conferences

Request for proposals for CFSC’s fall conference

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
“Food Justice:
Honoring our Roots, Growing the Movement” Community Food Security Coalition’s 15th Annual Conference Oakland, California November 5-8, 2011
Submit proposals online: here
Proposal Deadline: May 13, 2011
As you design your session, consider the following:
• We will prioritize creative and interactive sessions that provide opportunities for significant audience
participation, such as structured group activities, mapping or drawing, small group discussions, “think, pair, and share,” and dialogue circles.
• We encourage sessions that lead to a specific outcome, that are linked to the activities of the Community Food Security Coalition, and/or that build the community food security movement.
• “How to” and skill building workshops that provide ideas and tools will be prioritized.
• We encourage workshop organizers to include a diverse group of workshop leaders, such as youth, project participants, and community members.
• The number of people involved in food system related efforts is growing. We want to offer sessions for people new to the movement, as well as for people who have been involved in the food movement for a longer period of time. Both introductory and specialized workshops are welcome, as are sessions that would appeal to a broad spectrum of attendees.
• We urge presenters to avoid proposing workshops that highlight only a specific project or program. Instead, we suggest that you connect with colleagues from other organizations or communities to create a more comprehensive collaborative workshop. These workshops will be given priority during the review process.
• Technical Assistance for developing effective presentations will be available through the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy Food and Society Fellowship. Details will be provided to leaders of the workshops chosen for the conference.
• All sessions will be 90 minutes in length. Expect approximately 30 – 75 attendees per session.
Expectations of Presenters
Presenters are required to submit all materials (powerpoints, tools, etc) used in the session prior to the conference for distribution to attendees.
The workshop leader must attend a conference orientation webinar prior to the conference.
CFSC is seeking proposals for two session formats:
Workshops
These sessions are skill building,
educational, or informative in nature. We
encourage a participatory approach, but
presentations with adequate time for
discussion are acceptable.

Networking Sessions
Facilitated discussions designed to engage participants
in a discussion about a situation, challenge, or
strategy. While there will be a facilitator, all
participants are on equal footing. Presentations

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HUFED newsletter

This list of some of the conferences happening soon is from the Wallace Center’s newsletter, which I encourage everyone to sign up for.

EVENTS AND WEBINARS

April 29 Homefront to Heartland: A Conference for Women in Agriculture; Nashville, TN

Conference topics include marketing and financing, advocacy tools, diet and utilizing new technology.

May 5 National Good Food Network (NGFN) Webinar on Fair Food

Register for the upcoming NGFN webinar where Oran Hesterman, President and CEO of Fair Food Network, will discuss his soon-to-be-released book Fair Food: Growing a Healthy Sustainable Food System for All from 3:30-4:45pm EST.

May 5 Local and Sustainable Meat & Poultry: Making the Shift in Institutional Purchasing; Clarksville, MD

This regional conference will bring together a variety of stakeholders to identify barriers and possible solutions and strategies for establishing new institutional purchasing practices for local sustainable beef, pork and poultry. The conference will be held from 7:30am – 3:00pm at the Ten Oaks Ballroom and Conference Center in Clarksville, Maryland. An agenda is coming soon. This initiative is funded by a grant from the Federal-State Marketing Improvement Program (FSMIP) within USDA Agricultural Marketing Service with matching funds from the Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers.

May 19-21 Community Food Security Coalition Conference; Portland, OR

The CFSC’s “Food Policy from Neighborhood to Nation” conference will include field trips, short courses and workshops focused on local and state level food policy issues.

May 31 Healthy Corner Store Network Webinar “Low-cost strategies for Bringing Healthier Foods into Small-scale Stores”

This webinar, sponsored by the Community Food Security Coalition, will be held May 31 from 1:00 pm – 2:15pm EST and cover low-cost methods for introducing, displaying and promoting healthy foods in corner stores and other small-scale retail stores.

June 6 Illinois Public Health Association Sustainable Food Systems Workshop; Lombard, Illinois

The Food and Nutrition Section of the Illinois Public Health Association (IPHA) will host a workshop at their 2011 IPHA Annual Meeting, “Sustainable Food Systems Building the Foundation for Prepared Communities.” The keynote speaker will be John W. Boyd, Jr. President of the National Black Farmers Association, and a panel discussion will cover international food systems and Illinois statewide food issues.

June 2-4 School Food FOCUS Annual Conference “Transforming School Food” Denver, Colorado

At this three day conference at the Inverness Hotel in Denver, participants will “tour Denver schools, gardens, and other food facilities, learn about the new School Food FOCUS Strategic Plan, discover best practices and learnings from the field, meet and sample food during the School Food Showcase from vendors providing wholesome options for school food service, including Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools, collaborate in workshops and roundtables that get to the heart of food systems change, participate in a dialogue with USDA representatives, a unique chance to voice concerns and be heard, become familiar with emerging regional school food hubs across the country”.

October 3-4 Consumer Federation of America National Food Policy Conference; Washington, DC

The National Food Policy Conference is for those involved in agriculture, and food and nutrition policy to explore the critical food policy issues with policymakers, advocates and scientists. Major speakers include cabinet members and leaders on food and agriculture policy on Capitol Hill.

