City Exchange ProjectYouth Engagement in Community Food Systems

February 4th, 2015

What is the City Exchange Project?• The City Exchange Project idea sprung from a need to be able to

discuss issues and topics on food systems with other organizations

across the US.

• Many times, the only way inter-city dialogue is created between

staff/leaders of different community organizations is through

conference networking.

• The City Exchange Project seeks to electronically convene leaders from

across the country and engage them in relevant and useful

conversations on pressing and pertinent food systems issues from the

comfort of your own office.

Click above for CRFS website

Guiding Questions• Please explain the work your organization does with youth as it

relates to food systems or how your org involves youth in its

food systems work.

• Age groups and demographics? Does your org have a specific focus

for youth-based work? e.g. at-risk youth, youth with

physical/emotional/mental disabilities, etc?

• Is there a specific focus of your involvement with youth and

community food systems – production, processing, sales/marketing,

culinary arts and related skills, community development,

recycling/composting), etc?

• Is this work part of a broader education program (e.g., part of a

school curriculum or a UW-Madison PEOPLE type program) or a

stand-alone initiative?

Guiding Questions

• Does your organization work to get youth into food systems careers? If so how?• Training, internships, higher ed opportunities, partnerships with

other orgs, academia, public school districts, city/state/federal government?

• Does your organization hire as staff members youth that are/were involved with the organization?

• What are the main obstacles you find in getting youth interested in community food systems? What strategies do you use to avoid or overcome these obstacles?

• What is the biggest opportunity you see through educating youth on what community food systems are and how they fit into those systems?

Facilitator• George Reistad

• Assistant Policy Director – Michael Fields Agricultural

Institute

• Communications Coordinator – Community and Regional

Food Systems Project

Call Participants• Lynette Richards – Metro High School Teacher (retired) – Cedar Rapids, IA

• Clint Twedt-Ball – Co-founder/Co-Executive Director - Matthew 25 – Cedar

Rapids, IA

• Lindsey Scalera – Grassroots Organizer – Michigan Voices for Good Food

Policy (NSAC) – Greater Detroit Area, MI

• Derek Steele – Health Equity Programs Director – Social Justice Learning

Institute – Los Angeles, CA

• http://bit.ly/1u7GGmF

• Rachel Surls - Sustainable Food Systems Advisor - Univ. of California

Cooperative Extension - Los Angeles County, CA

• Sutton Kiplinger – Greater Boston Regional Director – The Food Project –

Boston, MA

• Fiona Ruddy – Food Access Programs Director – Eastern Market – Detroit,

MI

• Mark Woulf – Food and Alcohol Policy Coordinator – City of Madison –

Madison, WI

• Carrie Edgar – Community Food Systems Department Head – Univ. of

Wisconsin Cooperative Extension – Madison, WI

• Venice Williams – Executive Director – Alice’s Garden – Milwaukee, WI

Lynette Richards

Lynette Richards – Metro High School Teacher - Cedar Rapids, IA (retired)

Clint Twedt-Ball

• Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director - Matthew 25 - Cedar Rapids, IA

www.hub25.org

I currently work for the National Sustainable

Agriculture Coalition as the Grassroots Organizer

for Michigan Voices for Good Food Policy.

Michigan Voices collaborates with NSAC

members and other food & farm allies to unite

and elevate Michigan grassroots voices in support

of policies that expand opportunities for rural

and urban farmers to produce good food, sustain

the environment, and contribute to healthy and

vibrant communities.

Michigan Voices for Good Food Policy -

http://bit.ly/migoodfood

LINDSEY SCALERA: BIO

Relevant notes about food systems & education

work I have been involved in

▪ I got my start in food systems work as co-

founder of the Giving Garden at Eastern

Michigan University, where I co-led a small

Summer Youth Garden & Farm Stand Program.

▪ Obtained a Masters Degree in Social Foundations

of Education, specializing in EcoJustice

Education from Eastern Michigan University.

▪ Created Masters project on Garden-based learning

(“Everybody Eats: Garden-Based Learning, Rooted in

Community”)

▪ I worked with the Southeast Michigan

Stewardship (SEMIS) Coalition from 2008 to

2011 serving on the Steering Committee and later

as Associate Director for Communications.

▪ Currently work with several educators around MI

on farm to school initiatives (we advocate for

federal funding and local/state/national support

for these programs)

Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalitionhttp://semiscoalition.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/semiscoalition

Mission StatementThe SEMIS Coalition facilitates school-

community partnerships to develop students as

citizen-stewards of healthy ecological-social

systems.

Our Values and Guiding Principles● A strong and viable Great Lakes ecosystem

includes human communities nested within and

interdependent with other diverse living systems

including water, soil, air, plant, and animal species.

● Stewardship of the Great Lakes in Southeast

Michigan is defined by the ability to connect with

and protect one’s “place.” This requires

collaboration with others, recognizing

connections to larger economic and political

systems, and understanding the impact of human

cultures on the ecosystems in which they are

nested.

Examples

of Youth

Engagement in

Southeast

Michigan

● Mission and Guiding Values (Con.)● Human cultures create beliefs and behaviors

that affect social and ecological systems. Thus,

social and ecological justice are interrelated

and must be addressed together.

● A sustainable Southeast Michigan depends

upon diversity—both human and ecological—

and is thus best served by strong democratic

and collaborative systems.

● A sustainable, productive, and vibrant

Coalition is founded on the assets, strengths,

and vision of its members.

SEMIS Schools & Community Partners:

Examples of YEhttp://semiscoalition.org/member-directory/

Derek Steele

Health Equity Program Director - Social Justice Learning Center

Los Angeles, CA (Inglewood)

http://www.sjli.org/

Rachel Surls

Sustainable Food Systems Advisor – UC-Cooperative Extension – LA County, CA

http://celosangeles.ucanr.edu/Sustainable_Food_Systems/

Sutton Kiplinger

Greater Boston Regional Director – The Food Project

http://thefoodproject.org/youth-programs

Fiona Ruddy

Food Access Programs Director – Eastern Market – Detroit, MI

http://www.detroiteasternmarket.com/

Mark Woulf

City of Madison Food and Alcohol Policy Coordinator

http://www.cityofmadison.com/mayor/priorities/food.cfm

Carrie Edgar

Department Head & Community Food Systems Educator

Dane County Cooperative Extension

http://fyi.uwex.edu/danefoodsystem/

Venice Williams

Executive Director – Alice’s Garden – Milwaukee, WI

http://www.alicesgardenmilwaukee.com/