Community Food Systems Fellowship (United States)

The primary goal of the Community Food Systems Fellowship program is to help center community leadership and the agency of caregivers, parents and families in efforts to promote community ownership of local food systems. Fellows will lift up evidence of community powered food systems and the fellowship will expand leadership opportunities. Vital Village Networks at Boston Medical Center approaches achieving a culture of health by ensuring effective implementation of community-based strategies, uplifting strengths-based narratives, and fostering sustainable community engagement and leadership. The Community Food Systems Fellowship is made possible by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).

They actively seek to spotlight community-powered food systems and inform and advance community leadership in local food systems. They are committed to supporting self-determination of communities of color and the advancement of diverse community leaders. They encourage prospective fellows committed to justice and equity and improving local food systems to promote child, family and community wellness to apply. They invite stakeholders representing diverse voices across the food system (e.g. agriculture, labor and food chain workers, food service, public health, environmental justice, economy and entrepreneurship, education, early care and education, immigration, and arts, culture), to apply.

First launched by Vital Village Networks (VVN) in 2021, the program pairs peer learning and capacity building with participatory co-design principles. The Fellowship was developed in strategic partnership with a National Advisory Board of 19 local and national food systems advocates, experts, and practitioners.

About the Fellowship

• The Community Food Systems Fellowship is an 18-month leadership program that aims to increase opportunities for diverse local food system leaders to build their skills, capacity, and networks through a series of community design labs on participatory engagement and human centered design approaches, monthly learning sessions with other food systems leaders, and individualized technical assistance.
• Through these opportunities, the fellowship hopes to strengthen community engagement and leadership of caregivers/families, uplift strengths-based narratives, and foster collaborative leadership that scales community identified solutions and cross sector partnerships.
• Emerging leaders who are committed to food justice and equity should consider applying to the Community Food Systems Fellowship.
• The Fellowship is a good fit for those who are committed to:
  • working to develop resilient and equitable local food systems
  • community leadership, engagement, and the leadership of caregivers and families
  • food justice, nutrition justice, racial equity and social transformation
  • developing skills to measuring impact and success of local food systems
  • developing collaborative leadership skills

Funding Information

• Selected fellows will receive a stipend and can also apply for project innovation grants that can total up to $5,000.
• Community Fellows will receive a $2,500 stipend. Fellows also have the ability to apply for $2,500 of innovation pilot project funds, which would be dispersed after the first 12-month of the fellowship program, after a proposal development and action planning period that will take place in the first half of the program.
• Up to 10 community leaders will be selected by December 2023 and invited to participate in the 2024 Fellowship program.

Community Fellowship Program Outcomes

• Through this 18-month program, participating Community Food System Fellows will:
  • Build meaningful relationships, foster connections, and co-create a peer learning space with other food systems leaders across the country
  • Gain knowledge, skills, and resources in telling the story of your local food systems impact through narrative change and participatory storytelling
  • Strengthen ability to use healing-centered, trauma-informed and resilience frameworks to advance local food systems work
  • Build capacity to leverage data to tell the story of your work and impact, including developing and implementing a participatory research plan
  • Build and strengthen engagement with local stakeholders, including parent and caregiver leaders in your local community
  • Together, work collaboratively with the fellowship cohort to refine a roadmap of collective actions to advance community powered food systems.

Eligibility Criteria

• All applications will be screened for eligibility prior to their review.
  • The fellow must be based in the United States or one of the US territories
  • The fellow must have an established partnership with a nonprofit organization, coalition, network, group, cooperative, business, or institution that has a strategic focus on local food systems.

For more information, visit Vital Village Networks.