Auburn University students and community members share why they want real food via photo petitions from Earth Fest! Check out more fresh photos and group projects on their website: http://auburnrealfoodchallenge.weebly.com/index.html
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by Rebecca Seawell
Assistant Editor for Reese Felts Digital Newsroom, Reesenews, Chapel Hill, NC
For the last two years, the Real Food Challenge has hosted its Southeastern Youth Food Activism Summit on UNC – Chapel Hill’s campus. But this year, North Carolina’s sustainable food enthusiasts will have to travel much further to participate.
Coordinators announced in December that the summit — held Feb. 11 to Feb. 13 — would be held in Athens, Georgia, for its third year.
The change is part of an effort to better incorporate young adults from a different region, said Melissa Tinling, one of the summit’s southeast regional field coordinators.
Miller Learning Center, UGA
“We’re trying to get other people and other ideas involved,” Tinling said. “It will be interesting to get a different subset from the southeast and to work more closely with students from other schools.”
The summit is an opportunity for young adults — mainly high school students, college students and recent graduates — across America to learn from each other and discover ways to make sustainable food more accessible, said Tinling.
The event is organized by the Real Food Challenge, a campaign that empowers young people throughout the nation to help increase access to healthy, local and sustainable food options on campuses and elsewhere.
“I think transport might be a little bit of a deterrent,” said Meghan Robbins, a participant of last year’s conference. “But I think it’s great, even though there will be less people from Chapel Hill, there will be more people from Georgia and we will get to hear things we wouldn’t be able to hear if it was happening here.”
Robbins, a sophomore anthropology major at UNC-CH, said that she had a positive experience at last year’s conference. Robbins said her interest in environmental sustainability led her to become interested in sustainable food.
Robbins said that one high school participant’s enthusiasm and passion for sustainable food, which inspired him to create a community garden at his school, particularly inspired her.
“At that point, I thought ‘I don’t have an excuse not to put my all into this anymore’,” Robbins said.
Alicia Sparks, who works with Tinling as a southeast regional field coordinator, said that the main goal of the summit is connecting and empowering.
“It’s about seeing the power that we do have and in an exciting way the responsibility we do have,” Sparks said. “I hope that people can see that by learning and working together.”
The summit’s attendance rates have more than doubled since its first year, when approximately 60 students participated, said Tingling. Even with this year’s relocation, coordinators expect more than 150 attendees.
“It definitely takes a lot of effort to push for the things we’re working on,” Sparks said. “It’s a very collective effort, but at the same time a diverse effort. It’s a challenge to stay connected to the common cause and maintain the network.”
Tinling said the change from a small college town to a more urban setting might help reign in new and fresh perspectives.
“The first day is centered on connecting, meeting people from all over the place and sharing stories about how we got here,” Tinling said.
The next day is all about learning, she said. Participants will attend workshops and listen to guest speakers lecture on subjects such as ecofeminism in food and how to start a campus garden.
“Sunday is more tangible,” Tingling said. “It’s about taking skills and ideas and how to bring them back here.”
The last day of the conference is also when participants attend panels and learn about what other organizations are working on in different parts of the southeast.
“It’s a weekend of workshops, networking, food and fun,” said Robbins, who is also a member of Fair, Local and Organic, a student-run organization that aims to increase access to organic, local and sustainable food on campus.
Despite the long drive, Robbins said she and several others plan on carpooling to Athens for the summit.
“There’s not a downside to improving the way you eat,” said Robbins. “You bring people and communities together — it’s at the heart of everything we do in our lives.”
Registration is now open for the 3rd Annual Southeast Youth Food Activism Summit (SYFAS) at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia
February 11-13 2011
http://realfoodchallenge.org/SEsummit2011
Whether you read it on the signs of photo petitions across Florida, or see it in the eyes that light up over a rooftop garden in Maryland, youth energy for Real Food is alive and growing. From Virginia to Alabama and all across the region students are sitting down with dining services, presenting to university presidents, marching with farm workers, and organizing fellow students—we are taking a stand together for just and sustainable food.
For three days in February this youth-driven energy will converge in Georgia for the 3rd annual Southeast Youth Food Activism Summit (SYFAS). It will be the largest youth convergence for just and sustainable food in the Southeast—uniting over 200 college students and youth allies. With workshops, panels, speakers, and local field trips, SYFAS will be a chance to connect with other youth food activists across the region, to share stories and skills, and to ignite new ideas and opportunities for action, and to form lasting relationships.
No matter where you are in your own food movement- fresh or already dug in- SYFAS is creating a space for a powerful, diverse, youth-driven change. We stand for a better food system; and you’re part of it!
