FORGING OUR FOOD FUTURE
2023 Community Food Gathering
MARCH 15-16, 2023 ROCKY MOUNT, NC

Artwork by Marcus Hill
- $125 – Early bird (until Jan 15)
- $150 – General (Jan 15 – Feb 28)
- $175 – Late (Mar 1 – Mar 10)
Whova App
Download the Whova App on your phone to engage with all attendees, see speaker bios & ask them questions, and get the latest updates!
Search for the event name or ‘community’
The Community Food Gathering is Community Food Strategies’ signature statewide event which brings together farm and food system leaders, public service and nonprofit leaders, local food councils, key partners, and community food advocates across the state. This gathering organizes various food system stakeholders to explore solutions, learn skills, and strategize around how to create a food system built by us and for us.
We’ll have a keynote speaker, workshops, panel discussions, a story slam and other creative collaborations to fill our minds and hearts with the nourishment we need to make change. Workshop sessions will include topics on statewide policy and advocacy opportunities, existing community food solutions, opportunities to support growing value chains and local food system infrastructure, creative communications and engagement strategies, and capacity building for our own and our communities’ wellbeing.
The 2023 Gathering will be held at the Rocky Mount Event & Conference Center in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, with additional events in the surrounding area.
Special thank you to the Rocky Mount Event Center for hosting the conference!
We plan to host an in-person gathering, and will pivot as needed in accordance with COVID-19 public health guidelines leading up to the event.
- This gathering will honor and lift up place, people, and power shifting.
- Participants will be inspired by relevant ideas, tools, and relationships for imagination and action towards systems change.
- Participants will feel joy, connection, creative inspiration, and unexpected rejuvenation.
Agenda At-A- Glance

Join us for a home-cooked supper, followed by a viewing and discussion of Freedom Hill documentary. Meet and converse with new friends, soak in rural farm fields and animals, enjoy a bonfire, and learn about the creativity, courage, and environmental justice in the town of Princeville, North Carolina’s first incorporated African-American town by newly freed enslaved people.
Tuesday, March 14th
We’re thrilled to be hosting a separately ticketed pre-event with Golden Organic Farm.
5:30 – 8:30pm Farm-to-Table Dinner at Golden Organic Farm. Buy tickets here!
-
- Showing and discussion of Freedom Hill documentary film with the film producer and cast members
Wednesday, March 15th
9:00 – 10:00am Registration & Breakfast
10:00 – 10:20am Local Welcome
10:20 – 11:30am Keynote Speaker
11:45 – 1:00pm Lunch buffet
1:00 – 2:15pm Workshop 1
2:45 – 4:00pm Workshop 2
4:00 – 5:00pm Fun Zone & Vendor Booths Game Day, Event Ctr
5:30 – 8:30pm After Party, StorySLAM, & Group Photo
Thursday, March 16th
8:00 – 9:00am Breakfast
9:00 – 10:15am Workshop 3 Sessions
10:30 – 11:45am Workshop 4 Sessions
11:45 – 12:45pm Lunch buffet
12:30 – 2:00pm Keynote Panel
2:00 – 2:15pm Official Closing/Group Photo
2:30 – 4:00pm Forging Policy & Systems Change: An Exercise in Collective Advocacy
Wednesday Keynote Panel

Local Welcome: Wednesday, March 15th, 10:00am
Elly Mendez Angulo Brown
Program Manager & Interim Executive Director, Franklinton Center at Bricks

Kim Pevia
Weaving Neuroscience and Indigeneity: Reclaiming Body Wisdom and WholeHeartedness as Tools for Justice
Wednesday, March 15th, 10:20am
Kim Pevia, Founder and Principal of K.A.P. Inner Prizes, is an emotional and somatic justice trainer and expert. She will weave neuroscience and Indigeneity to offer perspectives and tools that can transform our ways of being and of doing our work, personal and collective, towards living into a just food future. Kim is a skilled facilitator, strategist, somatic practitioner and cultivator of deep ways of knowing. She works nationally, with strong ties to the Southeastern Region and based here in North Carolina, supporting organizations, communities and individuals in their transformation towards justice.
Wednesday Keynote Panel

Local Welcome: Thursday, March 16th, 12:20pm
Kendrick Ransome
CEO, Golden Organic Farm; Vice President, Freedom Organization

Planting the wisdom from current leaders as seeds for a just food future Thursday, March 16th, 12:30pm
Jesalyn Keziah, a deeply community-rooted leader, will moderate and shape a conversation with three intentional and creative community practitioners in this keynote panel. Panelists will share and discuss experiences and perspectives on how forging our food futures is already alive in the work at the ground level, and their visions for this work in their communities moving forward. It will blend heart work with the tangible stories of how we act and be in community in ways that help to shape the food futures we want.
- Moderator:
- Jesalyn Keziah, Lumbee Tribe, UNC American Indian Center
- Panelists:
- David Anderson, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Horticulture Supervisor
- Lariza Garzon, Hispanic Federation
- Samantha “Foxx” Winship, Mother’s Finest Famy Farm



