How do we bridge the gap between complex nutrition science and the daily reality of a food pantry?

This 60-minute webinar is designed specifically for food bankers, SNAP-Ed staff, and pantry volunteers without formal nutrition backgrounds who support community health every day. We’ll begin by establishing a shared language, breaking down basics like macronutrients and food groups to ensure everyone feels confident with the terminology.

From there, we’ll take a "virtual tour" of a food distribution site. Together, we’ll explore common pantry items to discuss their health benefits and best practices for storage and food safety. We’ll also spend time busting common myths and navigating special dietary needs. You’ll walk away with a robust list of resources and the clarity to effectively communicate essential nutrition concepts to your guests.

Note: This is a repeat of the webinar held in February, 2026

Methodology of a Rural Colorado Food System Plan 
Tuesday, June 30, 2026 Register here

This session will walk through how the San Luis Valley Local Foods Coalition moved from community input and assessment findings into a regional Food & Agriculture Action Plan, covering how ideas were gathered, organized into goals and objectives, and shaped into an actionable plan. Program Director, Jae Sanders will also reflect on lessons learned that may be useful for other rural and frontier communities.

The session is co-hosted by Food Policy Networks (FPN) and the Statewide and Regional National Community of Practice (NCoP) through MSU Center for Regional Food Systems.

Join Marin DSA to hear directly from Bay Area activists who recently traveled to the village of Burin in the West Bank to support Palestinian farmers with the 2025 olive harvest. The evening will consist of:

• Food provided by a Palestinian chef

• Screening a short documentary "Burin Under Fire"

• Presentations

• Mingling + Q&A

This will be a powerful opportunity to learn about the struggle of the community in the face of military rule and see how a Palestinian agricultural collective is working to care for their land and livelihood.

The Burin Land and Farming Cooperative is committed to developing agroecology as a means of actualizing food sovereignty, environmental justice, and mutual aid in the face of both Israeli military occupation and the privatization of communal resources.

Other relevant topics that we'll be touching on include:

• Palestinian Food Sovereignty Work

• Settler Violence & State Oppression

• On the ground co-resistance work

• Solidarity work abroad

Please consider adding a donation which will go to support folks in dire need in Gaza as well as Palestinian farmers: Burin Needs a Tractor!

If you want to support more events like this in the future, please also consider making a donation to Marin DSA: Donate to Marin DSA!

Hosted by Marin DSA

Presented by the Burin Land and Farming Cooperative

Organized by the Center for Jewish Nonviolence

The 18th Annual Organic Stone Fruit Jubilee and Small Farm Expo is coming up next month on Saturday, June 27, 2026, from 4–7:30 p.m. at the Kingsburg Historical Park. This event brings farmers, families, and food lovers together  for an evening celebrating the peak of Central Valley stone fruit season.

The Jubilee highlights the region’s vibrant organic agriculture community with fresh tastings from local growers who produce some of California’s most delicious peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots, and other stone fruit varieties. Featured farms include Blossom Bluff Orchards, D.E. Boldt Family Farms, Nicholas Boldt Farms, Olson Family Farms, and Valliwide Organics. Guests will have the opportunity to sample fruit at peak ripeness, connect directly with farmers, and purchase produce to enjoy at home.

Join us for an afternoon of fresh fruit, food, and fun at the Kingsburg Historical Park on June 27, 2026 from 4-7:30 p.m.! Tickets are $10, children under 12 are free.

By building a shared understanding of bioenergy’s collective harms—and by aligning around viable alternatives—together we can help end wasteful subsidies, support healthier and more sustainable farming systems, accelerate truly clean energy and net-zero technologies, and hold corporate polluters accountable across the supply chain.

Join Earthjustice and partners for a solutions-focused conversation about how coordinated advocacy can shift policy, unlock better investments, and move us beyond bioenergy toward real climate progress.

Speakers:

• Melina Walling, Reporter, Sentient Media

• Dan Lashof, Senior Fellow, WRI

• Dr. Krystal Martin, founder of Greater Greener Gloster

• Peter Lehner, Managing Attorney, Earthjustice Sustainable Food and Farming

Join Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) on Thursday, June 18 from 3:00 - 4:00 PM ET for Juneteenth: Food and Freedom, a talk with James Beard Award–winning writer and culinary historian Michael W. Twitty.

Michael Twitty is THE culinary historian for Juneteenth celebrations. He not only covers the historical significance of Juneteenth but discusses the celebration from a food and freedom lens. Michael is an award-winning author of The Cooking Gene and two times James Beard Award winner for best writing and best book. He has presented to over 1000 organizations around the globe on Black history and foodways. Michael is known for highly informative and entertaining talks – and always manages to weave in current events into his talks to increase the relevancy for participants. You’ll walk away from this talk with more history and a true sense of Black Joy.

