Congratulations to the FSLN Activation Grant recipients!

We’re excited to announce the inaugural round of FSLN Activation Grant recipients! Six mini-grants from $2,500 – $5,000 have been awarded to FSLN members to seed collaboration and connection across the network, facilitate the exchange of knowledge, and support activities designed by and for network members. Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their ideas and to the FSLN Network Weavers for your support in reviewing the proposals. Get to know Activation Grant recipients below and reach out to [email protected] with any questions.

Cultural Exchange Across Foodways

Member leads: Brian Solem and Dan Mueller with Slow Food USA

“Cultural Exchange Across Foodways” is a three-part program: FSLN and Slow Food USA leaders will be able to join two workshops from Food Culture Collective focused on cultivating skills for transformative storytelling and then apply for one of five $400 storytelling microgrants (apply here by Aug. 15) that will center relationships as the key to food justice and racial equity. Stories produced from the microgrants will be released in Fall 2022.

FSLN Virtual Learning Session: Donation Station Cultivation

Member leads: Susie Huser, Reggie Morrow, and Maribeth Saleem-Tanner with Community Food Initiatives

Get involved: Register here for the July 28 webinar and become eligible for 1:1 coaching.

The Donation Station Cultivation project is a two-part program offered to the network by Athens, Ohio-based network member Community Food Initiatives (CFI). During a July webinar, CFI staff will share their innovative “Donation Station” model, an  innovative program for developing the local economy, supporting local farmers, and alleviating food insecurity that combines purchasing, gleaning, and collecting donations. Network members interested in piloting this program in their own communities will then be able to connect directly with Susie, Reggie, and Maribeth for 1:1 consultations and access to a “Donation Station Seed Kit” with resources and tools to help you adapt the program to your community’s unique context.

FSLN Virtual Learning Session: Reflections from SOFSA’s Equity, Inclusion, & Accountability Initiatives

Member leads: Maura Ackerman and Avalon Gupta VerWiebe with Syracuse-Onondaga Food Systems Alliance

Get involved: Register here for the August 3 webinar

As a young organization just getting started, Syracuse-Onondaga Food Systems Alliance (SOFSA) is somewhat unique in building a racial equity and justice orientation into its organizational fabric from the outset. Through this learning session, participants will hear stories and reflections from SOFSA’s efforts over the past 18+ months – both successful and less so – alongside a “menu” of tangible, action-oriented first steps that organizations might embark upon to embed racial equity throughout the alliance. This Activation Grant will support SOFSA as they document their process and tools, share the lessons and learnings they’ve had along the way, and connect with others to help catalyze change in organizations across the network.

FSLN Virtual Learning Session: Developing a Roadmap for Racial Justice in the Food System: Lessons Learned and Best Practices from the San Diego Food System Alliance

Member leads:

Rachel Oporto with San Diego Food System Alliance

Get involved: Stay tuned to register for the August webinar!

Over the last few years, the San Diego Food System Alliance has developed and begun implementing a Roadmap for Racial Justice in the Food System, a strategic plan that translates their vision for racial justice into action steps. During this virtual learning session, SDFSA will share lessons learned and best practices with the broader Food Systems Leadership Network. You will learn more around their process for developing the Roadmap for Racial Justice, and receive tools to develop your own.

Equity-Rooted Leadership Coaching Development

Member leads: Rachael Reichenbach with Resist Reimagine and LaShauna Austria with Seeds of Change Consulting

FSLN members Rachael Reichenbach and LaShauna Austria will use this Activation Grant to work together to design equity-rooted coaching strategies and frameworks that will be used to support leaders as they navigate the challenges of transforming their organizations to become explicitly anti-racist. Leaders, and staff at large, have access to trainings, workshops, and external consultants to support equity-focused change processes. Yet, when the trainings end or the consultant’s contract is complete, there are still so many questions, and an ongoing need for support; this project will help fill that gap.

What’s the Tea?

Member leads: Suparna Kudesia with CoFed, Rachael Reichenbach with Resist Reimagine, Arlo Bush with Sustainable Food Center, and Lindsey Lunsford with Tuskegee University

The What’s the Tea? project is a story-remembering and story-telling collaboration between four FSLN members seeking to curate a collection of stories from folks across the food system that help cultivate liberatory mindsets in food systems leaders. The Activation Grant will provide seed funding to this collective to strategize, develop an operating entity, map out storytelling conversations and mediums, and jumpstart fundraising efforts to catalyze this work.

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