Agroecology & Cooperative Food Systems Change Conference
At SCU Learning Commons and Library, St Clare Room
Interpretation provided by North Santa Clara Resource Conservation District (NSCRCD)
Who: Open to the public with pre-registration, expecting about 50-75 people, including leaders, program managers, government agency staff members, farmers, advocates, university students, and researchers.
When: April 12, 9 am - 4 pm - lunch and tea/light refreshments included
Why: The South Bay Food Justice Collaborative participants have partnered with the SCU's Environmental Justice and Common Good Initiative, Veggielution, UC Cooperative Extension, and other partners to convene a conference. The goals are to:
(1) Share food justice action and research initiatives guided by efforts to advance food security, food sovereignty, and resilience in South Bay Area food systems and beyond.
(2) Analyze potential disruptions and develop scenarios, such as 20% to 30% funding cuts to food systems work, that we could anticipate in the next 6 months to 3 years.
(3) Develop strategies, such as mutual aid, skill shares, and ideas to plan collective action responses that use agroecology and community organizing to secure the human right to food for all and accelerate the transition toward more sustainable food systems.
Where: Santa Clara University, St. Claire Room
How: Register here by April 9th, 2025, free to the first 75 participants.
Do you want to present? If you wish to nominate someone to share a testimonial experience or a poster during the conference, please complete this form by 5 p.m. on April 9th, 2025, but sooner is better.
A detailed program is forthcoming.
We welcome submissions from faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students from all disciplines, faith-based, community-engaged, and grassroots organizations, and government programs that address any aspect of food justice, agroecology, values-based purchasing, and cooperative activities. The format for sessions will include world cafe dialogues, selected keynotes, and testimonials, which will consist of a 5-minute personal narrative that responds to this prompt: “Share a story of a time when you acted with courage in your food justice work,” (2) Academic posters, and Programmatic posters that will generally be presented by a local organization, group, advocates, or a government agency that would like to present an overview of their work or a particular project or campaign.
For questions, contact the event host at environmentaljustice@scu.edu
The program organizing committee includes
- Christopher Bacon, Santa Clara University
- Lucy O Diekmann, UC Cooperative Extension
- Maria Eugenia Flores Gomez, Santa Clara University
- Samiha Hamdi, Fresh Approach
- Acacia Lynch, Fresh Approach
- Susan Chen, San Jose State University
- Fernando Fernandez, Veggielution
- Claudia Damiani, Veggielution
- Garry Sotnik, Valley Verde
- Mary Anna Cazarez, Independent
- Dereck Bryant, City of Santa Clara