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Wednesday, June 12th 2024

The Armory At Sage College

(130 New Scotland Ave, Albany, NY 12208) & Virtual

Co-Presented By Our Hunger Prevention Champions:

Stiles R. Najac

Cornell Cooperative Extension Orange County

Food Security Champion: Connecting Farms and Communities
For over 18 years, I've been a passionate food access advocate, working as a Food Security Program Manager at Cornell Cooperative Extension Orange County. I work hard building connections between local food producers and food access programs.
One of my key initiatives is the GleanMobile, a highly successful program that recovers and distributes over 300,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables annually. I've also fostered a food purchasing program that creates lasting relationships between agencies and farms, ensuring access to nutritious local produce for our communities.
My dedication to this field has led to the implementation of creative solutions that address the challenges faced by farms, agencies, and communities in achieving food security. The impact of this work has been recognized locally by Mohonk Consultations and nationally by PBS.
To learn more and get involved, visit our website: www.cceorangecounty.org

Speaking In:

The Food Sovereignty Fund: investing in shared abundance

Originating in a year’s worth of community conversations and resource sharing, Glynwood’s Food Sovereignty Fund has been contracting small-scale farmers from historically marginalized backgrounds to supply fresh, nutrient-dense, culturally significant food to frontline food access programs since 2020. To date, more than 230,000 pounds of vegetables, fruits, dairy, meat, and poultry have been distributed, and in 2023 approximately 15,000 households received food through the program. In 2024, the Food Sovereignty Fund will support and facilitate partnerships between approximately forty farms and food access programs. Critical elements of the program that will be discussed are the process for contracting farms and reporting deliveries, building and operating refrigerated “mini-hubs” for aggregation and distribution of food, and implementing language justice practices with the program cohort. This panel features the experts on the ground (farmers, organizers, food pantry managers) who designed and implement this program. It will also preview the forthcoming Food Sovereignty Fund toolkit that summarizes challenges, lessons learned, and suggested best practices for others to adopt and replicate this program in their communities.

2:00 p.m.

Armory Main Stage

Food Summit Logo.654d34695a6687.69645606.png

Wednesday, June 12th 2024

The Armory At Sage College

(130 New Scotland Ave, Albany, NY 12208) & Virtual

Co-Presented By Our Hunger Prevention Champions:

Our Supporters:

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