The National Young Farmers’ Coalition seeks a “Calendar Intern!”
They seek a “reliable, enthusiastic person to help fill the NYFC events calendar full of young farmer events, from coast-to-coast. It would require probably a few hours to start, and then no more than an hour a week after that. This is a super low-key and extremely helpful way to pitch in.”
Email lindsey@youngfarmers.org, if you’re interested.
Although this post is unlikely to encourage you to register and attend the Community Food Security Coalition’s Food Policy conference at this very last minute, it might. And of course, it might just get you to the CFSC’s fall conference that will be held in Oakland CA this year.
In any case, if you are in driving or biking distance of Portland, do your best to attend and or to start to connect to your peers working on policy issues. Even if you simply download the workshop list and do your best to follow or reach out to the speakers and conveners at a later date, you’ll be doing your organization a world of good.
As many of you know, the organization that I have been associated for the last 9 years, marketumbrella.org has been doing some very interesting data collection and measurement on markets in this area. Using trust as a proxy, NEED (Neighborhood Exchange Evaluation Device) has been measuring the quantity and quality of transactions and hopes to get an online tool (like the free SEED tool) up very soon.
When we started this project almost 4 years ago, only a handful of stakeholders understood why we were interested in this. Now of course, interest in bridging and bonding has grown exponentially, as has the interest in markets ability to manage that effort.
This article is another in a long line of studies of social cohesion, but is a good primer for anyone in your world who needs to understand how this can be seen as healthy behavior.
In a now-classic study of 6,928 adults living in Alameda County, Calif., conducted by Harvard researcher Lisa Berkman, PhD, and University of California, Berkeley, researcher S. Leonard Syme, PhD., people with few social ties were two to three times more likely to die of all causes than people with wider and closer relationships.
“Recent statistics from the USDA indicate that 14.2 percent of the U.S. population was using food stamps in February 2011, or around 44.2 million total, up from 33 million just two years before in 2009.”
The New Economy is being shaped at the grassroots level. Connect, share and learn from 700 pioneering business owners and investors, elected officials, philanthropists, economic development professionals and BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) network leaders as we spotlight the most innovative and entrepreneurial approaches to growing healthy, resilient local economies.
The conference will feature:
• 80 speakers
• 16 plenary sessions and off-site celebrations
• 24 interactive sessions
• 4 local living economy tours
• Living Economies Expo
• 3 pre-conference workshop intensives:
Accelerating Community Capital
How to Build a BALLE Network
Network Leaders Exchange
One of my “go-to” organizations to learn from and to pass along ideas to others is the New Economics Institute which was formerly known as the E.F. Schumacher Society. The Society is housed on a hilltop in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, in the middle of one of the many land trusts that the society has helped build.
Taking labor, currency and land out of commodity thinking and practice is the fulcrum of their work and may I say they do it beautifully. Or to say it in a positive way, ” to promote the building of strong local economies that link people, land, and community.”
This audio is one of their excellent lectures and is something to listen to while typing, while sipping that morning coffee before diving into the pile of work. I say that after you read it, gift it to your local colleges and universities to hear on their own. In my mind, this is the way to tackle behavior changes everywhere- thinking about the responsibility of use of any and all resources in each small world. And, if you want to understand what a campus goes through to make changes, this might help you.
And if these ideas sound right, go procure a copy of ‘Small is Beautiful”, Schumacher’s landmark book. Then go back for many of their publications because I think, you might find they add to your perspective.
“So we ask the question of, ‘What if we can imagine the end of infrastructure as we’re designing infrastructure?”
Went to the 2011 Food Summit in Nashville this weekend, convened by Community Food Advocates. I drove there from New Orleans (just about the same amount of time to drive as to fly-about 9 hours each way) and so I was able to view some of the damage from the tornado destruction and to hear from folks along the way about the flooding of Memphis from the Mississippi and its tributaries.
The one day summit is the follow up from their 2008 Summit and shows just how much can be done in less than 3 years in one area. Over 300 people registered for this event and the breadth of the projects represented was impressive.
What is working is the deep commitment to social justice issues, such as racial equity and cultural barriers. The universities are involved, the neighborhood activists are involved and the food system fulcrums that already existed (like the Nashville Farmers Market) are there.
