Midwest Training is a Success!

From July 11th-14th, a group of students gathered in Ames, Iowa, for several days of powerful workshops and discussion at the Real Food Challenge’s Midwest Leadership Retreat. The training brought together students from Portland, OR to Jacksonville, FL (and plenty from the heartland!) to learn and share skills for launching real food campaigns on their campuses this fall.

For four days the team camped out in a Unitarian Church, cooking, eating, learning, and sleeping together.  For some it was their first introduction to the Real Food Challenge, while others brought more experience organizing for real food to the table. 

The group got deep early with a workshop about confronting oppression and generating power for positive change, themes that continued and propelled discussion through the weekend.  Together they examined what it meant to organize. 

The group also took two trips.  The first was to Onion Creek Farm, where farmer Joe Lynch was happy to see a hardy group of volunteers pulling weeds and clearing fields after a week of near non-stop rain.  The second trip was to Marshalltown, IA, where the students visited a meatpacking plant (shown right), the site of 2007 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.  There the group heard testimony from former employees about the inhumane work conditions and the resulting health problems in their community.  Former workers Rosa, Benny, and Ramona, and local activist and researcher Diego, pictured, gave the students a chilling litany of abuses committed by the company as well as their fight to get these abuses recognized and redressed.  Despite an increasingly tense environment for immigrants, a recent victory saw more OSHA oversight and accountability for Swift managers. 

The Marshalltown crew also took the Real Food Challenge group on a tour of their latest project--C.O.M.I.D.A.--a new program at the local community college to provide residents a bilingual certificate class in sustainable agriculture.   Graduates, many of whom are immigrants with rich agricultural backgrounds, are rented subsidized plots to grow food for market, with the end goal of becoming independent growers themselves. 

In the photo: Real Challenge students listen to Ramona Lopez (center) explain her vegetable garden.

Student representatives from Iowa State University (just 40 miles away) later discussed possible solidarity campaigns in conjunction with the Marshalltown group.

Another highlight of the gathering was that the real food group was asked to provide the Sunday morning service at the UU Fellowship where they were staying.  Working late into the night to prepare, the group wowed the 100 + member congregation by offering a two-part piece entitled "Personal Roots" and "Institutional Fruits."  On stage, the students charted the diverse paths that led them to their current work, be it personal stories of diet related illness in the family or contact with local farmworker communities. 

The presentation then turned toward action, laying out the incredible accomplishments won by the real food group already, including new urban gardens in St. Paul, MN, where student leaders from SPROUT (Students Proposing Real Options for Underutilized Territory) worked with a local neighborhood coalition to help nourish low-income elders in the community.  Also highlighted were recent changes at Carleton College where the food service provider and students came to the table together, making new commitments to purchase and grow food locally and fairly.

These RFC students were well on their way to making bold changes.  And, with a national campaign goal of shifting $1 billion of university food dollars to a real food economy, they let the assembled group know that they weren't done yet!  After the service the students were invited to share a generous potluck lunch with local Ames residents.

The rest of the weekend involved workshops on strategic campaign planning, including discussions on group facilitation, creative event planning and campaign tactics, and how to engage community stakeholders. Students left with concrete skills and action plans, laying out REAL goals for REAL change on campus come September.  YEEEHAW!

And the Midwest Leadership Retreat is only the beginning! RFC will hold two more trainings in August: 
Real Food West Coast- August 13-17,  Santa Cruz, CA
Real Food Northeast - August 20-23, Boston, MA

Both trainings are currently full, but if you're still interested and want to be put on the waitlist, contact Fortino (FortinoMorales@gmail.com) for Real Food West Coast or Marissa (mgrossman@thefoodproject.org) for Real Food East Coast.

Can't make it to a training?  We'd still love to hear from you and work with you to create bold real food solutions on your campus come fall.