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Update: when first posting this, I got my Saturdays confused and wrote a misleading title. The 26th isn’t this coming Saturday, but the one after. — Joe
Our annual City Farm Fest is Saturday April 26th, from 12pm - 3pm.
Do you have a garden? Do you want your plants to grow big and strong without using chemical fertilizer? What you need is compost, and we’re giving it away for FREE! We are holding our annual City Farm Fest on April 26 from 12pm to 3pm on our West Cottage lot in Dorchester. We will distribute FREE compost to neighborhood gardeners and information about healthy soil, reducing lead exposure, and tips on safe gardening in urban areas. In addition, there will be food and live music! We will also have a plant sale with vegetables like tomatoes, collards, and peppers that you can plant in your garden.
A new feature of City Farm Fest this year is our workshop called Square Foot Gardening: Tips for Maximizing Space. The workshop is from 12:30 to 1:30 and is open to anyone who wants to learn more about gardening in a limited amount of space. Additionally, we will have a tour of the Dudley Street neighborhood and its gardens at 1:45.
Please stop by for good food, good music, free compost, and a celebration of spring!
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It’s one of the hottest topics in our field right now. How do we get more local food into the schools and institutions that surround us? This isn’t anything new to The Food Project, though.
In 2006 The Food Project (TFP) began conversations with the Director of Food
and Nutrition Services (FNS) for the Boston Public Schools (BPS), Helen Mont-Ferguson, to discuss the possibility of incorporating fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables into meals served in the BPS.
These conversations illuminated a number of barriers that currently discourage procurement of locally grown fruits, vegetables and other healthy food products by FNS. However, what also emerged in these discussions was a strong interest and enthusiasm by food service staff and leadership for such a change to food service operations in the BPS. This interest and enthusiasm for increasing the availability of fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables for students in the BPS propelled The Food Project to research the feasibility of bringing fresh, local produce into the Boston Public Schools.
To learn more, check out the full report here:
http://www.thefoodproject.org/uploadedfiles/TheFoodProject_Farm2SchoolReport.pdf
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We are delighted to announce Margaret Williams as the new Executive Director of The Food Project. With over fifteen years in non-profit experience, including leadership positions at ReadBoston and Thompson Island Outward Bound, Margaret brings a wealth of experience in organizational growth, strategy, and fundraising.
Earlier today, while thinking about her new responsibility that begins on Monday, Margaret shared:
“The Food Project has always been ahead of its time, recognizing the power of youth working together to produce social good through sustainable agriculture. The challenge now is twofold: to ensure The Food Project continues to affect measurable change within our own communities while also remaining in the vanguard of what has become a national movement. I look forward to helping The Food Project achieve its ground-breaking vision both locally and nationally.”
The Board of Trustees, the Search Committee, and staff are excited by the leadership and energy she brings to the organization and appreciate your continued support during our executive transition and into our next phase of leadership.
We would like to thank Search Committee members for their hard work and commitment over the last year and in particular Josh Solomon, chair of the Search Committee. In addition, we would like to recognize Susan MacDougall for her exceptional leadership as Interim Executive Director. All of us at The Food Project look forward to having you meet Margaret in the near future.
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We have a job opening for an IT Manager that was just posted today. Click here to see the job description, and for directions on applying.
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The Food Project is honored to be one of six food-focused charities selected by Saveur Magazine, a publication that features articles on food, wine, and all things gastronomical. Among the six organizations selected, The Food Project is the only organization working with youth to grow and distribute food to those in need. Click here to read the article.
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The Cedar Tree Foundation has awarded The Food Project a three-year $270,000 grant in support of its national work. Specifically, the Cedar Tree grant will fund the start-up of TFP’s Real Food Challenge (RFC). The RFC engages college students across the country to encourage the food services in their colleges and universities to source locally-raised products. By doing so, the RFC will harness the purchasing power of large educational institutions to be agents for market-based change.
The Cedar Tree Foundation’s grant making focuses on sustainable agriculture, environmental education and environmental health–particularly for groups that demonstrate strong elements of environmental justice and conservation. This award is especially meaningful to The Food Project as it strengthens our ability to encourage and support others to eat local.
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You can now register for our 2008 farm share and box share CSA offerings, and if you do so before December 1st you’ll get an early-bird discount of $50 off the farm share and $25 off the box share.
Click the links above for applications and more information. If you’re not sure what a CSA is, or want to learn more about Community Supported Agriculture, click here.
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Susan MacDougall is the Interim Executive Director of The Food Project.
Dear Friend:
I’ve been thinking over the last few days how best to organize my thoughts to update our most cherished stakeholders; I came up with four letters: TION.
TransiTION: Pat Gray has graduated after 16 years and is sticking her toes into the waters of endless opportunities and I can only guess who will next be blessed with her vision, commitment and passion. We all miss her and I personally am grateful she has made herself available to share advice whenever asked. I was hired two years ago to support Pat as Managing Director. We worked closely together to develop a five-year plan in which we streamlined organizational structure. Months later when Pat tapped me to be Interim Executive Director, I was honored to serve. Together, with Pat’s senior team intact, we have made great strides riding the wave of eat local trends and strategically deciding among the myriad of opportunities.