November 4-8 Community Food Security Coalition’s 15th Annual Conference; Oakland, CA

This four day food systems networking and educational event will include presentations, workshops, networking opportunities, local grown food, and field trips around the San Francisco Bay area.

November 8-11 Policy Link’s Equity Summit 2011; Detroit, MI

Registration is now open for Policy Link’s Equity Summit “Healthy Communities, Strong Regions, A Prosperous America” to discuss sustainable and equitable development and the relationship between access to jobs, transportation, education, health, and housing.

November 11-12 Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG) Annual Conference; Albany, NY

NESAWG, a network of 12 Northeastern states that focuses on regional food system development, will have their annual “It Takes a Region” conference that will draw on the success of their 2009 & 2010 conferences to discuss distribution logistics, research, messaging, access & nutrition, and advocacy in relation to the 2012 Farm Bill.

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Land use and transportation planning

When considering integrated land use and transport planning, Placemaking promotes a simple principle: if you plan cities for cars and traffic, you get cars and traffic. If you plan for people and places, you get people and places. The power of this simple idea is that it reflects basic truths that are rarely acknowledged. One such truth is that more traffic and road capacity are not the inevitable results of growth. They are in fact the products of very deliberate choices that have been made to shape our communities around the private automobile. We have the ability to make different choices–starting with the decision to design our streets as comfortable places for people.
That is from our friends at Projects for Public Spaces. If you have not looked at their site, you need to. They have much to offer in linking us to planners, city leaders and international markets. So don’t forget to mark September 2012 for Cleveland OH trip for their International Public Market Conference.

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Food policy conference offered by CFSC

The leading national voice for food security policy and related resources, Community Food Security Coalition, is doing a policy conference at their home base of Portland, Oregon.
With the 2012 Farm Bill looming, this is a great chance to make sure farmers market issues are on the table. So if you go to network or present, promise you’ll take good notes for the rest of us and then share.

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PPS announces Cleveland as the location for 2012 International Public Market Conference

Hey market folks, this is a great conference to meet a varied group of market organizers, public space activists and decision makers. Cleveland will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of their iconic West Side Market and will also be able to show off many great projects focused on increasing markets, regional food and public space uses during the conference.
PPS will co-host the conference with the Ohio City Near West Development Corporation as the organization dedicated to developing, preserving, and promoting Ohio City, the neighborhood anchored by the West Side Market.

Join the PPS email list to get information about this conference and check out the “Green City Blue Lake” website to see what Cleveland has been up to lately.

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Boulder

CFMA members write up some things that they would like to chat about over lunch

I am heading back from Boulder and Fort Collins, up there in Colorado. Was invited to present at the 2011 Colorado Farmers Market Association conference by Cindy Torres, one of my fellow Community Food Security Coalition board members.

Cindy Torres (Dir-CFMA) and Jenn Ross (Boulder Mkt Mgr, CFMA Brd member) out for some tapas with me in Colorado.


Unfortunately, no nearby markets to see this time of year, but more “winter markets” (as they call them in Colorado) are coming all of the time. The conference was held at CSU in Fort Collins, lovely place.
Market managers, extension folks, graduate students, and organizers thinking about starting a new market all attended. I did a SNAP briefing using the FMC “Real Food, Real Choices” report and some other helpful information about Colorado SNAP supplied by Stacy Miller of Farmers Market Coalition a few days before.
The SNAP briefing and discussion was 2 hours long and very lively. I think about a half dozen markets attended, along with some new market organizers.
The next day the conference started in earnest. Loads of information was presented to the 70-80 people that attended. Very in-depth, useful information from state departments and county health folks, as well Colorado Ag (Market Maker) and an update on a regional assessment report.
I also presented in the afternoon about the 4M framework and measurement; I was followed by Manage My Markets’ Kathleen O’ Malley, who sparked a lot of interest in their back office product.
The state association is doing first-rate policy work on the state level as well as in many counties. Every agency spoke personally of their connection to Cindy and their deep trust in CFMA’s work. From evolving food handling guidelines for small-scaled vendors to beginning market and farmers programs, the expansion of SNAP and WIC voucher programs and their insurance program, all were discussed.
What is clear to me is the need in Colorado for this association to continue to grow their capacity to serve their members and to be present for the many challenges that are coming. I wish them great luck.
And thanks for the first-class lunch…

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Very useful webinars coming up

I hope everyone is a member and everyone avails themselves of FMC’s webinars. This spring they are focusing on insurance issues for markets, for vendors and for the host organization.

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At NOFA-VT conference…

Listening in on the Vermont Farmers Market Association annual meeting while at the NOFA-VT Direct Marketing Conference.
Professional, really covering a great many topics and a diversity in farm stands, markets and CSAs represented.
Saw a bit of the round table on emerging farmers market questions, and sat in on the SNAP at farmers market talk. Seems like they have 30 markets in the state doing tokens, and a mini-grant program for new markets to start EBT. Very detailed talk and an obvious, great partnership between the Department of Children and Families rep and NOFA.
Lunch is coming, local ingredients galore.
Local apples and apple ciders on the table all morning have been delightful.
South Royalton is a charming little town; the picture postcard of Vermont it seems. The conference is being held at the Vermont Law School campus.
Should I buy books? there are a lot of farmer business planning books for sale. I wonder if our farmers would use it…

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