I love the Real Food Challenge - as evidenced by my many previous blog posts on this subject:) But here's a quick summary: The Real Food Challenge (RFC) is a national campaign that recruits, trains, and supports student leaders working to build a healthy, just and sustainable food system. Our flagship goal is to redirect $1 billion of existing college and university food purchases to “real” food—food that’s fair, ecologically sound, humane, and local and community-based—over the next 10 years. We work toward this goal, and the broader goal of supporting a vibrant student food movement, by uniting college students through on-campus organizing, leadership training institutes, and regional summits.
The Real Food Challenge has established the Grassroots Leaders Program to provide campus-based student leaders with resources, training, and support to carry out their campaigns. Apps due April 15.
Received this in an email today. Good luck to anyone who enters the contest!
Calling all artists, doodlers, drawers, graphic designers, and digital media experts! This is your chance to get your work on the front of 1000+ T-shirts — to have real food activists across the country bragging about your hot design! Plus a $150 cash prize.
So here’s the question: What image embodies our movement? What does food justice, sustainable agriculture, real health, student activism, youth power LOOK like?
Competition Timeline: December-January 15: Open call for submissions January 15th: Last day for Submissions January 15-18: Winners selected by a panel of (student/youth) judges January 24: Winners announced February 11-27: Shirts available at 5 regional Summits
Submission Guidelines: * Designs must be original artwork for the front of a t-shirt, suitable for all genders. * Designs must be either 1 or 2-color for T-shirt screen printing (white is considered a color). * All designs must include the words "Real Food Challenge." Other text--like slogans--is strictly optional. Potential slogans could include: "uniting students for just and sustainable food," "keepin' it real," etc. * Competition is open to all ages. * Each artist may submit up to three designs.* * Deadline for submissions is January 15, 2011 * All entries must be submitted in digital form * Artists must submit Full Name, Cell Phone, Email and Postal Address.
Note: By submitting an entry, contestants grant RFC the right to use, reproduce, and the market the submitted material as they see fit.
For any (non-technical) questions about the competition or to submit your entries, please email david@realfoodchallenge.org
Technical Guidelines: * Unless otherwise specified, T-Shirts will be printed on an off-white/natural colored shirt * Creative use of the "knockout" background color is encouraged. * All submissions are encouraged to be in vector format (.ai or .eps); vector submissions should be expanded** * Submissions in a high-quality photoshop file are acceptable if colors are on separate layers* * All submissions should be in their final size.
Note: if you’re not able to submit your entry in one of these file formats, please email the address below, well before the deadline, to discuss convertibility.
For all technical questions please email evan@evanwebsterink.com
Next month, hundreds of high school- and college-age youth from all over California will come together for the largest youth summit on food and justice in California history!!!
2011 Strengthening the Roots: Food & Justice Convergence The Real Food Challenge West Coast Summit February 18-20, 2011 Santa Cruz, CA
With the help of partner organizations like CANFIT, Nourish, and the California Student Sustainability Coalition, we're gathering to:
* Make CONNECTIONS with student leaders and allies from around the state. * Develop SKILLS and KNOWLEDGE of food system issues & organizing skills * Grow our MOVEMENT for just and sustainable food through networking and skill-sharing.
Click here to register, and for more information about the schedule, free housing, and other fun logistics.
Hope to see you at the convergence,
Genna Lipari & Kitty Bolte Your friendly California Regional Field Organizers
Received this today via a Real Food Activist email list:
Friends,
It's time. In just a few months, together we'll witness the largest youth mobilization for real food in history. In February, high school- and college-age youth will come together for 6 MAJOR convergences for food, justice and sustainability in every region of the USA.
With the help of partner organizations across the country, we're coming together to:
Make CONNECTIONS with other amazing youth leaders in every region. Build SKILLS to be effective activists through peer-led and hands-on workshops. Get ENERGIZED about being a part of a huge, powerful, and diverse youth food movement (you're not alone!!) Attract major ATTENTION to the work you and others in your region are doing. Help us MAKE HISTORY by bringing together more youth than ever before.
In Arizona, we're building the movement with the FIRST EVER Southwest Real Food Summit, put on in partnership with United Students for Fair Trade. >> Come to Tempe, 2/4 - 2/6!
In Georgia, we'll kick off the 3rd annual SYFAS (Southeast Youth Food Activist Summit) and take a critical look at race, culture and food in the South. >> Come to Athens, 2/11 - 2/13!
In California, the 4th annual Strengthening the Roots convergence is going to be bigger than ever thanks to our work with a number of partner organizations, including CANFIT, Nourish, and the California Student Sustainability Coalition. >> Come to Santa Cruz, 2/18 - 2/20!
