Tagged: Season of Coops

DC Food Future: Planting the Seeds of Justice

Healthy Affordable Food for All, will host ” DC Food Future: Planting the Seeds of Justice” at Soul 57 in NE, DC from 9:30am – 5pm on Saturday, December 8th. The event is free and was announced as part of the Season of Coops–an extended celebration of the International Year of Cooperatives in DC. There will be activities for all ages, food and childcare.

Eventbrite - DC Food Future: Planting the Seeds of Justice

DC Food Future marks the end of 2 years of community conversations about the DC food system and neighborhood-level solutions to food justice issues. HAFA has held over 15 “Community Brainstorms” with 350 participants from communities all over DC. On the 8th, HAFA will share Community Brainstorm results with past participants.

If you’ve never heard of HAFA, there’re still lots of reasons to come. You will be able to join the HAFA network and participate in food justice work going on in the city right away. The ultimate goal is to bring people together to create a more healthy, just food system in DC.

“Together, we will create a vision and a map for a just food system.” says Joni Podschun, Campaign Manager.

The workshops and activities are sponsored by folks in the HAFA network like Sariane Leigh, Anacostia-based yoga teacher, known to most as the Anacostia Yogi. Leigh will be presenting a workshop called “Hood Rich and Healthy” about local businesses that support community health.

There will also be cooking demos, food tastings and a marketplace sponsored by Dreaming Out Loud’s Aya Community Markets.

HAFA is a volunteer-powered food justice network, that meets regularly on Mondays to share food and connect people from all over the city having a direct impact on the food system. Learn more and register for the FREE event at dcfoodfuture.eventbrite.org.  To find out how you can join the network, contact hafadc [at] gmail.com.

Shift Change documentary comes to DC

On Dec. 17, 2012, you have two chances to see a brand new film about dignified jobs in democratic workplaces, from Mondragon to the Rust Belt and beyond. Shift Change: Putting Democracy to Work is a documentary film by veteran award-winning filmmakers Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin. It tells the little known stories of employee owned businesses that compete successfully in today’s economy while providing secure, dignified jobs in democratic workplaces.  For general information about the DC screenings, visit http://community-wealth.org/shiftchange.

To reserve your space for the daytime screening with pre-screening panel:http://www.facebook.com/events/226136770851366/. Panelists include Gar Alperovitz, Liz Bailey, Michael Peck and Leo Gerard.

To purchase tickets for the evening screening:http://www.facebook.com/events/312201322228050. Proceeds from this screening go to cooperatives recovering from Hurricane Sandy.

Teen Sunflower Seed Farming Cooperative

Do you know of any local youth groups who are already gardening or who might enjoy it? Reve Dele is looking for about 5 groups of 10 to participate in the nutrition, permaculture, and cooperative development training. Please reach out to Reve Dele at marjani.dele@gmail.comif you have any ideas.

The Teen Farming Cooperative is a new project to address the lack of access to healthy snacks and lack of economic opportunities among teens in the DC Metro Area. We are developing a training to teach teens to grow sunflowers sustainably, harvest the seeds and build their own small businesses marketing their organic, locally produced sunflower seeds. Participants who experience this training will not only learn about nutrition and learn to grow their own nutritious snacks, they will develop their own business cooperative and through a simulation experience, marketing their product and creating their own jobs.

Training Event – Feb / March 2013: Nature’s Friends will coordinate an 8 hour training event which introduces teens to the sunflower seed segment of the snack food industry and guides them into creating a market niche for themselves. The earth stewardship portion of the training occurs when students apply permaculture principles while creating micro-climates with sunflower guilds. Participants will also engage in a simulation of the cooperative business structures historically used in farming.

Snack Food Industry

  • National review of sunflower seed segment
  • Regional review of sunflower seed companies and products
  • Local customer base
  • Market Niche Activity

Product Development

  • Growing requirements and techniques
  • Processing Needs
  • Packaging & Pricing Options
  • Planting Activity

Cooperative Business Structures

  • Stories of Producer Coops
  • Stories of Marketing Coops
  • Coop Simulation Activities (maybe play the coopoly game;-))

Partner Agreements

  • Nature’s Friends- Compile training curriculum and coordinate training event
  • Wangari Gardens- Allow research of sunflower guilds in a forest garden system
  • Washington Youth Gardens-Provide space for training activities; allow one patch of sunflowers to be grown for seed and host seed saving workshop
  • University of District of Columbia has been approached to provide growing space for a minimum of 3 youth farming groups