Home › Northeast

2nd Annual Northeast Real Food Summit

Thanks to all who helped to make the summit a success!

Notes from the summit
If you have more notes, please send them to mgrossman@thefoodproject.org to be posted.


Description
Schedule
How to Register
Registration Fees and Scholarships
Sponsorship
Housing and Transportation
What to bring
What not to bring
Get Involved Today

A big thank you to all of our sponsors! See a full list here

Description

2nd Annual Northeast Real Food Summit
February 21-22, 2009
University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Amherst, MA

This year's Northeast Real Food Summit will unite over 300 food activists--from high schoolers to college students, young farmers to chefs, and food service directors to faculty--for a weekend of inspiring and rejuvenating workshops, performances, games and food. Let's strengthen our local and regional networks, dream big together, and create pragmatic plans for real change now!

Schedule

All events will be in the UMass Campus Center, first floor. See attached campus map. it's north of the pond, right next to the parking garage. There will be signs on campus.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm     Welcome Potluck Dinner. Location: The Red Barn at Hampshire College.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21

9:00 am – 10:00 am    Registration Sign-up/Breakfast

10:00 am – 11:00 am    Opening Plenary

11:00 am –12:30 pm    Breakout Session A

The Real Food Challenge: Opportunities, Crossroads, and Making Change Together with Marissa Grossman, Anim Steel, Sam Lipschultz and David Schwartz, National Team, Real Food Challenge

From the Fields to the Table: Farmworkers, Dining Services & You with Marc Rodrigues, Co-Coordinator, Student/Farmworker Alliance 

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary, How Does your Garden Grow? with Ariel Kagan, Mt. Holyoke College, Liz Moran and Lisa Veniscofski, Green Mountain College

From Idea to Action: Broad-Spectrum Student Activism and the Academic Institution with Zbigniew Grabowski, University of Connecticut

Youth, Slow Food and the Movement: An Exploration with Julia Middleton, Slow Food Youth Programs Assistant and Jerusha Klemperer, Program Manager, Slow Food USA 

Community Organizing Around Hunger in Western Massachusetts: What it is and isn't...why it is and isn't with Andrew Morehouse, Executive Director, The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts

Anti-Oppression and Diversity Training with The Food Project Interns

Everyone Has a Role: Personal Stories of Inter-Generational Food Justice Work with the Lots to Gardens Project in Lewiston, Maine 

Fair trade in Schools with Brian O'Connell, Food Service Sales Rep, Equal Exchange

12:30 pm – 2:00 pm     Lunch

2:00 pm – 2:15 pm     Game

2:15 pm - 3:45 pm     Panel: Students as Drivers: Real Food Campus Initiatives and Connecting Student Actions With the Larger Food Movement

4:00 pm – 5:30 pm     Breakout Session B

The Real Food Challenge: Opportunities, Crossroads, and Making Change Together with Marissa Grossman, Anim Steel, Sam Lipschultz and David Schwartz, National Team, Real Food Challenge

Of Carrot Sticks and Students: Opening dialogue and creating a positive working relationship between student initiatives and college dining services and administration with Liz Moran, Green Mountain College and Noah Kellerman, Hampshire College

Successful Local Foods Purchasing: it's all about the details! with Kelly Erwin, Massachusetts Farm-to-School Project

Working with the Grain: Garden Workshop Continued with Ariel Kagan, Mt. Holyoke College and Lisa Veniscofski, Green Mountain College

Building Food IQ and Sharpening your Sound Bytes with Dr. Susan Rubin, Better School Food

Making Real Food a Reality in your High School Cafeteria: Successes, Challenges, and What Students Can do with Kim Szeto, Boston Public Schools

Anti-Oppression and Diversity Training with The Food Project Interns

Student Organizing for Trade Justice with Noel Ortega, National Coordinator, Student Trade Justice Campaign

Hampshire College Farm Tour

5:30 pm – 7:00 pm     Break

7:00 pm – 8:30 pm    Dinner

8:00 pm – 11:00 pm    Music

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22

8:00 am – 9:30 am     Breakfast

9:30 am – 10:30 am    Speaker: Karen Washington. Since 1985 Karen has been a community activist, striving to make the Bronx a better place to live.  As a community gardener, Karen has worked with neighborhoods to turn empty lots into community gardens, as an advocate, she has stood up and spoken out for garden protection and preservation, as a City Farms Trainer, she has helped people all over the city grow more food and build healthier neighborhoods, and as a member of the La Familia Verde Garden Coalition, she launched a City Farms Market, bringing garden grown and farm fresh vegetables to her neighbors.