In Illinois, we're coming out of the cornfields and into the nation's third largest city to explore every angle of Chicago's emerging sustainable food system. >> Come to Chicago, 2/18 - 2/20!
In Massachusetts, 600+ youth will close out a weekend of workshops, chef demos and spoken word performances with a major march and rally led by the powerful farmworker group, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. >> Come to Boston, 2/25 - 2/27!
In Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, students have a different opportunity brewing. This winter and spring RFC organizers are planning a series of local 2-day trainings for student groups across the Northwest and upper plains. >> Come to a NW Training!
Read more about (AND register for) these events here!
I've blogged about the Real Food Challenge before ... amazing, amazing group. I love that they now have an alumni network! Got this in an email from the Real Food Challenge this morning:
The Real Food Challenge has built a national network of student activists committed to just and sustainable food. It's a truly impressive group, and as we all know, an impermanent one. As young people move into the real world, where do they go? How can we stay connected--continue to give back in a meaningful way?
The RFC Alumni Network is a new network of young folks who want to stay involved or join up with food work, activism, and support of the Real Food Challenge (check out current alumni in action!). We are about keeping RFC alumni in the fold, and welcoming people with new interest into a common network of communication, connection, and celebration of RFC and food work beyond student organizing.
Officially launched in September 2010, the RFC Alumni Network provides members: ◦ A networking listserv and resource-sharing opportunities ◦ A seasonal newsletter featuring RFC alumni-in-action and food work opportunities ◦ Seasonal conference calls to connect about our work and rally around RFC ◦ An annual retreat for sharing real time and real food in a beautiful place
This network will grow and evolve as we do--the possibilities are bountiful! Members will together define priorities and programs to meet our collective needs, including mentorship meals and mixers at national food conferences, alumni participation and support roles for RFC trainings and summits, and mentorship/internship connections between RFC alumni and established food movement superstars. By joining the network, you will decide it’s future direction and growth!
Membership in the RFC Alumni Network is $18/year. These funds cover the administration of the network--the work of a Membership Coordinator to manage the listserv newsletter and conference calls, create alumni mentorship and networking opportunities, and organize the annual retreat. Join here.
You can also follow the Real Food Challenge on Facebook.
While a sophomore in high school in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Sam co-founded a community garden located in an abandoned soccer field across the street from his school with fellow students Sarah Steadman and Natalie Akers. Project Sprout supplies their school’s cafeteria with fresh fruits and vegetables, helps feed the hungry in the community and serves as a living laboratory for area students.
photo: Sam Levin, Dakota Malik - students at Great Barrington’s Monument Mountain High School, June 2009.
Exactly one year ago Monday, I walked through the doors of my public high school in Massachusetts planning on presenting the idea of Project Sprout to my Guidance counselor. And that’s all it was, an idea. I had not one detail worked out, only that I wanted the students of my school and the people of my community to begin paying more attention to their food, and in turn the natural world around them. I was already an avid naturalist, and when I wasn’t in the woods or swamps, I was spending time on the farm down the road from my house, playing soccer with the pigs or riding the cows. So, after talking to my guidance counselor, Mr. Powell, I connected with two other students, Sarah a junior who loved gardening and children and Natalie a sophomore who was desperate for delicious vegetables in the cafeteria, and together we began refining the idea and figuring out the details of the project. Within weeks we had a plan.
... On Monday, exactly one year after walking into my school to talk to Mr. Powell about this idea of getting kids to think about food and the natural world more, I once again walked through those doors. This time, I had just come up from the garden, where I had been looking at the lines that had been drawn out for the expansion of the garden, and the area that had been marked for a fruit orchard. I was going into school to talk to Mr. Powell, but this time, I needed to make sure that that the head of the cafeteria had received our thirty kilograms of potatoes for the Project Sprout Mashed Potatoes. I also had to confirm the meeting with students from the nearby school who want a garden as well. I wondered in two Octobers from now when I’m a senior, when I walk through the doors of the school, what I would be going to talk to him about. And I wondered who would be checking up on the garden before school in 20 years, when even Mr. Powell is gone. And I knew, that no matter who it was, someone would be there, and the garden would even more beautiful than it is today.
... It is not just what has happened in the past twelve months, although those things were incredible. It is about how it happened, and it is about what is going to happen. Because, the truth is, Sarah and Natalie and I are not special. We don’t have some awesome gift or power. We just have two things. We have youth, which is found in every town in every part of the world, and we have motivation, which is out there.
A lot of it is out there.
