Greetings, Network Weavers!

It’s been a couple of seasons since we put the FSLN’s Network Weavers Community of Practice to rest, but recently we’ve had several inquiries about it and it feels like there may be renewed interest in reconvening this community. It just so happens that a fellow network weaver and FSLN member, Tracie Barham,…

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Hello network stewards! Curtis from IISC wanted me to share this session with you all- they just added some more slots to registration. Looks like it could be helpful! This isn’t a free opportunity but registration is on a sliding…

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We want to hear from you! We are seeking your input and feedback and would like to hear from 200 FSLN members by November 15! Through the FSLN annual member survey, we’ll be able to see how different types of programs help advance the overall goals of the network. After completing the survey, you’ll be eligible to win a $100 gift card (just in…

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Good day Community,

We hope you had a chance to experience the Eclipse Energy.

Regarding the Network Stewards CoP, we are pressing pause for now, and unfortunately, our scheduled time together this week is canceled. However, we are currently in the process of reimagining this Community of Practice to ensure it remains relevant…

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Hello Network Stewards Community!

Just wanted to share that the application for the Spring 2024 iteration of our Community Food Systems Mentorship Program is now open through Monday, February 5th!

Please feel free to apply, and forward this announcement to others who might benefit from this program.

Program Overview

Through participation in…

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Good day Community,

Join us on Wednesday, January 10th for a rich conversation on Using Networks to Build Collaborative and Equitable Food Systems.

We will hear from Marcus Coleman PhD discuss his co-authored report on how local and regional food systems have the potential to transform inequitable and unsustainable practices into equitable…

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Good day Community,

Join us for the last conversation of 2023 as we delve into the theme of network reporting. Explore the ways in which your network shares data and discover the insights it provides annually.

Register for the call here and if you would like to keep the conversation going offline join the discussion group.

Looking forward to…

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Good day Community,

In our upcoming discussion, we will explore the impact of the ongoing political upheaval on your network and strategize on how we can navigate these challenges by harnessing the strength of networks. As we engage in this conversation, let’s keep the following quote by Arundhati Roy in our thoughts: “Another world is not…

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Good day Community,

In light of Annalina’s recent transition the focus of this month’s call will be about leadership transition. For each of us, this may manifest differently, as we all encounter leadership transitions in our roles as network leaders. It could be the constant turnover of staff within our member organizations, addressing…

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Greetings Network leaders! How would you like to win 1-1 time with an FSLN mentor, and contribute to our overall knowledge of FSLN Network impact?

We’ve had over 100 responses so far to the FSLN Member Survey — help us reach our goal of hearing from 300 members by October 13! We have some NEW prizes available! After completing the survey,…

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Hello! I want to make sure this group saw the recent post we made about the FSLN’s Evolution Research Project. Over the next several months, we’ll be exploring how the FSLN might evolve into a resilient network driven by its members and centered in equity. We’ll be hosting a brainstorming call next week to dig into what this means and looks…

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Hi Anna,

Once we get the link to the webinar I will share it with you!

Hey guys,

I wanted to share this with the network. We are opening up our next Fellows program. I was hoping you could share this opportunity with your network. Just a little background, we offer a 1-year Fellowship program for early career thought leaders looking for a career in food justice. I will send the details below. Please let me know if…

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The Northwest Tennessee Local Food Network got started with a Technical Assistance Grant from the EPA called Local Foods, Local Places. It was a great help to get our REGIONAL network going. We, too would like to create a state-wide network, but with a state as long and as big as TN…we are not there yet. The idea is to form regional hubs with…

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I was looking if anyone had experience or resources on the initial steps in the creation of a statewide equitable food systems network. After doing research and talking with state networks including Georgia Organics and Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network, we took this information to a conference in Arkansas (that does not currently have…

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Hi Anna,

Organic Seed Alliance has had good engagement and retention on our Organic Seed Commons network we developed on the Mighty Networks platform. It’s particularly good for events, posts/discussions, and educational courses.

