October 2024 Newsletter

Published October 2, 2024

thyme plant with light purple flowers

  • SAVE THE DATE!
    November 13, 2024, 9:00 - 1:00 pm

    Agenda:

    • A Year in Review (Plenary)

      • Meet the OCFSN staff, working group coordinators, Leadership Team, & Board

      • Highlights from the Working Groups and Grant Programs

      • and more!

    • Network Member Connections (Breakout)

    • Member Ignite Talks (Plenary) - sign up forms available next week

    • Community Food Systems at the 2025 Legislature (Plenary)

    • A Look Ahead (Plenary)

    Register to join us. Based on the amount of interest we receive for the Member Ignite Talks, we expect each presenter to have between 3-5 minutes to present.

  • Friends of Family Farmers, OFMA, and OCFSN had an opportunity to provide updates on OCFSN's Disaster Resilience & Food Hub Worker Safety and Infrastructure Grants along with OFMA's Farmers Market Grants this past Tuesday (9/24/2024) in front of the House Interim Committee On Agriculture, Land Use, Natural Resources, and Water.

    Watch our presentation: our part is about 20 minutes long (00:41:00 to 01:12:00).

    We received powerful affirmations from the team around the impact of investing in local food system resilience:

    • "I love it, and I just think all of you, we should honor all of the grant programs, all of the people that work in the grant programs, and everyone who got or did not get a grant that's willing to come back."

    • "I'm so pleased to see how effectively the money has been spent, and ...these comparative fractional pots of money that we have provided for community food systems and the work that you do are keeping families in their homes, food on the table, people in their jobs, so that the state doesn't have to spend so much to take care of them down the line. And when we do that, I think we benefit the state in a multitude of ways, not the least of which is to give people dignity of their life and work. So thanks for this."

    A huge thank you to everyone who has made receiving, distributing, and continuing to advocate for this funding possible!

  • The Tahoma Peak team has generously allowed for the training recordings to be viewed by OCFSN membership and affiliates for two months. These can be found at https://ocfsn.org/native-fundamentals-training with the password - NativeFundamentals2024.

    Please do not share these outside your organization. If you would like to get these trainings to other organizations, please hire Tahoma Peak to provide those trainings directly. Recordings will come down October 15th 2024. 

    Session Descriptions:

    Training #1 Native American History 101 (90 minutes) | June 13

    Understanding the history and context that led to the contemporary Native American experience is essential when working across all sectors of U.S. society. In this course we cover 500 years of history, moments in history that have modern day implications,  important policies that affect Native people and communities today and the fundamentals of Tribal Sovereignty.

    Training #2 Indigenous Communications (90 minutes) | June 27

    There is a great need for knowing how to appropriately communicate with and discuss Native communities and people. To do that well, it requires an understanding of contemporary Native people and communities. In this training we cover invisibility and institutionalized erasure of Native people in contemporary society, common myths and misconceptions about Native people and how to avoid these when discussing Native communities, the new emerging narrative about Native people, language to avoid, and terminology and communications best practices.

    Training #3 Outreach and Working with Tribes (90 minutes) | July 11

    The approach needed to meaningfully engage Tribes and Native communities is unique and contextual. In this training we cover the foundations of Tribal governance, outreach to tribes best practices, how to cultivate and sustain generative working relationships with tribes, and what not to do in outreach to tribes.

Working Group Updates

  • Missed a meeting? You can find recordings of working group meetings on OCFSN’s Youtube Channel and other materials in our Public Google Drive.

    Stay looped into the latest news for each of the working groups by joining the mailing lists: How to Use OCFSN Google Groups.

  • The Food Hub Network had a busy September. Sponsored by the NW Rocky Mountain Regional Food Business Center's Right Size Investment theme, the network hosted The Food Corridor's Shared Kitchen 101 workshop. Around 30 folks from food hubs and shared kitchens around the state attended alongside several NW Rocky Mountain Regional Food Business Center staff. The network also hosted its regular monthly meeting. This month featured a great discussion of the nuts and bolts of how network members are facilitating hub to hub sales.

    Our next meeting is Tues 10/29 from 1-2:30pm | Zoom

  • Health-Related Social Needs (HRSN) Community Capacity Building Funds (CCBF)  Updates: 

    The OCFSN Veggie Rx Working Group was awarded CCBF grants to facilitate an HRSN Food/Nutrition Provider Learning Collaborative for organizations interested in providing Medicaid transition populations with these vital benefits. The total project budget is $71,916 over the next 18 months, which was awarded by EOCCO and Trillium Health. Through the Learning Collaborative we plan to:

    • Convene a monthly/bi-monthly Learning Collaborative with 15-20+ CBO partners from around the state who are working to become HRSN food/nutrition providers. The priority of this group will be to prepare CBO partners to be ready to deliver HRSN food/nutrition benefits by Jan. 2025 and ongoing, while also recognizing that some partners may need to extend their start dates. This will be a peer-learning space with opportunities to bring in external support/training as identified by the group.

    • Contract technical assistance support for the group, as identified and needed, for training and guidance.

    • Host training on Community Exchange Platforms (i.e. ConnectOregon/UniteUS)

    • Facilitate frequent bi-directional communication with OHA and CCO partners for policy/program updates and advocacy to improve systems.

    • We will be releasing an RFP and Scope of Work to contract the Learning Collaborative Coordinator later in October - please share with your networks.

    Feel free to reach out to Kaely Summers veggierx-admin@ocfsn.org with any questions.

