Feeding Ourselves: Networks, Data and Policy for Just and Sustainable Food Systems

Who Should Attend?

This session is ideal for anyone interested in social change, equitable wellbeing, and new ways of building stronger communities, grounded in trust, alignment, and distributed action in the service of sustainability, equity, and justice. If you can’t attend live, this session will be recorded.

Why This Matters Now

COVID-19 revealed what many communities had long known: our global food supply chain is fragile, consolidated, and dominated by a precarious concentration of power. At the same time, food insecurity is rising, and more people are asking: how can we create “food solutions” that ensure no one goes hungry?

For over a decade, IISC has supported the launch and growth of local and regional food system networks that build resilience and equity. From the Vermont Farm to Plate Network, credited with strengthening the state’s agricultural economy, to the Rhode Island Food Policy Council, pioneering equitable and inclusive processes to advance food justice, we’ve seen how networks can shift policy, practice, and imagination around what’s possible.

Join us for an interactive webinar with two special guests and partners:

• Ellen Kahler, Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund
• Nessa Richman, Rhode Island Food Policy Council

What You’ll Learn

• The Power of Networks: What are they, how do they work, and how can we tap their potential?
• The Art and Science of Data Capture and Sharing: How can we ensure that the right people have good information to support action and decision-making?
• Processes for Creating People-Focused Policy: How can we make policy and policy-making more accessible to more people so they reflect community values and needs?

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Facilitator

Curtis Ogden is a Senior Associate with the Interaction Institute for Social Change (IISC), where he has worked for two decades supporting social change leaders, organizations, and networks as a coach, consultant, facilitator, trainer, and network weaver. He has helped to start the Food Solutions New England Network, Vermont Farm to Plate Network, Cancer Free Economy Network, Digital Navigators Network, Diverse Teacher Workforce Coalition, DC Social Justice Transformations Network, and supported numerous other local, state-wide, regional, national, and international collaborative efforts. In addition to his work at IISC, Curtis is an advisor to The Transformations Community, Rural Communities Rising, FLOW Public Trust for the Great Lakes, and the Connecticut River Watershed Partnership. He also writes regularly on the IISC Blog. He lives in the Connecticut River Watershed in Western Massachusetts with his wife, teenage daughters, and a flock of laying hens.
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Choosing your ticket type

1. If you are an individual who works in a grassroots organization or is otherwise affiliated with a racial justice group, and you are paying for the workshop yourself, please register as Grassroots*
2. If you are an individual with a social or public sector organization, please register as Nonprofit.
3. If you are an individual with a grantmaking or philanthropic organization, please register as a Foundation.
4. If you are an individual with a social venture organization, please register as a For-Profit/Social Venture.

*The number of these tickets is limited, so we invite those who are BIPOC, systematically marginalized or excluded, and have the highest level of financial need to register with this ticket type. If this is the only ticket type that works for you and it’s sold out, please sign up for the waitlist, and we’ll contact you if a spot becomes available. 
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Have a question? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions and don’t hesitate to reach out!