I am looking through their handout book “From Charity to Justice” which outlines the food insecurity in the Nashville area. Seems like a textbook example of using Mark Winne and CFSC’s Food Policy training, which means they will be successful.
I think the highlight for me was the taped video message from Mark to the Nashville folks (who he clearly has worked closely with):
“For God’s sake, don’t blow it.”
Community Food Advocates
Baltimore Food Policy Initiative Program Coordinator
Job Description
GENERAL FUNCTION: The Baltimore Food Policy Initiative (BFPI)
establishes Baltimore as a leader in a local and sustainable food system
while increasing access to healthy affordable food in Baltimore City’s
Food Deserts. BFPI works in collaboration with the Baltimore Office of
Sustainability, Department of Planning and the Health Department. The
program coordinator will support the efforts of BFPI.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include but are not limited to:
* Coordinate and schedule Food Policy Advisory Committee (Food
PAC) and other BFPI meetings
* Support farmers markets through responding to requests
concerning establishing new farmers markets along with co-coordinating
the Baltimore City Farmers Market Manager Coalition
* Coordinate the Neighborhood Food Advocate pilot which will build
community and utilize social marketing strategies to encourage neighbor
to neighbor healthy food purchasing habits
* Increase access to healthy affordable food through implementing
the healthy food assessment for the Public Markets (e.g. Lexington and
Northeast Markets)
* Create and compile resources to support urban farming in
Baltimore City’s food deserts
* Organize quarterly food desert and solution tours for policy
makers
* Compile data for food system/grant related evaluations and
reports
* Review and analyze food related policies and draft policy briefs
* Supervise interns
Qualifications: Successful candidate should have a Master’s degree in
food systems, nutrition, public health, environmental studies or
sustainable agriculture or a minimum of three years experience in
coordinating community food system projects.
* Excellent organizational skills and ability to prioritize and
multi-task
* Social Marketing skills- facebook, twitter, and updating copy
for website
* Strong technical writing skills
* Competent in Outlook, Excel, Publisher, PowerPoint and Microsoft
word
* Experience reviewing and analyzing food related policies and
writing policy briefs
* Need to work effectively with members of city government,
for-profit and non-profit organizations, community leaders, and members
of the public
* Strong community organizing skills and experience working with
low income neighborhoods
The Baltimore Food Policy Initiative is seeking a full-time, 1099
contractual employee to serve as the Baltimore Food Policy Program
Coordinator, renewed annually dependent on grant funding. Depending on
qualifications, the compensation for this contractual position is
$45,000-$55,000, based on a 40 hour week, benefits not included. This
position is supervised by Holly Freishtat, the Baltimore City Food
Policy Director. The office location is Baltimore Office of
Sustainability, a standard workweek with some flexibility for evening
and weekend meetings. The expected start date is June 2011.
Application Instructions:
* All applications must be submitted electronically. Submit one
PDF that includes a cover letter and resume/CV. Email your application
to Holly.freishtat@baltimorecity.gov and title the subject of the email
as “Program Coordinator Application [your name].”
* No phone calls will be accepted
* All applicants must submit APPLICATION BY 5pm on Monday May
23rd, 2011
A speaker at the Nashville Food Summit: “Community gardens are more about the community then the gardening.” I agree that has been true in recent years but is that the future?
And then this morning saw this on the comfood listserve:
Community Gardens Win the Food Wars
Millions of pounds of fresh food and produce were raised during the World War II years—as much as 40% of all vegetables consumed nationally.
5,285,000 Victory Gardens in the United States
According to The War Garden Victorious, Indianapolis “estimated the value of its war-garden crop in 1918 at $1,473,165. Denver placed its yield at $2,500,000 and Los Angeles at $1,000,000. Washington, District of Columbia reached $1,396,5000.” Thanks to propaganda (“your garden is a munitions plant”) there were 5,285,000 victory gardens in 1918. The City of Rochester, New York alone had more than 15,000. The “estimated value of our war-garden crops for 1918 (was) $525,000,000! A half billion dollars!”
