The Community Food Systems Fellowship is a leadership pipeline that increases opportunities for diverse leaders to build skills, capacity, and networks. Leaders who are committed to food justice and equity should consider the Community Food Systems Fellowship. The fellowship is an opportunity to contribute to developing a roadmap for community-powered food systems and to learn how to better document impact.
Since 2022
Develop resilient local food systems
Collaborative leadership skills
Committed to food justice and equity
The Community Food Systems Fellowship is a leadership pipeline that increases opportunities for diverse leaders to build skills, capacity, and networks. Leaders who are committed to food justice and equity should consider the Community Food Systems Fellowship. The fellowship is an opportunity to contribute to developing a roadmap for community-powered food systems and to learn how to better document impact. The Fellowship is a good fit for those who are committed to:
Thank you to our advisory partners for their continued guidance and support of this program:
Kimberly Arnold, Black Church Food Security Network
Bing Broderick, Haley House
Lori Dorfman, Berkeley Media Studies Group
Kate Fitzgerald, Fair Food Network
Reann Gibson, Conservation Law Foundation
Nick Hernandez, Makoce Agriculture Development
Geri Henchy, FRAC
Katherine Jacobs, FRAC
Megan Macaraeg, Beloved Community Incubator
Xavier Morales, The Praxis Project
Vivien Morris, Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition
Krystal Oriadha, National Farm to School Network
Paige Pokorney, Share Our Strength
Ciara Segura, Mandela Partners
Maureen Silva, Mandela Partners
Patricia Spence, Urban Farm Institute
Lacy Stephens, National Farm to School Network
Sha'Von Terrell, Black Church Food Security Network
Amy Quichiz, Veggie Mijxs
For questions, please contact foodsystems@vitalvillage.org.
This program is supported by a grant through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Read more about the 2026 Fellowship Application process, including the Request for Applications and FAQ.
Vital Village Networks is thrilled to announce the eleven local leaders that have been selected to participate in the 2026 Community Food Systems Fellowship program. 2026 fellows include:
Cami Fredericks (they/them)
Epiphany School Gardens Boston, MA
Grant Gliniecki (he/they)
Giitigan Lansing, MI
Norma Gonzalez (she/her)
Corbin Hill Food Project New York, NY
Angel Hammon (she/her)
Growing Gardens Portland, OR
Carl Harrison Jr. (he/him)
St.Roch Community Garden New Orleans, LA
Kiara Jackson (she/her)
Illinois Food Justice Alliance Chicago, IL
Paradyse Oakley (she/they)
Moonwater Farm Compton, CA
Shediah Palmer (she/her)
Reclamation FARMacy Raleigh, NC
Dulce Porras (she/her)
Semilla de Vida Asheville, NC
Taylor Ryan (she/her)
Change Today, Change Tomorrow
Louisville, KY
Alexandra Sosaa (she/her)
Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project Chicago, IL
Each fellowship cohort engages in a co-design process - their collective project - that seeks to document leaders’ collective wisdom and co-designs together what an equitable future in the food system might look like.
Vital Village Networks is thrilled to announce the ten emerging local leaders that have been selected to participate in the 2024 Community Food Systems Fellowship program!
How can we build a community-powered food system that centers healing, resiliency, and parent and caregiver leadership? Throughout the year, 2023 fellows explored this question and engaged in a co-design process to develop a zine that shares ancestral stories of food resiliency and liberation in order to build upon work for equitable futures.
Drawing upon participatory research strategies as well as equity-centered, human-centered design frameworks, 2022 fellows participated in a three-part design lab to co-design a roadmap seeking to answer a key question.
Click the links below to access each year's page.
Vital Village Networks’ Community Food Systems Alumni Network is a vibrant community that continues to grow in numbers, collective learning, action, healing, and partnerships. Our Alumni Network is composed of land stewards, grassroots data analysts, social scientists, food and birth justice practitioners, and traditional and indigenous knowledge holders. They co-design impactful programs and initiatives that build on their experiential learning and leadership skills to support community-powered food systems. We have fostered an environment where our grassroots food systems leaders are staying involved in three pathways:
1. Remain Rooted
Alumni stayed connected with network happenings, gatherings, opportunities, and resource-sharing. Alumni suggest topics and host spaces to nurture the network through connection and learning in-person and virtually.
2. Serve in a Leadership Role
Alumni served in various fellowship leadership roles, including the annual Fellowship Selection Committee, Alumni Peer Mentor, Vital Village Networks’ Summit Steering Committee, Policy Working Group, and Guest Faculty.
3. Serve as a Co-Steward
Since its inception, we had seven CFSF alumni serve as Co-Stewards and lead the Alumni Learning and Action Hubs. These spaces are for collective learning, information sharing, and mobilization around a central campaign or project that is shaped by the interest and need of the greater alumni network.
Thank you to our 2025-2026 Co-stewards who lead the design of spaces, structures, and resources for collective learning and action around priority areas decided by the greater CFSF Network. In addition to serving as CFSF Alumni Network Co-stewards, they are all stewards of leadership, community connection, and preserving the land. Please read more below about our 2025-2026 Co-stewards below:
Carmen Alcantara Gonzalez (she/her)
Denver Program Manager, Fresh Food Connect
Denver, CO
Travis Andrews (he/him)
Garden Program Manger, Skyline Urban Ministries
Oklahoma City, OK
Tailor Coble Koch (she/her)
Food Access and Education Coordinator, FRESHFARM
Washington, DC
Thank you for the service and leadership of our 2024-2025 Co-Stewards;
Mary Ann Buggs (she/her)
Student/Mentor, Institute for American Indian Arts
Cassandra Loftlin (she/her)
Goodness Gracious Grocery
Marc Peeples (he/him)
Co-founder, Liberated Farms
Tacumba Turner (he/him)
Community Strategist, Environmental Justice Advocate, Arts and Culture Leader
Founder, The Future is Black
The Alumni Network participated in an adapted consensus building process to co-design a shared food system policy agenda grounded in lived experience and community vision. Through this process, they identified two policy opportunities* to build community-powered food systems that center healing, resiliency, and parent and caregiver leadership.
To achieve this, the network aims to advance policies that will:
* Both of these votes received over 75% of votes from respondents (which represented votes from 24% of the CFSF Alumni Network), showing very strong endorsement and alignment.
