Community Food Systems Fellowship

About the Fellowship 

The Community Food Systems Fellowship is a leadership pipeline to increase opportunities for diverse leaders to build skills, capacity, and networks. Emerging 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 capture impact. 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

2023 Community Food Systems Fellows

We are thrilled to announce the ten emerging local leaders that have been selected to participate in the 2023 Community Food Systems Fellowship program! This year’s fellows include:

Travis Andrews
Skyline Urban Ministries
Oklahoma City, OK

Sierra Doehr
Saticoy Food Hub
Saticoy, CA

Femeika Elliott
Rooted East Knoxville
Knoxville, TN

Jamie Gonzalez
Big Fresh Market Box and Produce Markets
San Antonio, TX

Cassandra Loftlin
Black Farmers Index
Augusta, GA

Hallie Nelson
Jefferson County Food Policy Council
Denver, CO

Marc Peeples
Liberated Farms
Detroit, MI

Kim Ross
Mount Terra LLC
Bluefield, WV

Patricia Tarquino
Cosecha Community Development
Nashville, TN

Tacumba Turner
Oasis Farm and Fishery
Pittsburgh, PA

Previous Fellowship Cohorts  

Congratulations to our 2022 fellows for completing an incredible year of learning and growth! Learn more about last year's fellows here:

2022 Fellows

Advisory Partners 

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 Jei.Laura@bmc.org. This program is supported by a grant through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Read more about the 2023 Fellowship Application process by viewing the Request for Applications and FAQ.