There are a number of ways to get involved in the planning process! If you would like to be part of the planning team in any way:
Keep it real,
Alicia and Melissa
southeast@realfoodchallenge.org
(386) 405-9579 (301) 806-9306
Check out these photos from Fair, Local, Organic (FLO) Foods at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill!
We want Real Food for..
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…because University of North Florida in Jacksonville deserves Real Food too!
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Students at the University of South Florida in Tampa are moving and showing support for a future community garden on campus! Check out a few of their photo petitions:
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UNC hosted the final Real Food Challenge regional summer leadership training, in partnership with the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) and UNC’s very own student organization, FLO Foods. Over Labor Day weekend, 20 youth leaders from North Carolina, Maryland, Georgia, Virginia and Tennessee gathered in Chapel Hill to learn and share Grassroots organizing strategies and skills. Workshops included Communication & Messaging, Strategic Campaign Planning, Deconstructing Racism, Stakeholder Meetings & Coalition Building, and The Real Food Calculator. We were proud to welcome Dorothy Barker, our keynote speaker, who shared stories about her personal experiences with racism in Southern agriculture.
After arriving in town on Friday the group gathered for introductions and personal explorations of what “Real Food” means to us. Saturday was packed with skill and issue workshops, punctuated by long intervals for hanging out over wonderful meals cooked by RAFI’s very own Sally Lee. Saturday evening the group settled into a storytelling workshop that led us into long conversations late into the night. On Sunday we jumped into a simulation “roll play” exercise in which small groups rotated through situations to practice messaging to five different targets: a chicken farmer, an oppositional student group, a reporter, a new student, and a campus dining administrator. We concluded the weekend with a long period of open space for thoughtful reflection and next steps.
The North Carolina training mixed up a fascinating combination of individual stories and experiences with concrete skills and strategies. Passion for Real Food in the Southeast is strong- and getting stronger through our interactions with each other. We are looking forward to the upcoming 3rd Annual Southeast Youth Food Activism Summit (SYFAS)!
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Florida kicked off the first of four Real Food Challenge leadership trainings around the country this summer. On August 11th, a group of student leaders from across the state and throughout the southeast and northeast region converged in Orlando for four days of sharing stories and skills for effective campus organizing around real food.
After traveling into town midday Wednesday, everyone gathered for introductions to the Real Food Challenge and each other, and explored the connected spokes of the Real food wheel. Later came socializing over some local tea and coffee, before sharing a home-cooked dinner of warm chili with rice and a fresh salad of local, organic produce.
Over the next few days the attendees came together each morning for full days of interactive workshops, skills-sharing, speakers, and more group meals. With sessions on anti-oppression and story-telling, the group engaged with the personal narratives that move us to act, and explored more tools for action in workshops like the Real Food Calculator 101. Strategic campaign planning began on Thursday, after an intensive on the food service industry, and the conversations continued through the end of the week with school break-out sessions, brainstorming, and group commentary—collectively crafting plans to bring back to their home campus communities.
Attendees also got to hear directly from other organizations involved in the food movement. A presentation was given on Thursday by representatives from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and the Student Farmworker Alliance, addressing social injustices within the supply chains past our plates, and the added power and pressure of moving with students to amplify the voice for fair food. On Friday, the group headed out to the University of Central Florida’s Arboretum, where the rain let up in time for a sunny guided tour of the campus community garden. Both organizations, each in their own way, relate to the power of strengthening our awareness of our food’s production.
In the midst of all the presentations and planning, the group also found time to enjoy some local spaces in the city, including a group dinner out and sweet stop at a local bakery co-op for shared cupcakes with local music.
Attendees packed up on Saturday with strategic plans, renewed motivation, new tools, and new friends for a fresh school year of action, ripening some real results.
Registration is now open for the Southeast’s first leadership training this year. Sign up now before all the spots are gone!
Visit the national website for more information.
We hope to see you in sunny Orlando in August!
Southeast food fighters–
May 19 marked the first planning call for the team of student leader/activists in the Southern region coming together to lay groundwork for a training in Orlando, Florida this August at the University of Central Florida’s campus. The training will consist of 20-30 youth leaders from the Southeast region coming together for workshops, trainings, group meals, listening to speakers, making music, and honing skills in building a fair and real food South.
The all-star planning team consists of students from Universities of North Florida, South Florida, Central Florida, Virginia Tech, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Attendees can come from all over the Southeast and bring back their learned to skills to their respective communities and universities.
If you are interested in planning/attending the training, email southeast@realfoodchallenge.org.
*photo is taken of the center of University of Central Florida’s campus.
WHO WE ARE:
The Real Food Challenge serves as both a campaign and a network. The campaign is to increase the procurement of real food on college and university campuses, with the national goal of 20% real food by 2020. The network offers a chance for students and their allies to make connections, learn from one another, and grow the movement.