https://www.organicseedcommons.org/

Good luck — Cara

Hi Susan, This is such an excellent question and I am eager to hear other responses. We do not have a formal process of accountability with our networks, but having one seems like a valuable and necessary component of building trust within a community. I believe the framework of restorative justice would have a lot to offer here. Many…

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Hey friends, I’m curious if any of you have developed processes/guidelines/protocols for your networks for times when a community or cultural agreement has been violated. As you know, the FSLN has a robust set of Cultural Agreements that have been shaped and vetted by the network, but we don’t have a process for how we hold each other…

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During September’s CoP meeting we hosted a space for folks to share their “superskill” with the rest of the group, and receive support and resources for where they were struggling. We’re evolving on this topic for November — The next CoP is on Weds., Nov. 9 at 4pm EST and will be an exploration of the skills needed to lead successful networks.…

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NOFA- NH chapter

NH Food Access Coalition/ NH Hunger Solutions

Also the New Hampshire Food Alliance and the NH Food Hub Network 🙂

Hi Aryn,

I would add a few more to the list already provided:

Arizona Food Systems Network – https://www.azfsn.org

Community Food Strategies (NC) –

Home

Connecticut Food System Alliance – https://ctfoodsystemalliance.com

Indiana Food Council Network -…

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Here are a few others for your list

Alaska Food Policy Council

Arkansas Local Food Network

California Food Policy Council

California food and farm network

Feeding Colorado

Florida Food Policy Council

Hawaii Good Food Alliance

Keaukaha Pana’ewa Farmers Association

Maui Nui Food Alliance

Illinois Stewardship Alliance

Practical Farmers of Iowa

Community…

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I am researching and exploring states that have a state-wide network supporting, advocating and prioritizing equitable food and agricultural systems (such as the Mississippi Food Justice Collaborative, Georgia Organics, etc). I would love to expand this research if anyone knows of or is involved in other state networks that seem like a good…

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Hey all! The next CoP call is coming up on July 13 around how to evolve networks. How can we revitalize networks? How do networks
reinvent themselves to stay relevant when times change?

Shawn and I are proposing two options for the call:

Option 1: Coffee Chat: Have you read an article or case study of a network that has undergone a…

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Hey all! Thanks to those of you who joined us for the CoP call on Wednesday where we discussed challenges and strategies for creating more participatory and inclusive networks. All Community of Practice notes can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1di84jvzpXfgMyVSxL44KSO0LBHj_PRF8u0FkCDnUYJA/edit

Hey all! Thanks to those of you who joined us for the CoP call on Wednesday where we discussed challenges and strategies for creating more participatory and inclusive networks. All Community of Practice notes can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1di84jvzpXfgMyVSxL44KSO0LBHj_PRF8u0FkCDnUYJA/edit

Hi Sarah/all,

Yes, sumApp allows network members to add/update their info and connections over time. But you can also preload data about individual people and orgs, to help seed the database/map. For this project we’re drawing in part on census data collected by the Cooperative Development Institute, accessible through the https://find.coop…

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Hi Sarah,

This isn’t exactly a mapping tool, but I came across this page with lots of resources for network analysis today and thought it might be helpful- https://visiblenetworklabs.com/network-science-101/.

I’ll be following to see what other mapping tools come up!

Andrew

I am very interested in this conversation as well if you have a call on this.

Hi Jeff, Wow, that sounds so interesting. So you’re collecting network connections directly from the people themselves? It looks like sumApp is a paid service – would you feel comfortable sharing what they’re charging you? Maybe we could schedule a call for you to describe your project (to me and anyone else on this forum who might be…

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Hi Sarah,

I have a small food systems mapping project funded by the the Cooperative Development Institute/USDA RD, where we’re using sumApp (https://greaterthanthesum.com/sumapp/) as the rolling online survey tool in conjunction with Kumu (as one potential visualization tool). One advantage of sumApp is that as a “social systems mapping” tool,…

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I have struggled with this as well. We finally landed a small fee for membership so we could count paying members then, if you participate in one of our programs in the last 12 months, we count you as a non-paying member of our network.