10:30 am – 12:00 pm    Breakout Session C

Campus Organizing and Campaign Planning: The Basics with David Schwartz, Brown University and the Real Food Challenge

The Real Food Calculator: A Framework and Tool for Setting and Tracking Purchasing Goals with Anim Steel, Director of National Programs, The Food Project 

Bridging the Generational Gap: Incorporating Local Youth in College Campus Real Food Activities with Mike Cermak, Boston College

Finding Grassroots Sustainability Within Bureaucracy with Jo Murphy and Jennifer Hatch, Wellesley College

Homegrown Solutions: Building at the Roots with Asantewaa Harris, Community Vision Council

Make it Stick: Sustaining Sustainable Dining Systems with Anastatia Curley and Hannah Eisler-Burnett, Yale Sustainable Food Project

Recycling, Solid Waste and Intersections with Sustainable Agriculture with Roger Guzowski, Five College Recycling Manager

The Farm Bill and the Northeast: What Can You Do Now? with Larry Dixon, Food Systems and NESAWG Consultant

Hampshire College Farm Tour

12:00 pm – 1:30 pm    Lunch

1:30 pm – 3:00 pm    State/Regional Meetings

3:00 – 3:30 pm    Closing Plenary    

How to Register

Registration is currently closed. Please email northeast@realfoodchallenge.org to be put on the waiting list.
Deadline to register is Monday, February 2nd. Payment due by February 9th.


Registration Fees and Scholarships

Registration fees are as follows:
Students: $30 per person
Non-students: $150 per person
High school group rate (3 youth + advisor): $100 per team

Late registration fee for students (after Feb 2): $50 per person

Fees include all access to conference activities and food for the weekend except Sunday lunch.

To pay with a check, please make it out to The Food Project with "NE Real Food Summit" in the memo line. Send checks to:

RFC Northeast Summit
c/o The Food Project
10 Lewis St.
Lincoln, MA 01773

Please include the check submission form found here

To pay by credit card online, please go to the appropriate link below.

Students: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2379178

Non-students: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2379219

High school group rate: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2379241

We are committed to making sure that everyone can participate fully in the summit regardless of financial means.  Travel and registration fee scholarships will be available on a limited basis.

We encourage you to fundraise locally to help pay for travel/registration costs.  We are ready to help you come up with creative strategies for raising money, so don’t hesitate: contact northeast@realfoodchallenge.org.

High School Student Scholarships
Better School Food is generously providing 10 scholarships to high school students to attend the conference. Please contact mgrossman@thefoodproject.org if you would like to apply for a scholarship.

Sponsorship

We are looking for colleges, universities, community-based organizations, and socially responsible companies to sponsor the Northeast Real Food Summit. Sponsorships range from $500-$2,500. This money will go directly to the cost of the summit: facilities rental, food, and increasing scholarship opportunities for youth attendees.  If you belong to a school (or academic department), organization, or company that might be able to sponsor the event please contact northeast@realfoodchallenge.org.

Current Sponsors:
Thank you for your support!


Housing and Transportation

Real Food Summit planners are arranging free housing for all youth participants at local colleges, churches, and community centers.  If you can provide your own housing in Amherst, MA, and/or provide housing for others, please say so in the Registration Survey.

Travel scholarships will also be available to help attendees get to and from Amherst (described above). 

UMass-Amherst Campus Map

What to bring

  • A sleeping bag and pillow (or equivalent) for sleeping
  • Pocket money for one meal out and bus fare
  • A notebook or pad of paper and pen/pencil
  • Information about your current work or organization to share with others
  • Musical instruments
  • Your enthusiasm and commitment to making real food a reality back in your home community

What not to bring

Any use of drugs or alcohol will not be tolerated at the summit and will be grounds for immediate dismissal. 

Get Involved Today!

  • If you're interested in leading a workshop, please submit a workshop proposal form.
  • We're looking for folks to perform in a variety of mediums--if you've got a band, a theatre performance (especially if it relates to food!), or simply like to organize collective art projects, please get in touch.
  • We are continuing to gather sponsors for this event. If you, or your school/office/department/organization is interested in sponsoring the summit, please email us today.

Contact Sam and Marissa at northeast@realfoodchallenge.org for more details.