    • From September 16th through October 27th, Andrew will be on parental leave, so the working group will be at reduced capacity. The Farm Viability subgroup will continue to move forward with Tanya’s leadership and the Farmer & Rancher Disaster Resilience Grant Program will open for second round applications November 15th. Please continue to use the farmingforthefuture@ocfsn.org Google Group to share your updates with working group members and email farmingforthefuture+subscribe@ocfsn.org to join that group.

    • The Farm Viability sub-group of Farming for the Future meets on the third Wednesday of the month from 11am to noon. Join us on Zoom.
      At our August meeting, the Pacific NW CSA Coalition shared results from their Producer Business Needs Assessment Survey. View the meeting recording HERE. Our September meeting focused on reviewing a draft of a shared spreadsheet that service providers will be able to use to keep each other informed about farm-focused business technical assistance (BTA) offerings and to make better referrals for farmers looking for BTA. This Fall, we'll continue to work to refine this resource. There will also be opportunities at our upcoming meetings to give input on planning the business track of the 2025 OSU Small Farms Conference and to learn about American Farmland Trust’s efforts to support farm viability.

  • Plans are coming together to staff this working group for the 2025 Legislative Session. Please join the Google Group if you would like to engage in policy work this session by emailing cfs-policy+subscribe@ocfsn.org.

Upcoming Events & Opportunities

  • Visit OCFSN's calendar page for details on all the upcoming working group or other OCFSN hosted events.

    • October 16: Farm Viability Subgroup

    • October 23: Veggie Rx Quarterly Meeting

    • October 29: Food Hub Network Monthly Meeting

    • November 13: OCFSN Annual Full Network Virtual Convening. Register online.

    • Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) and the Heartland Regional Food Business Center are making available over $3.7 million to farm and food businesses in first round of Business Builder Grants. Apply by Oct. 15, 2024.

    • RD’s Community Facilities Direct Loan & Grant Program funds many facility types including local food systems such as community gardens, food pantries, community kitchens, food banks, food hubs or greenhouses. Limited to areas with no more than 20,000 residents according to the latest U.S. Census data. Open Year Round.

    • U.S. Department of Interior Tribal Climate Resilience Annual Awards Program provides financial support for federally recognized Tribal Nations and authorized Tribal organizations to address current and future climate change impacts on Tribal Treaty and Trust including food sovereignty and conservation practices. Apply by Oct. 18, 2024.

    • 2024 Seeding Advocacy grants from Seeding Justice to launch in October. Funding advocacy is a crucial component of movement building—without it, organizations cannot engage in systems change at a large scale.

      To support organizations in the upcoming long legislative session, Seeding Justice will open funding through the Seeding Advocacy program next month. Seeding Advocacy provides up to $20,000 in project support to 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations engaged in community-driven public policy, advocacy and community organizing that is focused on systems change. Look for next month's newsletter for more details. 

    • 2025 Community Technology Grants funding cycle at MHCRC will open October 16. Deadline for Pre-Applications due Dec 5, 2024. Learn more here.

    • Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board’s Restoration Grants
      OWEB is accepting applications for its Restoration Grants for riparian habitat projects including: enhancing riparian vegetation communities; treating invasive weed species; exclusion fencing; and improved livestock management. Projects must provide watershed benefits through protection and restoration of watershed processes and functions that improve habitat or water quality. Eligible entities include Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Watershed Councils, nonprofits and others, so farmers/ranchers will need to work with one of those entities to apply. Grant applications are due October 28, 2024. More information here. 

    • Executive Director at North Coast Food Web. Salaried equivalent of $40.85/hr ($63,725 at 30 hrs/week to $74,000 at 35 hrs/week). Learn more here.

    • Apply by Oct 4! CommunicationsConsultant at Oregon Farm to Institution Collaborative (OFIC). Allocated project budget up to $30,000. Learn more here.

    • Apply by Oct 11! Development Consultant at Better Food Policy Fund. 9-month commitment at $3,800/month. Contractor role. Learn more here.

    • Executive Director at Rogue Climate. Salary range $90-93,000. Learn more here.

    • Program Assistant with Oregon Farm to School Network. part-time, 0.5 FTE. Salary based on 36-hr work week: Full time equivalent $48-52k ($24-26K; $26-28/hr) DOE. Learn more here.

    • Bilingual (Spanish Educators) at Corvallis Environmental Center. $18-19/hour DOE full and part-time opportunities. Learn more here.

    • Executive Director at Klamath Grown. 1.0 FTE, $65-75,000. Learn more here.

    • October 9-10: Regenerative Food Systems Investment (RFSI) Forum in Denver, CO. Learn more here.

    • October 16: 2024 Indigenous Leadership Awards hosted by Ecotrust. Learn more here.

    • November 4: Getting Confident with Institutional Markets Workshop hosted by OFIC. Register today! Space is limited for this workshop. Registration closes Friday October 18th, 2024. Scholarships to attend are available upon request in the registration form.

    • November 13-15: 2024 National Agricultural Marketing Summit Food with Purpose in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Learn more here.

    • November 14-16: Tilth Conference in Vancouver, WA. Learn more here.

    • January 17, 2025: Rogue Valley Food Solutions Summit. Save the date for our upcoming Food Solutions Summit, hosted by the Rogue Valley Food System Network! This exciting event will unveil RVFSN's completed Community Food Assessment and Action Plan, a pivotal step towards creating a sustainable and thriving local food system.

Please reach out to info@ocfsn.org with any questions regarding the content of this or future newsletters. To get email notifications when newsletter issues drop, join our mailing list below.