TRACK C - Healthy Food: Breaking Down the Barriers

Eating nutritious, culturally appropriate food is critical for unleashing human potential. Access to healthy food in Maine is inequitable for reasons from income to geography, stigma and more. With thousands of Mainers experiencing food insecurity, what partnerships, policy, or advocacy can break down the barriers to healthy food for all?

Organizers: Community Food Matters, Cumberland County Food Security Council, Good Shepherd Food Bank, Healthy Acadia, Healthy Communities of the Capitol Area, Maine Environmental Education Association, Maine Gleaning Network, Maine Network of Community Food Councils, Somali Bantu Community Association

Join us for The Maine Food Convergence, a series of virtual networking events taking place on Zoom, centering interactive group work. Gather with a wide variety of Maine food system sector colleagues to focus on:

• Top priorities in the Maine food system
• Collective group work and action planning
• Systems that support ongoing collaboration

Click Here to View the Full Track C Schedule

Opening Event: Monday, February 15th at 4pm – Everyone will join together for a keynote panel; relationship-building and storytelling activities with Maine Environmental Changemakers Youth Network; a Racial Equity & Justice presentation on centering equity and inclusion in our work; systems mapping; and more.

Keynote speakers include Danielle Nierenberg, President of Food Tank; Alivia Moore, Co-founder & builder of Eastern Woodlands Rematriation; Joe Grady, Deputy Director/Senior Director of Programs at Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment; and Joshua Stoll, Assistant Research Professor of Marine Policy, School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine.

• Session 1 - Thursday, February 18, 4-7pm
• Session 2 - Thursday, February 25, 4 - 7pm
• Session 3 - Thursday, March 4, 4 - 7pm

Reconvening Event: Thursday, March 11, 4-6pm – Everyone will join together again for a keynote panel of food system stakeholders; presentations from each Track’s collective group work; storytelling prompts and group reflections, DEI Reflections & Assessment; Next Steps.

Threads woven throughout all tracks: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice; Climate Adaptation; Policies to support priorities; Training, Funding Needs, Other Resources; and Research Needs

Click Here to View the Full Track C Schedule

Zoom info and participant packets will be delivered via email.

Your full-priced ticket is supporting the resources to fuel this creative space of individuals and to provide the ability for us to offer a sliding scale for participants.

We want everyone to be able to attend the event and we are offering a sliding scale to participants. *sliding scale language is from https://www.awarela.org/donate

$20 – Representing an Organization, Institution, or Business with annual budgets under $150,000, or Individuals who have little expendable income.

$50 – Representing an Organization, Institution, or Business with annual budgets of $150 - $250,000, or Individuals who are able to meet their basic needs and have expendable income.

$75 – Representing an Organization, Institution, or Business with annual budgets of $250 - $500,000, or Individuals who are comfortably able to meet their basic needs and have ample expendable income.

$100 – Representing an Organization, Institution, or Business with annual budget above $500,000, or Individuals who have ample expendable income.

$0 - Scholarship: Individuals and Organizations who are unable to or struggle to meet their basic needs and have little to no expendable income. Email mainefoodconvergence@gmail.com for a scholarship code.

Scholarships to attend the conference are available! email mainefoodconvergence@gmail.com

Thank you to our generous project funders for making this project possible, Quimby Family Foundation, Elmina B. Sewall Foundation and our vast team of supporters.

We’re offering a unique sponsorship opportunity to organizations that stand behind Maine food and food systems as central to the health of our diverse communities, local economies, and natural resources.

Please contact us at mainefoodconvergence@gmail.com for more information on how to support this series of events and read more here about sponsorship opportunities.