This event is hosted as a part of CSPI’s Resource Hub Training Series. We invite organizations and community advocates to join us, as we at CSPI learn alongside our partners and community at large to build power and share knowledge across disciplines on a myriad of social, economic, and environmental justice issues.

Este seminario virtual será en inglés y lo ofreceremos con interpretación y traducción al español en tiempo real.

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Webinar: Oppose Harmful Proposed Changes to Federal Grantmaking, Impacting Nonprofits and Communities – What You Can DoTime: Thursday, June 18, 3:00 – 4:00 pm ET

REGISTER HERE

The Trump administration has proposed sweeping changes to federal rules governing federal grants and other funding to nonprofits as well as state and local governments. This webinar will explain what the proposed rule changes would do, including how they could expand political control over grantmaking and build administration priorities into grant terms. These rule changes would allow federal agencies to disapprove grants or even terminate funding for already approved grants if new conditions are not met. The new conditions are unclear and complex. They would disallow programming related to so-called “illegal” diversity, equity, and inclusion, “gender ideology” and gender transition for people younger than 19. They would discourage or disallow proven strategies to reduce discrimination by race/ethnicity, limit advocacy, communications, publications, collaboration, and other core activities, and increase uncertainty for organizations that rely on federal funding. These restrictions may be contrary to laws enacted by Congress.

These proposed restrictions could adversely affect the full range of human needs services in communities across the country. You can help build opposition to these rules by writing and joining in comments, and by helping to spread the word about how needed services would be disrupted.

Now is the time to learn how to take action: the federal deadline for comments is July 13.

You will hear from expert speakers, including:
Sarah Saadian, Senior Vice President, Public Policy and Campaigns, National Council of Nonprofits
Meghan Maury-Fox, Consultant, Maury-Fox Consulting
Moderator: Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs

Register here

The webinar will be recorded; all registrants will receive the recording and written materials, including sample comments.

Are you working to connect food insecure communities with free, locally grown food while also paying farmers a fair price? These types of programs exploded over the course of the pandemic, and are a powerful way to build community food security. But there is a lot to learn! Join the Food Systems Leadership Network's monthly Community of Practice calls to troubleshoot, share stories, and build skills around these efforts.

Join Mo McGonagle, Director of the Roanoke Foodshed Network (RFN), for a look at how RFN has evolved over the past six years—its structure, governance model, and collaborative approach to building a more equitable, resilient food and farming system across the Roanoke region.

The session will also feature RFN's newest initiative, the Roanoke Region Food & Farm Trail—a community-driven guide to the farms, flavors, and stories of a seven-county, two-city region, connecting residents and visitors to local farms and food businesses through a dynamic website, on-the-ground experiences, and multimedia storytelling.

You'll gain insight into how this work has strengthened regional partnerships, expanded community engagement, and opened new pathways for diversified local and regional funding.

Join on the UCSC farm for a focused conversation on organic seeds — from seed economics and profitability to hands-on care and stewardship practices. We’ll explore varietal selection, storage, germination, and seed saving, along with a practical discussion on the role and legitimacy of community seed libraries in strengthening regional seed security. Perfect for farmers, gardeners, and anyone interested in resilient, locally adapted seed systems. Come walk the fields and dig into the future of organic seed.

Within less than two years, San Francisco will have lost three full-service grocery stores in neighborhoods with already limited grocery access. But how did we get here? Grocery chain corporations will point to theft, profitability, or changing consumer behavior as reasons for their closure, but there is another side to this story that should be talked about - corporate consolidation.

In this webinar, we will explore how corporate consolidation in the supermarket industry impacts food access, worker conditions, food prices, and the long-term wellbeing of our communities. Melanie Canales from RAFI will walk us through their Grocery Gap Atlas - why it was developed and how to use it - and examine what happens to smaller grocery stores when policies like the Robinson-Patman Act are not enforced. 

We will then ground these national trends in San Francisco’s local reality. Worker-Owner of Other Avenues Grocery Cooperative, Celia LoBuono Gonzalez, will brief us on the history of SF’s grocery retail landscape and a community membe will share their experience in responding to the recent closure of the Fillmore Safeway and the impacts it has on those living in the neighborhood.

At the end of this webinar, you'll have a better understanding of how where you are impacts what you eat and how corporate consolidation reduces access to local food stores.

Informational meeting for Hellman’s Collaborative Change Initiative. Find more information about the grant here.

This year the Hellman Collaborative Change Initiative (HCCI) will award up to four grants to support bold cross-sector collaborations in Alameda and San Francisco Counties that are tackling our toughest community challenges.
 
HCCI is eager to invest in collaborations that are:

• Developing concrete solutions to expand equity and opportunity.

• Working collaboratively to tackle critical local issues, including our priority areas of health, education, and equitable opportunities.

• Advancing ambitious goals by engaging across sectors, including the public sector, private sector, and academia.

• Launching and piloting innovative strategies OR building momentum and scaling proven solutions for sustainable systems change

As the Senate begins shaping its Farm Bill proposal, the implications for states, communities, and families are significant.

Join FRAC for a timely one-hour webinar examining what the emerging proposals could mean for SNAP administration, state budgets, food access, local economies, and the millions of households who rely on these programs.

This conversation will bring together municipal and state leadership, a healthcare expert, and an agricultural policy specialist to explore the real-world consequences of the decisions being debated in Washington—and what they could mean for implementation, community stability, and economic resilience across the country.

With Senate discussions moving quickly, this is a critical opportunity to elevate practical realities, on-the-ground impacts, and the perspectives of those navigating these challenges every day.

Join Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) on June 9 from 1:00 - 2:00 PM ET for Making Time To Eat: A Review of State Policies and Guidance on School Mealtime Duration.

Short school lunch periods are linked to significantly lower consumption of school meals and increased plate waste. To promote nutrition and reduce food waste, experts, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recommend students receive, at minimum, 20 minutes of seated time at lunch or a 30-minute lunch period total, and 10 minutes of seated time at breakfast, known as sufficient time to eat (TTE). Currently, no federal policies requiring minimum meal-period durations for schools exist, but minimum mealtimes are sometimes mandated at the state or district level.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) conducted a scan to establish the prevalence of state-level policies and guidance on sufficient TTE in schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia (D.C.). Join us for a presentation by the authors of our latest report: Making Time To Eat: A Review of State Policies and Guidance on School Mealtime Duration.

This event is hosted as a part of CSPI’s Resource Hub Training Series. We invite organizations and community advocates to join us, as we at CSPI learn alongside our partners and community at large to build power and share knowledge across disciplines on a myriad of social, economic, and environmental justice issues.

Este seminario virtual será en inglés y lo ofreceremos con interpretación y traducción al español en tiempo real.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to eating well, and older adults have unique needs and priorities. This free one hour webinar highlights important considerations when running food-related programs for older adults, such as how their nutritional needs differ from other groups and how trauma-informed principles, such as building social connection through food, can help older adults thrive.  Join us to learn strategies and gain tools and resources for supporting older adults. Note: This is a repeat of the webinar held in March, 2026.

This webinar will overview key concepts in trauma-informed nutrition and provide best practices for building resilience in your programs and communities. Learn how trauma affects community health, how food and nutrition programs can provide much more than information and calories, and ways to integrate trauma-informed practices into your work.

Collective Impact (and its updated versions throughout the years) is a framework for community-based change. Processes grounded in Collective Impact have successfully supported groups in addressing complex issues - issues that require more than one sector to work together. Collective Impact can bring us out of our silos and help us strategically contribute to the whole.

In this Connection Session, two guest speakers from Illinois join us to discuss Collective Impact and how it is different from other types of collaboration. Through an interactive discussion, we will gauge interest in further conversation on this topic.

Guest speakers: Anya Knecht, Knecht Research Consulting & Design, and Owner and Farmer at Anya Farm Megan Murphy, Food Systems Coordinator, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Join the 2025 CFF Champion Award winner, Syracuse-Onondaga Food Systems Alliance (SOFSA), for this year’s Champions Briefing, an event wholly designed and created by the award recipient:

Food justice organizations are often asked to compete for the same limited dollars – isolated from each other, measured against each other, and underequipped to tell their own story. It doesn’t have to be this way. What if the act of seeking funding could itself become an act of coalition-building?

Food justice organizations are often asked to compete for the same limited dollars – isolated from each other, measured against each other, and underequipped to tell their own story. It doesn’t have to be this way. What if the act of seeking funding could itself become an act of coalition-building?

For the Syracuse-Onondaga Food Systems Alliance (SOFSA), regranting is not a workaround or a side project. It is a core strategy for redistributing resources, deepening trust among coalition members, and shifting the local food system away from scarcity and competition toward something more collective. Through its Food Justice Fund, SOFSA moves money directly to food justice organizations serving residents of Syracuse, Onondaga County, and Onondaga Nation using a participatory model: a community Leadership Council selects finalists, and anyone 14 or older in the region can vote on recipients.

But the Food Justice Fund is bigger than the check. It's a vehicle for matchmaking between funders and grassroots organizations, a platform for storytelling and visibility, and a lever for advocating – from the inside – for more equitable funder practices. Grantees gain partnerships, clarity of purpose, and a wider network. SOFSA gains the trust of its coalition and a concrete opportunity to ask funders harder questions about what real support looks like.

In this webinar, SOFSA's team will walk through the full arc of the Food Justice Fund: why they built it, how it works, who it supports, and what they've learned. You'll also hear from Amy Tao Woodley – an inaugural Food Justice Fund grantee who later joined the Leadership Council – whose own journey traces the ripple effects this model can set in motion over time.

Building truly healthy soils can unlock tremendous symbiotic benefits from the relationship between plants and microbes, including highly nutrient-dense produce, carbon sequestration, water retention, and resilience in the face of stress, extreme weather, and pest and disease pressure. The use of compost extracts, compost teas, and other low-cost amendments to inoculate soils with beneficial microbes is a growing soil health practice with incredible potential. Backed by fascinating emerging science and proven through remarkable in-field results, these practices can be done at any scale and in any context, from backyard gardens to large commercial pastures, orchards, and vineyards.

This webinar series will explore the science behind the workings of soil microbes, and why microbial inoculants are so effective in plant and soil health; describe and / or demonstrate practical, low-cost methods of creating quality composts and extracts; and share case studies and success stories of farmers using microbial inoculants on their farms.

Join us for our May Community Food Projects Community of Practice session!

This monthly series is a partnership between the Food Systems Leadership Network and ISED, and is a space for folks doing community food systems organizing work to learn from each other, connect in solidarity around shared experiences. Rooted in FSLN's cultural agreements, it is a space for respect, conversation, and safety.

May Topic: USDA-NIFA Community Food Projects Competitive Grant Program: Informational Overview and Application Next Steps

Time: May 27th, 2-3:30 EDT

Facilitators: Alyssa Thayer (FSLN) & Emma Bliss (ISED Solutions)

Description: Ahead of the release of the USDA-NIFA Community Food Projects Competitive Grant Program, the Institute for Social and Economic Development (ISED) staff members Andy Fisher and Emma Bliss will break down the grant’s purpose, application process, and how to determine whether this opportunity is a good fit for your organization.

Participants will also hear from two current grantees about their experiences applying for and managing the grant, offering insight into the organizational capacity and preparation needed to put together a competitive grant application.

If you work with or for an eligible entity (nonprofit, fiscally sponsored organizations, or federally recognized Tribal entities)  and are engaged in holistic food security work in communities experiencing high levels of food insecurity, we encourage you to join us! Examples of eligible work include community gardens, land access initiatives, food systems job training, farm-to-school programs, and food-as-medicine efforts.

As the Technical Assistance Provider for this grant, ISED will help you assess whether this funding opportunity aligns with your organization's goals, identify support needs, and connect you with next steps and available resources.

Bring your questions and an openness to brainstorm and strengthen your project ideas with peers and technical assistance providers

If you are receiving this email, you are already registered for the series. If you have misplaced the Zoom link, a reminder email containing the link will be sent before the meeting.

You are welcome to share the registration with partners and collaborators. 

This is a live webinar that will be recorded. Part I of this Conversations on Food Justice examined the policy landscape and justice implications of restricting SNAP purchases. Part II brings the conversation to the ground.

• What actually happens when restrictions are imposed or proposed?

• How do independent grocers, corner stores, and community markets navigate new rules, and at what cost?

• What do frontline workers and community organizations see when theory meets practice?

• And whose voices are missing from the policy table when these decisions are made?

Join Food & Society at the Aspen Institute and the Global Food Institute at George Washington University for a candid conversation with practitioners who live and work inside these realities every day. This is a free, one-hour live webinar open to the public.

Register to attend the live event and receive the recording.

Meet the Panelists

Moderated by Corby Kummer, executive director, Food & Society

Celia Cole, chief executive officer, Feeding Texas

Justin King, policy director, Propel

Rachel Newman, health manager, RestoreOKC

Webinar: Food Policy Council Voter & Candidate Engagement StrategiesMonday, May 18, 2026 · 4:00 - 5:00pm ET Register HERE.

We know folks are holding a lot right now--the recent Louisiana v. Callais ruling, ongoing action on the Farm Bill, and the continuing challenges facing our sector. With so much converging, we want to lift up space for councils to plan and activate around voter engagement heading into the fall.