Important history for us to know and to use as an impetus for today. Speaking of today:
Thanks to the research efforts of Farming Concrete, we know the value and weight of produce created by 67 of the 500 community gardens in NYC:
* 67 gardens comprise 1,200 plots
* 1,200 gardeners (give or take) raised 39,518 plants
* 39,518 plants produced 87,690 lbs of food
* 87,690 lbs of food worth $214,060
But here is the statistic that really caught my eye. All this work, all this fresh food was produced on just 1.7 acres of land, or 71,950 square feet. The parking lots at suburban malls are bigger than that!
Check out Farming Concrete for their excellent resources to measure the benefits of urban gardens; the toolkit is very similar to the Farmers Market Metrics we are creating at the Farmers Market Coalition.
Community Food Security Coalition
National Farm to School Network
Position Announcement: Associate Director
Deadline for Applications is May 6, 2011
The selected candidate will be employed by the Community Food Security Coalition with
the option to work remotely from any location in the continental US. This position is funded
full‐time until August 31, 2012. Continued employment is based upon availability of funds.
Community Food Advocates, in partnership with the Nashville Food Policy Council, will host Food Summit 2011 at the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel on May 7th, 2011 from 8:30 am to 3:00 pm. The Summit will be a gathering of stakeholders – from farm to fork – across Nashville’s diverse food system.
“Food Summit 2011 – Growing an Agenda for Change” will celebrate and highlight food systems accomplishments in Nashville, feature “best practices” from national experts, equip participants with advocacy and change-making skills, and help set an agenda for change for the future.
Community Food Advocates is a non-profit organization in Nashville dedicated to the notion that all members of our community should have access to food grown in a way that promotes the health of people, planet and community. Community Food Advocates works with community residents, policy makers and businesses to provide education about food assistance programs, advocate for policies that ensure equitable access to healthy food, and bring healthy foods back into food desert neighborhoods.
The Nashville Food Policy Council is a program of Community Food Advocates and is funded in full by the Department of Health and Human Services, as part of the Metro Public Health Department’s Communities Putting Prevention to Work campaign. The Nashville Food Policy Council engages City/County policy makers, consumer interest groups, retail food industry, local agriculture industry, and faith- and community-based organizations to strengthen and align efforts to create food system change in our community.
For more information on Food Summit 2011, please contact Shavaun Evans at 615-385-2286 ext. 226
The event is free and open to the public.
Barbara Haber is an author, food historian and the former curator of books at Radcliffe’s Schlesinger Library at Harvard University. She is a former director of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and was elected to the James Beard Foundation’s “Who’s Who’s in Food and Beverages” and received the M.F.K. Fisher Award from Les Dames d’Escofier. This article comes from Zester daily, a food blog:
EPES, ALABAMA…. The Federation of Southern Cooperatives is offering its Training Center in Epes, Alabama to house volunteers and others assisting those who have been displaced from the tornadoes. Assistance to devastated communities will also include food, water, clothing, equipment, supplies, to Tuscaloosa and surrounding rural communities, impacted by the storms. Financial assistance is critical to offer this much needed support. Please consider donating on the Federation’s website at http://www.federation.coop to help with this much needed assistance.
The Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund (FSC/LAF or Federation) is a regional, non-profit, IRS 501c 3 organization that provides information, technical assistance, training, resources and advocacy to a membership of 20,000 low income families working in cooperatives, credit unions and other self-help community based associations across the rural South. Organized in 1967, they are in their 44th year of operation.
A primary focus of the Federation is on Black farmers and landowners as well as other family farmers struggling to maintain their land, livelihood, culture and communities. The Federation utilizes the cooperative form of democratic economic organization to help people collectively address their problems and uplift their communities.
The Federation’s membership owns and operates a Rural Training and Research Center on 850 acres of land, near Epes, Alabama in rural Sumter County. The Center is halfway between Meridian, Mississippi and Tuscaloosa, Alabama, five miles from the Epes-Gainesville Exit – No. 23 on Interstate 59/20. The center has a dormitory (that sleeps 72 in bunk beds – 4 to a room), a commercial kitchen, auditorium, classrooms, offices and a demonstration farm and timber program.
For more information as to how you can help through the Federation:
http://www.federation.coop/
Helping Farmers Markets Grow 