Kristen Smith

It's time to empower farmers to combat hunger and eliminate the reliance on their food donations! By fostering community engagement and embracing innovative solutions, we can make a significant impact. Exciting news from Northeastern Pennsylvania! 📢📢📢 We've introduced 4 new markets to support local farmers, including farm-to-nonprofit, farm-to-community stands in food apartheid areas, farm-to-school produce stands 📚📚📚, and farm-to-retail in low-income communities. 🛒🛒🛒 This initiative doesn't involve warehousing or complex logistics, leading to reduced food loss on farms and increased profits for farmers. In a recent success story, 300lbs of freshly harvested broccoli 🥦🥦🥦 was prevented from going to waste, breaking the cycle of farmers feeling obligated to donate their produce. Let's continue to build sustainable solutions and create a brighter future for both farmers and communities. #CommunityBuilding #FoodSecurity #LocalFarming #Sustainability #Innovation #FoodDignity #SystemsChange #PayFarmers

37

11 Comments

Powerful report from the Center fir Good Food Purchasing highlighting the "spillover" and co-benefits of re-localizing food systems. It matters where our food comes from, and where it goes and how it "gets there." This report makes a compelling case that investing in food systems and the linkages has big returns in economic growth, job creation AND resilience and sustainability.

22

6 Comments

🌿 Unlocking the Potential of Policy to Combat Food Waste 🌿 At Shapiro Enterprises, we understand that addressing the food waste crisis requires not just innovation but also supportive frameworks. That’s why we’re excited to share insights from our latest blog: “Government Initiatives to Help Businesses Reduce Food Waste.” Food waste poses substantial environmental, economic, and humanitarian challenges. In the U.S., 30-40% of the food supply is wasted annually, contributing to significant methane emissions and financial losses estimated at $218 billion, or 1.3% of GDP. 🔍 Blog Highlights: • Explore how the government is pivotal in crafting policies to combat food waste, offering financial incentives, standardizing date labels, and more. • Discover key legislation like the Food Recovery Act and the Federal Food Donation Act, which help businesses reduce waste through protections and incentives. • Learn about federal programs that offer grants and resources to foster innovative waste management strategies. As businesses, staying informed and engaged with these initiatives can not only enhance our sustainability efforts but also align us with broader national and global goals. 📚 Dive deeper into how your business can leverage these initiatives to make impactful changes:https://lnkd.in/dADThUhQ Together, we can transform our practices to create a more sustainable and waste-conscious future. #Sustainability #FoodWaste #GovernmentInitiatives #ShapiroEnterprises

4

This study spells out what donors want to see from an appeals campaign. In short: Strut your success!

2

Castanea Fellowship's impact report is out and I could not be more proud of the work, the people, or the joy that the program is cultivating! If you're someone who is serious about transforming food systems and climate & environmental work, you know we can't do this work without leaders that are supported, nourished, and have a reservoir of resilience to draw from. Castanea is creating this space - supporting spaces, experiences, and relationships that are truly transformational to build a world rooted in justice and joy that we all crave. Read more about our work and fellows: https://lnkd.in/gHGD2Fmr

18

Indigenous entrepreneurs—including farmers, potters, jewelers, and graphic designers—contribute greatly to the financial stability and wellbeing of their communities. But many of their businesses lack investors because of their size. To ensure they can access the resources they need to succeed, RWJF grantee New Mexico Community Capital is working to create a participant-owned economy that reflects Indigenous values through shared power and decisionmaking. In an interview for RWJF’s "What’s Next Health: 5 Questions For…" series, Henry Jake Foreman, Program Director of New Mexico Community Capital, describes just how they are strengthening economic opportunities for Indigenous entrepreneurs using Web3 technologies such as blockchain and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). Explore how their IndigiDAO program combines Indigenous cultural practices with modern technologies, and what it means for health equity, here: https://lnkd.in/eg-_pyna

4

When I was a newbie to the #antihunger community, I could not understand why everyone was so focused on the #FarmBill - how did something with that name impact New York City? I quickly learned just how many #food and #agriculture programs were governed by the #FarmBill, with the largest being #SNAP - the first line of defense against #hunger, that helps connect families with #meals and allows funds to be reinvested in local communities. As Congress works towards a reauthorization of the #FarmBill, the House has proposed a bill that many would describe as cruel, which would roll back $30B in #SNAP benefits over the next 10 years. With #hunger on the rise, we need ALL levels of government to support programs that put #food on the table - not take it off. As the House Agriculture Committee moved this proposal forward last week, I had the opportunity to speak to Spectrum News on what was at stake for New Yorkers in this proposal and why we need New York's congressional delegation to support a bipartisan #FarmBill that strengthens #SNAP and other programs. https://lnkd.in/equBzHrY