Meanwhile, Gilbert Tweed Associates continues to assist our Search Committee to find a leader who can take the organization to its next level of excellence. I am happy to share with you my thoughts about this process at any time. Please call (781-259-8621 X34).
ReflecTION: As we grow, we’ve been learning. Over the last year, the senior team has reflected on the range of programs we offer and internal operations. In true Food Project fashion, the process has been transparent and participatory. Some changes included changing the fiscal year, reorganizing TFP into four major workgroups, involving program staff in fundraising activities, tightening relations with our North Shore replication site, committing to longitudinal research, rekindling our diversity and hiring policies and practices, building infrastructure for growth of core youth programs, and reevaluating our national work. Programs, operations and staff morale are better than ever.
SituaTION: A red apple with an ‘Eat Local’ label adorned the cover of the March 12, 2007 issue of TIME magazine. “Eat local” articles are popping up everywhere–even Reader’s Digest and United Airlines’ magazine. Mainstream media has finally caught on! For sixteen years The Food Project has been at the forefront of this movement – by employing youth to grow and distribute local produce and mentoring 150 national organizations and countless individuals to do the same. Childhood obesity, urban health issues, and concerns over rising youth violence in Boston have also put The Food Project’s work in the spotlight.
EvaluaTION: Since 2000, youth participants have completed short-term outcome evaluations. This year, we conducted our first long-term evaluation with the assistance of Shirley Brice Heath, at Brown University, and Brigham Nahas Research Associates. Our goal was to contact 812 alumni and to establish an extensive alumni network and program. Interviews with our alumni are revealing lasting program impacts which include:
1) life and employment skills
2) leadership and public speaking skills
3) increased sensitivity to, and ability to work with, diverse populations
4) improved eating habits
CommunicaTION: The Food Project has a compelling story to tell. Our vision is personal and social change through sustainable agriculture. But what does that really mean? Over the last year, Greenough Communications has helped us reshape our message for greater understanding and impact – critical components in achieving our ambitious five-year goals. We are implementing their recommendations that hopefully will make a noticeable difference.
ExpectaTION: To grow our youth programs we need land. We are working closely with the City of Boston to secure additional acreage in our Roxbury neighborhood with hopes of having land transferred to us this year and fifty additional youth employed on our land next year.
InvitaTION: I remain committed to doing whatever I can to ensure the program’s success. And nothing, other than my family, has mattered so much to me. The greatest thing you can do at this time is to continue to support The Food Project. And please stay in touch so we can keep you connected in a manner most meaningful to you and your family.
Very Best,
Susan MacDougall
Interim Executive Director
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Every year The Food Project runs a Summer and Winter Institute, which are multi-day experiences that are designed to expose participants to the nuts and bolts of how we do our work.
We’ve just posted the registration form for our 2008 Winter Institute, which will be held February 7-9, 2008, at our sites in the Boston metro area. For more information, and to download the form, please see the Institute page on our website.
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Big steps forward (and one step back):
The Real Food Challenge is taking off. Our goal: re-direct $4 billion worth of college food spending towards smaller, local, organic farmers in the US and beyond. This summer, we—along with our partners, including Slow Food USA and the California Student Sustainability Coalition—formed a national Design Team. Leading up to the Sept 2008 public launch, we are defining plans, hosting two regional summits (one at Yale in November), and creating a website (late Oct). We plan to hit the ground running with at least 80 schools signed up to work towards a collective goal.
Living the change we want to see: The third class of Cadre members finished their year with a final retreat at a food sovereignty conference in Hawaii. Joining 160 youth, mostly native Hawaiians from all of the different islands, this was a more of a deep experience of cultural revival than a typical conference. We built stone walls, repaired fish ponds, planted taro (“kalo”), made a traditional pit oven, cooked pork, and hosted a fundraiser, among other things. More photos and info at: http://handsturned.tripod.com/
New Cadre class includes 3 from TFP community. TFP alums David Schwartz and Carmen Dongo join John Wang 7 other young leaders from around the country in next year’s Cadre class. There were more than 3 applicants for every spot. Decision-making was excruciating. Thanks to those who read applications and gave input. The first retreat for this group is this weekend. Almost half of the Cadre members are heavily involved in creating The Real Food Challenge. See profiles at: http://www.thefoodproject.org/blast/internal1.asp?ID=602
Reap/Sow is going to cover crop. We are suspending production this year to focus on the Real Food Challenge. The website is still up and contains a great archive of reviews, recipes, art, and other creative and fun stuff. You can always check it out at www.reapsow.org.
Closing words from one of the many chants we learned at Hawaii:
Gratitude, admiration, thanks, and love
To all who are present both seen and unseen.
