The Food Systems Leadership Network (FSLN) is a national peer learning community that connects current and emerging leaders, strengthens individual and collective leadership capacity, and fosters collaboration across communities.  

The goal of the network is to accelerate the realization of a just, equitable, and sustainable food system that generates good food, health, and opportunity for all. The FSLN cultivates relationships among food systems leaders and provides a platform for sharing knowledge and skill, building collective power and purpose, and acting collaboratively to transform the food system. Learn more about us here.

This new digital platform contains all the existing FSLN resources as well as the resources and expertise previously housed within the Wallace Center’s National Good Food Network (previously housed at NGFN.org). This move combines the NGFN’s expertise in technical skills like value chain development, food safety, food hub development, and financial management with the FSLN’s work on systems leadership, collaboration, and racial equity – and puts everything in one easy to access location.

The FSLN is a peer learning community for people working in food systems change.

The Food Systems Leadership Network is made up of over 2,000 individual leaders and 400 organizations working to realize a just, equitable, and sustainable food system that generates good food, health, and opportunity for all. These individuals and organizations represent rural, urban, and tribal communities in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, working across the food value chain. A majority of FSLN members are on the ground food systems practitioners working at non-profit organizations and in social enterprises, though consultants, government and extension agents, academics, funders, and anyone else that supports equitable food systems are also welcome!

FSLN is developed and managed by the Wallace Center at Winrock International. The Wallace Center’s Food Systems Leadership team is responsible for the overall administration of the platform. FSLN is free for users and partners thanks to the financial support of many of the Wallace Center’s funders, including the WK Kellogg Foundation, the NoVo Foundation, The Kresge Foundation and others.

From the homepage click “Register/Login.” Next, click “Create an Account.”  

First you need to decide whether you are going to make an account for yourself, or for the organization you work for. You can do both, of course! But you need to do one at a time and to use a different email for your organization and individual member account. We recommend you start by creating an account for your organization.  

Creating an Organization Account 

From the homepage click “Sign Up” in the top right corner. First enter an email associated with your organization. Great idea here to use an [email protected] type email account, if you have one. Choose a password. Then select that you are creating an “Organization’ account.  

Enter the organization name in the “First Name” box. Leave the “Last Name” box blank.  

Choose a username for the organization profile. (e.g. ‘Wallace.Center’)  

Finally enter your location as city or town, state. The field will auto-populate as you start to type in your response.  

Click “Create an Account”  

Next you will be asked to fill out a few onboarding questions and to provide additional information about your organization. For questions that ask you to select multiple options you can do choose additional selections by holding down the control (Ctrl) key and clicking additions answers. Once done click submit.  

Creating an Individual Member Account  

From the homepage click “Sign Up” in the top right corner. Enter your email and create a password. Select that you a creating a “Member” account. Enter your first name under “First Name” and last name under “Last Name.” Create a username and then enter the location where you live/work. If you are associated with an organization select ‘yes’ under “Member of Organization?” If you have already created an organization account, you can find or search for the organization you are associated with. Doing so will connect your individual profile with the profile for your organization. For this reason, we recommend you create an organization account before you make an individual account.  

Next you will be taken to a short series of onboarding questions where you can fill out additional information on yourself, demographics, and what you are hoping to share with and learn from the FSLN. If you want to select multiple options, hold down the Control (Ctrl) key and click additional selections. Once done click submit.  

Customizing Your Profile, Adding Photos, and Connecting to Social Media Accounts 

From your profile click “Edit Profile.” You can add or edit the information entered at onboarding and registration here. By clicking “Social Media Accounts” you can connect to Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or Instagram Accounts.  You can add Profile and Cover photos by clicking those options on the left-side menu. The ‘Tags’ option below will allow you to select content that you want to follow or subscribe to. When content with those tags is posted to the site you will receive a notification.  

Click your name next to your profile image at the top right corner of FSLN. Once you seen a drop down menu, mouse over “Profile” and choose “Edit”. This allows you to change your profile details, profile photo, and cover photo. 

Click your name next to your profile image at the top right corner of FSLN. Once you seen a dropdown menu, mouse down and click on “manage notifications”. This will allow you to choose when you will receive email notifications from the FSLN. Watch this video for a walkthrough of how to manage your notifications.

At the bottom of this page, you’ll find a form that will allow you to submit your issue to the FSLN team. We’ll do our best to respond within 2 business days.

Groups are designed to facilitate communication with other FSLN members on a specific topic. Once you join a group, you will be able to access and share resources, explore the different opportunities relevant to that group’s focus, and post and reply content on a discussion board. You will be able to upload files and tools that are specific to the group’s topic.  

To view all existing groups on FSLN, click on “Discussion Groups” under the Community Center tab at the top of the page. There are both public and private groups in FSLN. You can view discussions and resources in a public group without joining, but to comment on posts and communicate with other members you must join. To join a group, click “Join group” and you will automatically be added. 

Topic Areas offer deep dives into specific subjects related to food system change. We have catalogued the most relevant and current resources like reports, case studies, and white papers by topic so you can hone your skills in particular subject areas.

In the Resource Library description, select “Submit a Resource.” Complete the form, adding relevant details as necessary, and press submit! An FSLN administrator will review and upload your resource within one to two business days or follow up with you about any additional necessary information.

Navigate to the browser bar on the left-hand side of any FSLN page, and click the “Add an Event” icon. Click on it and will take you to the form to submit an event. You can also navigate there with this link! Be sure to double check the time zone when creating your event. Thank you for sharing!