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Are you committed to advocating for a food system that promotes health, equity, and sustainability in your community? Do you know a local leader who is making innovative strides to transform the way food is produced, distributed, and accessed? If so, now is the perfect time to take action by applying for this fellowship!
Opportunity Details
The Community Food Systems Fellowship is an 18-month leadership program designed to empower and support local leaders working to improve their community food systems. Through this program, Fellows will have the opportunity to:
Whether you’re working on increasing access to nutritious foods, supporting local farmers, addressing food insecurity, or advocating for food justice, this fellowship offers a unique platform to amplify your efforts and contribute to a larger movement.
Selected fellows will be able to apply for an innovation grant to support participatory research and co-design strategies connected to their local food systems efforts, in partnership with a local community-based organization, coalition, or group. During the fellowship, fellows will be asked to submit a proposed budget and budget narrative for up to $2,500 for approval. Funds can be used towards the following categories, as established by funding requirements:
● Participant incentives and engagement: incentives for participants and honoraria for community champions that participate.
● Local Travel: local travel for data collection or to offset participant expenses.
● Project costs to support innovation pilot: such as research expenses, data collection or analysis costs, online survey technology, project space.
A budget template and sample budget will be shared during the fellowship program.
Total Fellowship Awards
Up to 10 fellows will be selected. Through this application, leaders can express interest in the Community Food Systems Fellowship.
All applications will be screened for eligibility prior to their review.
● The fellow must be based in the United States or one of the US territories
● The fellow must have an established partnership with a nonprofit organization, coalition, network, group, cooperative, business, or institution that has a strategic focus on local food systems.
Selection Criteria
In reviewing Fellowship Applications, reviewers will consider the following selection criteria:
● Commitment to developing resilient and equitable local food systems
● Commitment to community leadership, engagement, and the leadership of caregivers and families
● Commitment to food justice, nutrition justice, racial equity and social transformation
● Commitment to addressing inequities, e.g. racial, ethnic, geographic and economic, in your community or state.
● Interest in developing skills to measure impact and success of local food systems
● Interest in developing collaborative leadership skills
● Ability to leverage the Fellowship Cohort experience to build community capacity
● History of effective collaboration and partnership with organizations, groups, or cooperatives within local food systems.
Applicants interested in the Community Food Systems Fellowship must complete an online application by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on November 8, 2024. The application is available via the link to the application website. If you would like to submit your application orally, please email [email protected] to schedule an oral application intake session and share your availability through November 3, 2024. Nominate a fellow at this NOMINATION link.
Key Dates and Deadlines
Up to 10 community leaders will be selected by December 2024 and invited to participate in the 2025 Fellowship program.