micro Food Hub, Rae Gomes and Greta Moran,  Civil Eats, Jul 11 2022

City Late on Push to Expand Legal Food Cart Offerings With More Licenses, Katie Honan, The City, Jul 13 2022

Participatory Grantmaking: How We Failed, and What We’re Learning, Shaena Johnson and Marni Rosen, The Kataly Foundation, Jul 21 2022

Beginning, minority farmers seek land access through next farm bill, Haley Bickelhaupt, AgriPulse, Jul 27 2022
 

ALL NEWS


Foodways, History and Culture

Food and Agriculture Policy

Earth and Environment

Labor

Organizing and Mutual Aid

Philanthropy

Job Opportunities


Executive Director, Harvest Home Farmer’s Market (NYC)
Executive Director, Center for Urban Pedagogy (NYC)
Beginning Farmer Program Specialist – Farm Beginnings Lead, GrowNYC (NYC)
Trainer, The Advocacy Institute (NYC)
Development Manager, Spring Street Climate Fund (NYC)
Chief of Staff, Hot Bread Kitchen (NYC)
General Manager, Mangrove at Flatbush Central, Urbane (NYC)
Americorps Members, Concrete Safaris (NYC)
Office Manager, New Economy Project (NYC)
Multiple Positions, Workers Justice Project (NYC)
Horticulture Resource Educator, Cornell Cooperative Extension (Morrisville, NY)
Multiple Positions, Poughkeepsie Farm Project (Poughkeepsie, NY)
Office Coordinator, Grow Food Northampton (Northampton, MA)
Massachusetts Program Coordinator, FoodCorps (Boston or Remote)
Communications Manager, Biodynamic Demeter Alliance (Remote)
Operations Associate, Socially Responsible Agriculture Project (Remote)
Equity Project Manager, Organic Farmers Association (Remote)
Senior Strategist, Grassroots Power Project (Remote)
Philanthropy Director, River Network (Remote)
Copyright © 2022 Community Food Funders, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp