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

Together, we will explore strategies to weave diverse cross-sector networks, track and share helpful user-friendly data, and design participatory processes to help people understand and advocate for policy.

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?