Leader Summit: Building Alliances through Equity, Inclusion & Justice

Join us to hear from Slow Food leaders across the US that showcase successful examples of programming, community engagement, and building alliances through equity, inclusion, and justice.

Ave Lambert and Sarah Skinker will present Farming Hope’s job training and TNDC’s Urban Agriculture models around community based food justice work, and how that addresses food apartheid and sovereignty issues locally and Bay Area-wide. Our goal is to illustrate the work we’re doing, share hopes and dreams for visions moving forward, and share stories. We will provide examples of how the San Francisco chapter of Slow Food is working to bring together folks doing this work on the ground, as Food System Changemakers, actively soliciting feedback to continually improve our process, and provide meaningful opportunities for folks to engage and network.

Peter Morich will present some practical steps to implementing EIJ in your Chapters from recruiting a Food Justice Chair, creating an annual award to recognize community leaders and thoughts on shifting traditional power structures and sharing resources and lifting up your partners. This includes sharing financial, political and social capital, providing infrastructure and volunteers to manage events and promotion, while making sure our partners were on the stage leading the conversations and we were in the back of the room.

Starting in 2014, Slow Food Atlanta’s “Fair” programming has been based on relationships with the leaders of Black Led Organizations, developing into alliances and partnerships to facilitate conversations on food justice and food access. In 2014, we recognized and presented Eugene Cooke of Grow Where You Are with the 2014 Snail of Approval Award for his years of work as a passionate educator, farmer, community advocate, and leader in the fight for food sovereignty in and around Atlanta.

Programming has included Grower Led conversations, panels and dinners around “Racism in the Food System” and “Land Justice: Re-Imagining Land, Food, and the Commons” Book Tour with Food First Executive Director, Eric Holt-Giménez in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

In 2019, we organized our biggest EIJ event, bringing Author Leah Penniman, Soul Fire Farm’s Founding Co-Director & Program Manager to Spelman College, along with a panel of four local Black Farmers to discuss her book, “Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation of the Land.” Partners included Soul Fire Farm, Grow Where You Are, MaituFoods, Slow Food Spelman College, Spelman College Food Studies Program, Mayflor farm, Patchwork City Farm and Truly Living Well.

University of Denver – Sturm Hall
Room 480 
2020-2040 South Race Street
Denver, CO