• Value Chain Coordination

  LFPA Pop-up Call + Upcoming FSLN Opportunities

  Posted by Melony Edwards on August 19, 2022 at 3:52 PM

  Wishing you all a beautiful week! The Food Systems Leadership Network has several opportunities coming your way this August that we wanted to make sure you were aware of. We hope you will join us for these conversations:

  Information Sharing Call: Opportunities and Challenges in the LFPA

  The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service established the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement (LFPA) initiative last year — an unprecedented $400 million investment in local and regional food systems. As a refresher: the LFPA funds state and tribal governments to procure local and regional foods, with an emphasis on “socially disadvantaged” producers, and partner with community-based organizations, food pantries, and other partners to distribute fresh food to underserved communities

  This is a big deal for our sector, with implications for future federal procurement initiatives. With support from The Rockefeller Foundation, we are kicking off a new 2-year initiative to support the successful implementation of the LFPA, and we want to hear from you!

  Wallace Center will be hosting a call to bring together the broader community of LFPA implementers—that is the community-based organizations and businesses, food hubs, farmers associations, nonprofits, and food banks, making it happen. Join this call to connect with people across the nation and learn how other states and tribal governments are organizing around the LFPA. During our time together you will be working in small groups to get a lay of the land, share strategies, discuss challenges, identify TA needs, and build a community of support. Your input and insights are super valuable in helping us design offerings that are relevant to you.

  Join us! Register Here! Tuesday August 23rd at 1:00 pm PDT/ 3:00 pm CDT/ 4:00 pm EDT

  We are also offering a few other workshops that may be of interest to you. They are made possible through the FSLN’s 2022 Network Activation Grants.

  Collective Wayfinding: Reimagining a More Just Organization

  Nearly three years ago, the San Diego Food System Alliance initiated a journey to center racial justice in their work and organizational leadership. In this webinar join the Alliance as they share their story, including their detailed process, lessons learned, and tools that they have developed.
  Register Here! Thursday August 25th at 10:00 am PDT/12:00 pm CDT/ 1:00 pm EDT

  Collective Wayfinding Office Hours

  Join staff from the Syracuse-Onondaga Food Systems Alliance and San Diego Food Systems Alliance for a short panel and a chance to ask your questions about their racial equity journeys or resources they shared. This is the final webinar in the collective wayfinding series. Register Here! Thursday, September 8th, 11:00 am PDT/ 1:00 pm CDT/ 2:00 pm EDT

  Also, for your summer reading pleasure and inspiration – check out this brand new, *hot off the press* feature of some of the amazing community leaders working on food systems transformation across the US! Willful Wildflowers: Journeys and Dreams from Food Systems Leaders honors the wisdom, passion, and dedication of folks leading food systems change – you will likely see some familiar faces in here. We hope this piece gives you some fresh insights and motivation and reminds you of how fortunate we are to be in this dynamic community of humans together. Huge thanks to Real Food Media for helping us bring these leaders’ stories to life.

  Thanks again for your interest—we hope to see you on these calls! Wishing you all a wonderful week,

  Melony Edwards replied 2 years, 4 months ago 1 Member · 0 Replies
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