Mount Everett, the school in the town south of us, has asked for help starting their own Project Sprout. So has the school in the town North of us. As well as Lincoln Academy in Maine, over five hundred kilometers away. Youth Radio in California, almost five thousand kilometers away wants a version of Project Sprout, and even a school in Kedougou, Senegal all the way across the Atlantic wants to become our sister project, in the development of a Project Sprout Kedegou. That’s the most exciting part that—that it is spreading. There are kids all over the world who want to make this happen, all they need is a little hope and inspiration.
Speaking of, while trying to locate a YouTube video interview with Sam Levin, I stumbled across another community garden project called Sprout, founded by Connecticut College students in 2004, approximately 2 years before Sam Levin started his school's garden.
I received this info today from the Real Food Challenge:
photo: Summer Vegetable Cianfotta Recipe from my favorite recipe blog, 101 Cookbooks.
Cooking Up Change - National Healthy Cooking Contest
What if you could control what food is served in your cafeteria? What would you cook? This competition challenges college students to make a tasty meal that features a locally grown item, wile using only ingredients commonly available for food service and meeting strict nutritional guidelines. Three teams of college students will be selected to receive an all-expenses paid trip to Taking Root, the National Farm to Cafeteria conference this May in Detroit, Michigan to compete in the finals. In the final round, each team will prepare their meal and serve to a panel of prestigious judges. The winning team will head home with a trophy and other fabulous prizes.
Submit recipes online by March 26, 2010. For contest guidelines and information go here.
Real Food Is - National Video Contest
What does real food mean to you? Make a short video that completes the phrase "Real Food is..." by March 29 for your chance to win. Get creative (song, dance, animation welcome!)--what's your vision? The winners get $1,000 and an all expenses paid trip to the national Taking Root conference to show your video in front of a 600+ person crowd.
I got involved in the Real Food Challenge's California student network after first learning about it from its co-founder, Hai Vo, a 2009 Brower Youth Award winner. I got to attend a workshop that Hai co-led at the 2009 California Student Sustainability Coalition Convergence at UC Santa Cruz.
RFC is a nation-wide network of college students who want to see more food that is community based, fair, ecologically sound, and humane in our dining halls - food that we call "real." We are creating more student farms on our campuses, and demanding curriculum that educates about the importance of Real Food. We are working in solidarity with farmworkers and food service workers for fair working conditions and living wages. We are fighting to reduce the carbon footprint of our campus dining halls.
Here's the RFC's latest update - got this email message the other day:
The past month has been quite a whirlwind - 7 amazing Real Food events in just 3 weeks. In Montana, Connecticut, New York, North Carolina, California, Massachusetts and Vermont, close to 600 young real food activists came together to learn, network, and plan campaigns that will reshape their communites' food landscape.
photo: SYFAS
Our first report is back: The Southeast Real Food Summit (aka the Southeast Youth Food Activist Summit, or SYFAS--pronounced "sigh-fess") was a big success. On a weekend with record-breaking snowfall, over 150 youth and allies made their way to UNC Chapel Hill. The big question: how do you get schools with thousands of students, spending millions of dollars on food, to invest in a truly just and sustainable food system?
photo: SYFAS
Watch your inboxes over the next week for highlights from our other events, and more about what's next for the youth food movement. For now: SYFAS!
Faithfully Yours, The Real Food Challenge Administrative Team
p.s. Two friends from SYFAS were just in the news! Rob Jones of CROP MOB was in the New York Times. The entire University of Central Florida crew got the attention of a Florida newspaper for their hot "Honest Eats" campaign. Check 'em out!
photo: Crop Mob
From the New York Times article - The Crop Mob, a monthly word-of-mouth (and -Web) event in which landless farmers and the agricurious descend on a farm for an afternoon, has taken its traveling work party to 15 small, sustainable farms. Together, volunteers have contributed more than 2,000 person-hours, doing tasks like mulching, building greenhouses and pulling rocks out of fields.
“The more tedious the work we have, the better,” Jones said, smiling. “Because part of Crop Mob is about community and camaraderie, you find there’s nothing like picking rocks out of fields to bring people together.”
The affable, articulate Jones, 27, is part of the group’s grass-roots core, organizing events and keeping them moving. The Mob was formed during a meeting about issues facing young farmers, during which an intern declared that better relationships are built working side by side than by sitting around a table. So one day, 19 people went to Piedmont Biofarm and harvested, sorted and boxed 1,600 pounds of sweet potatoes in two and a half hours. A year later, the Crop Mob e-mail list has nearly 400 subscribers, and the farm fests now draw 40 to 50 volunteers.
For more info about the Real Food Challenge and how you can get involved in your community, go here