33

3 Comments

Beware the Funder Bubble! You don’t want to be in a funder bubble and get the answer that the nonprofits think you want to hear. No matter what funder you want to be—a sustainer, campaign or launcher—it is important to recognize the perils of being in what I call a funder bubble. If you don’t take steps to be open-minded and really listen, then you risk making poor decisions and potentially cause more harm than good. Head to my FREE funder resources and "Get the Real Scoop". Download the checklist, or watch my short training video and to keep yourself out of a funder bubble so that you can continue to be the best donor possible.  HERE: https://lnkd.in/g5xp9U7Z

1

🚧What are your community's biggest climate action roadblocks?🚧 If you work on climate action or sustainability in any local government large or small, we want to know the *biggest challenges* you face as you try to affect swift, effective change in your community. Take our 30-second poll to let us know what difficulties you've faced in your sustainability and resilience journey: https://hubs.ly/Q02HbDhx0 #climatechange #localgovernment #climateaction #sustainability #resilience #localclimateaction

8

If you're a rural NFP with a project that benefits your local community, there's a great chance you're eligible to apply for an SRC grant. From community resource development to environmental sustainability initiatives to projects that help alleviate poverty and/or disadvantage, SRC is one of our most flexible programs and applications are always encouraged. There are two streams of funding: - Small & Vital (small community grants) - grants of up to $10,000 - Prepare & Recover (disaster support) - grants of up to $25,000 Apply here: https://lnkd.in/gY9_pMhQ #SRC #CommunityGrants #DisasterRecovery #DisasterResilience

7

One of the questions that often comes up in our workshop, Facilitative Leadership for Social Change, including in a session this morning with the Food Solutions New England Network Leadership Institute cohort, goes something like this: “It’s great that I’m learning all of these practical collaborative #leadership and #facilitation skills, but what happens when I’m not the one leading or facilitating?” How can we keep things rolling when we aren’t formally "in charge" and when formal leadership is perhaps not so skillful? My answer: There’s usually some opportunity to lead, ask good questions, and to facilitate "from the chair." Behind most of the practices, frameworks, and tools that we offer in Facilitative Leadership for Social Change (FL4SC) is at least one good question that can be asked to help to move a group towards realizing greater collaborative potential. The point is to ask these in a spirit of service to help make more transparent, intentional, accessible, equitable and shared our #collaboration. For more, read this short article that was originally a blog post that was picked up by Nonprofit Quarterly: https://lnkd.in/eWDmXAz

6

2 Comments

At Food Solutions New England, we believe that #vision and #imagination are powerful forces for change in food and other systems that can help us forge paths to the bigger and better “we” that is desired by so many. The stories we take in and share about what is possible can have real impact and ripples! In today's 21 Day Equity Challenge prompt, people are invited to watch and/or listen to two short segments of a video from a talk given by Penobscot educator, author and attorney Sherri Mitchell (Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset) on her book Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change (start at 19:35 and end at 24:12; then start at 29:12 and end at 33:02). https://lnkd.in/eUN4pSmb We also invite participants to read the linked article entitled “Rethinking Food Culture Might Save Us,” from which we have pulled this piece: “Imagine a future where the ways we grow, cook, and gather around food affirms our #relationships to the places we live, to the people who came before us, and to future generations. Imagine a future where we recognize #care as the essence of all labor and appreciate all people’s labor, no matter the form it takes. Imagine that we joyfully nourish each other, that we all know we belong, and that we recognize land as kin. What images come to mind? What longing is sparked in us?” What thoughts and feelings does Sherri Michell’s talk and the passage/article provoke in you? As you consider #foodsystems that work for everyone, what comes to mind and heart? What do you see, hear, feel, taste, and sense? Have you had even small glimpses of that future, in a moment, or an interaction? What was that like? How could that be nurtured? Consider sharing any seeds from your reflections of what might become a collective vision in this Google doc (which we first offered to Challenge participants in 2021).  https://lnkd.in/ebvGWtGc https://lnkd.in/ed4qRBBP

4

A great way to end the week - here’s a short video on how we all can use Mother Nature herself to help solve the ills of our changing climate and address biodiversity loss- called Nature Based Climate Solutions these kinds of restoration measures will help communities and nature - win win!

9

The #UpstreamFundWR is unique because it's for the community, by the community. If you're a grassroot organization working on creating a more inclusive and safe #WaterlooRegion, don't miss out on this funding! The #UpstreamFundWR is a council-approved fund that is investing $1.89M in 2024 in community projects that tackle root causes of social and economic issues. Upstream approaches allow us to address multiple priorities and issues simultaneously, with a focus on prevention. By investing upstream, we can positively impact more people while potentially requiring fewer resources. The Community Capacity Building Fund is a council-approved fund that is investing $1M in 2024. This funding prioritizes organizations led by and serving First Nations, Inuit and Métis; African, Caribbean, and Black identifying; and racialized communities who are disproportionately affected by systemic inequality. With $2.89M in funding for grassroots and community-led initiatives, this is your chance to empower your projects like never before! Hurry, applications close April 28th! Get all the details: https://lnkd.in/gYh8tWkh

49