Hi Network Stewards, has anyone used a digital systems mapping tool? We are looking to display an ecosystem map of stakeholders and policy (and more) in our region’s farm to early childcare. I’ve worked a bit with Kumu.io, but it seems there are other platforms out there, and would love to hear folks’ experiences. Thanks! — Sarah

I was wondering how people were defining their network as I think I have a broader definition than most people. I think my first two questions are:

How do you decide who is in your network?

How much interaction do you have with members of that network?

Thanks

Cathy

Hi Samantha! I’m sorry the timing won’t work for you. We won’t be recording the sessions, but we will be keeping detailed notes and sharing out resources back through this Discussion Group and with the wider network. Much like how we captured and shared out learnings from the Network Activation call series – which I mention since the notes…

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Will these sessions be recorded? The late afternoons are impossible for me to attend any zoom meeting with my kids’ afterschool activities. I am very interested in this topic!

~Samantha Goyret, Northwest Tennessee Local Food Network

Hey everyone! @shawn-peterson , an FSLN Network Weaver and director of the Association of Gleaning Organizations, and I would like to invite y’all to take the conversation around network development to a virtual space via the Network Stewards Community of Practice. Building on the momentum generated via the Network Activation call series that…

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Hi. What helped us get a kick-start was applying for a technical assistance grant through the EPA – local foods, local places back in 2015. They helped us organize our first ‘Using Food to Build Community” farm to table dinner forum with a purpose in 2016. We successfully organized 9 more delving into local food system themes,…

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I do. I have been serving as a network weaver for the Food Systems Leadership Network, Started and built a network with The Association of Gleaning Organizations, and I am a former Utahan ( I founded the Green Urban Luch Box in Utah. I would be happy to chat about your work. My email is Shawn@gleaners.us

Hello! Does anyone have experience particularly in the very early stages of network building? I’m in the process of organizing a “Utah Food Coalition” comprised of various growers/food orgs in the area, with the ultimate goal of advocating for policy that supports localizing our food production, as well as offering education around various…

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It realy was a great conversation I was lifted up and inspired for days afterwards

Wow that was a great conversation!! Just finished going through the notes – check them out here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UlJ6rsBgxSnq_SNbINmJwo8z6XfVjumFrK9JwO4orl8/edit

Hi all, here is that needs offering board I mentioned on the call as you can see it is in need of some skill sets. But luckily this group is very skilled. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CCA2avKwGg8Gnr3hZWBmKt_fV8bsiFIMztTdQ3ASfIs/edit#gid=1860138673

What an amazing call. I left feeling so empowered and inspired after the call. I keep reflecting on the comparison of networks to the Black Church. I grew up in a very religious community and think what makes a good pasture is they know their congregation. They don’t have to ask the widow if she needs fire word or her driveway shoved they…

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The Network Activation Series, hosted by the Food Systems Leadership Network, is a space to learn with and from peers about strategies and best practices for dealing with some of the common challenges of building and sustaining impactful networks.

Next up in the Network Activation series is a conversation with network leaders around what it…

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Hi y’all!

Collective Mind is hosting a free community conversation on operationalizing equity in networks on Wednesday April 21st at 9am CT. From the event description, “Ericka Stallings, Executive Director of the Leadership Learning Community, will talk about LLC’s efforts to make equity a central component of every aspect of the network…

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Then consider workshopping your challenge with your peers in the next Network Activation call focused on facilitating alignment within networks. Check out the details in this post:

Network Activation Series

We came across several resources on building trust we thought would resonate with this group:

A Call to Build Trust and Center Values in Food Systems Work (Michigan State University, Center for Regional Food Systems)

Trust and Networks (Vital Edge)

Do you have another relevant resource or tool to share? Please add it here!

Thank you to everyone who joined and shared in the second call in the Network Activation series yesterday. We had a great conversation where we identified trust building moves for deepening relationship amongst groups and strategies for responding to conflict in ways that lead to greater – rather than diminished – trust. Thank you all for… Read more