You'll hear from three councils:

• Alaska

• Broome County, NY

• Jefferson County, CO

…on their experiences with candidate forums, voter registration, and broader candidate/voter engagement strategies--what's worked, what they've learned, and what they're planning next.

This webinar is for you if you are:

• A council, coalition, or alliance already doing voter registration, get-out-the-vote, or candidate forum work

• Curious about getting started heading into the fall and want to hear how peers have approached it

• Looking for a space to connect with others navigating this moment together

We'll also use part of our time to gauge interest and readiness across the network so we can support councils who want to take on this work in the coming months.

Accessibility: Spanish interpretation will be available. For additional interpretation or accessibility needs, please contact foodpolicynetworks.us@gmail.com.

Looking forward to being together with each of you,
The Food Policy Networks Team

Join the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute for a timely conversation on how to improve the quality of school meals and advance health equity by reducing reliance on ultra-processed foods and expanding scratch cooking in public schools. This forum will highlight findings from the Chefs in the Schools (CITS) initiative, a first-of-its-kind public-private partnership with New York City Public Schools that combines chef-led menu innovation, workforce training, and nutrition education. The program has demonstrated that it is possible to introduce plant-forward, culturally inclusive, scratch-cooked meals at scale, while building the skills and capacity of school food staff and engaging students in healthier eating habits. With growing evidence that ultra-processed foods contribute to diet-related disease and dominate children’s diets, including in school settings, this conversation comes at a critical moment for rethinking school meals as a cornerstone of public health policy. The panel will bring together leaders from policy, nutrition, advocacy, and implementation to discuss how successful models like CITS can inform broader efforts to transform school food systems nationwide.

Moderator:

• Jennifer W. Cadenhead, PhD, RDN, Assistant Professor, CUNY School of Public Health; Faculty Fellow, CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute

Panelists:

• Donna Martin, EdS, RDN, SNS, Past President (2018–2019), Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics; Former Director, School Nutrition Program, Burke County (GA) Board of Education

• Stephen O’Brien, Founder and President, SOBx2 Strategic Operations and Business Consulting; Former Senior Leader, NYC Department of Education Office of Food and Nutrition Services

• Nancy Easton, CEO & Co-Founder, Wellness in the Schools (WITS); Former Educator, NYC Department of Education

• Meghan Maroney, MPH, Campaign Manager, Federal Child Nutrition Programs, Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)

Join the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute for a timely conversation on how to improve the quality of school meals and advance health equity by reducing reliance on ultra-processed foods and expanding scratch cooking in public schools. This forum will highlight findings from the Chefs in the Schools (CITS) initiative, a first-of-its-kind public-private partnership with New York City Public Schools that combines chef-led menu innovation, workforce training, and nutrition education. The program has demonstrated that it is possible to introduce plant-forward, culturally inclusive, scratch-cooked meals at scale, while building the skills and capacity of school food staff and engaging students in healthier eating habits. With growing evidence that ultra-processed foods contribute to diet-related disease and dominate children’s diets, including in school settings, this conversation comes at a critical moment for rethinking school meals as a cornerstone of public health policy. The panel will bring together leaders from policy, nutrition, advocacy, and implementation to discuss how successful models like CITS can inform broader efforts to transform school food systems nationwide.

Opening remarks:

• Julia McCarthy, JD, Senior Program Officer, New York Health Foundation

Moderator:

• Jennifer W. Cadenhead, PhD, RDN, Assistant Professor, CUNY School of Public Health; Faculty Fellow, CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute

Panelists:

• Donna Martin, EdS, RDN, SNS, Past President (2018–2019), Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics; Former Director, School Nutrition Program, Burke County (GA) Board of Education

• Stephen O’Brien, Founder and President, SOBx2 Strategic Operations and Business Consulting; Former Senior Leader, NYC Department of Education Office of Food and Nutrition Services

• Nancy Easton, CEO & Co-Founder, Wellness in the Schools (WITS); Former Educator, NYC Department of Education

• Meghan Maroney, MPH, Campaign Manager, Federal Child Nutrition Programs, Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)

In a political moment where we are witnessing the carceral state intensifying tactics of detaining, deporting and imprisoning people, how can we practice care in a way that truly prioritizes healing over harm? What does care work look like when removed from the confines of a carceral state? In this workshop we will critically examine care practices that exist within carceral systems and confront power dynamics between providers and those that receive care. We will also delve into Lavender Phoenix’s healing justice approach that challenges these systems and offers alternative ways of support. Learn to shape your practice in a way that aligns with your vision of a liberatory system of care.