Connecting Communities

Workshop Session I: 9:15-10:30 a.m.

Participatory Community Driven Agriculture

Weston Lombard, Solid Ground Farm, Molly Jo Stanley

Solid Ground Farm is pioneering a unique community-driven participatory farming model that empowers people to grow their own food. By eliminating barriers to success, such as access to land, resources, and expertise, while providing the hosting farm with alternative income, ongoing customer loyalty, and farm labor, this model offers a variety of benefits.

---

Workshop Session II: 10:45 a.m.-Noon

What is a Foodshed?

Benji Ballmer, Yellowbird Foodshed

We are all here because of our love for ourselves, the earth, and each other. Together, discuss how to take the work of the past, combine it with the current food system landscape, and work together to make change for a sustainable future.

---

Workshop Session III: 1:30-2:45 p.m. 

BIPOC Breakout Room

August Taylor, OEFFA

This is a space for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) attendees to focus on connecting with each other. Together, identifying goals, sharing resources, and finding points of collaboration.

---

Workshop Session IV: 3-4:15 p.m

Appalachia Regional Food Business Center

Paul Freedman and Herron Linscott, Rural Action

Learn about the Appalachia Regional Food Business Center and how it can assist small and medium sized food-related businesses. The Center is a partnership-based model working under a cooperative agreement with the USDA and is focused on three main areas: capacity building through no-match subawards, expanding the technical assistance that is offered by partner agencies, and coordination of these services across the Center’s coverage area.

---

Workshop Session V: 10:45-Noon

Advocating for Sovereignty: Value-Added Coalition Building

Jennifer Lumpkin, My Grow Connect and Cuyahoga County Food Policy Coalition, Zainab Pixler, City of Cleveland

Discover how coalition building can transform food systems and drive innovative solutions at the local level. Hear the story behind establishing Cleveland’s first Food Systems Strategist role in local government, and learn how diverse stakeholders came together to align goals, leverage resources, and build a united vision for Cleveland’s food future.

---

Workshop Session VI: 1:30-2:45 p.m.

Queer Breakout Room

Jerah Pettibone, OEFFA

This is a space intended for farmers who identify as LGBTQIA to come together and connect. It is a loosely structured conversation around the different joys and challenges queer farmers face. If this applies to you, come, meet, share, and connect in community.

---

Workshop Session VII: 3-4:15 p.m.

Community Land Ownership Models

Ian McSweeny and Kristina Villa, The Farmers Land Trust

Learn and discuss community-centered land protection and ownership structures that create a more just and equitable reality for farmland, farmers, communities, and regenerative agriculture. Hear about several case studies of community-centered ownership, with a focus on successes, failures, lessons learned, and the evolution needed to create and manifest the Farmland Commons model.

---