Workshop Sessions
Workshop Tracks
POLICY – Opportunities to learn and engage with food-related policy and advocacy campaigns, ideas, and actions
Increasing IMPACT – Skills, techniques, and models to build an organizational culture that creates more equitable outcomes
Food & Community HEALTH –
Case studies, solutions, and analysis of ways to improve health of people, land, and community
Regional Food ECONOMIES – New and existing value-based solutions that create wealth throughout local food infrastructure
Policy
Opportunities to learn and engage with food-related policy and advocacy campaigns, ideas, and actions
Increasing Impact
Skills, techniques, and models to build an organizational culture that creates more equitable outcomes
Food & Community Health
Case studies, solutions, and analysis of ways to improve health of people, land, and community
Regional Food Economies
New and existing value-based solutions that create wealth throughout local food infrastructure
Creative Spaces
We have lots of ways to engage outside of speakers and workshop content! Please take a look and see what else you can do.
Forging Our Food Future Photo Contest
As part of the 2023 Community Food Gathering, we are hosting our first statewide photo contest! We want to see your most incredible, your most delicious food pic! Submit your food photo of any and all kinds! Photo submissions accepted between now and 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, March 8th.
Submission guidelines:
- You may enter the contest with one photo.
- Photos should be submitted in high quality (300 DPM or greater electronic format (jpg or png files) using this form by 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, March 8. Please be sure to title your photo!
- Winning photos may be used in future Community Food Strategies promotions with photographer credit.
1st place: $100 visa gift card
2nd place: $50 visa gift card
3rd place: $25 visa gift card
What is a StorySLAM?
This is a live storytelling event where storytellers (“slammers”) have up to 5 minutes each to tell a true, personal story inspired by a theme. At this event, the theme is: Forging our Food Future. The storytellers craft their unique story around the theme in a creative way that moves, amuses, surprises, or captivates the audience. At our event, we’ll be encouraging the audience to select up to two winners!
After Party & StorySLAM
The Power House at Rocky Mount Mills
1151 Falls Road, Rocky Mount, NC 27804
Come relax and celebrate our time together!
We’ll enjoy beverages, heavy hors d’oeuvres, music, mingling, and a StorySLAM!
- 5:30 pm – Music, food, beverages, & mingling
- 6:15 pm – StorySLAM
- 7:35 pm – Audience Choice voting for winners
- 7:40pm – Group Photo
- 7:45pm – Closing Dance Party
- 8:00pm – Full dinner on your own.
Forging our Food Future StorySLAM
We’re lucky to have Zulayka Santiago as our host for tonight’s StorySLAM. She’ll share her own stories, art, and skills as a professional party starter.
What’s your vision for our food future? What traditions, wisdom, or experiences would you like to share, stories to lift up, and calls to action for the larger NC food network? We want to hear about your personal, unique story in a creative way on a StorySLAM stage. We invite community food advocates to sign up to share your story!
- Story Prompt: Forging our Food Future. Think of an early or important food memory. What do you want to bring forward from that memory into the work of creating our food future? (traditions, feelings, wisdom, emotions, etc, etc)
We are encouraging Gathering participants to sign up early or just sign up that night! This event is open to anyone with a story to tell. This is also a competitive event with an opportunity for two audience-selected $200 awards! A few storytellers will be selected in advance and up to five more storytellers will be randomly selected at the event. Each story is five minutes long and two winners will be declared at the end of the night.
Here’s how it works:
- You think, “I’ve got a story connected to the theme!”
- You practice your five-minute story at home, in your car, in the garden, or with our professional coaching team the week before the event.
- You show up and sign up saying you would like to tell a story.
- During the show, several speakers that sign up in advance will share their stories. Then our host will pick three to five more names at random for anyone that signs up that night.
- After all of the stories have been told, two winners will be declared!
Low Sensory Room
We’re dedicating space in the conference center where you can relax and take a break from the crowd. We’ll have items like chairs, pillows, sensory/fidget toys, coloring sheets, suggested meditation tracks you can play on your phone, and a sound machine.
Pricing & Scholarships
Registration Costs
- $125 – Early bird (until Jan 15)
- $150 – General (Jan 15 – Feb 28)
- $175 – Late (Mar 1 – Mar 10)
Scholarships
Complete this form by Feb 6th, 2023 to be considered for registration scholarship and travel reimbursements.
Scholarship Information
This year, we are offering three scholarship options for a range of support, $150, $100, and $75. To receive these scholarships, you must complete the scholarship form by February 6th, 2023. But earlier is better!
We are encouraging those to apply that have limited financial resources and those that have a commitment to staying connected to the network through Community Food Strategies. Once we receive and review applications, scholarship grantees will receive a promo code that will allow them to register on scholarship. All applicants will be notified of decisions by February 18th, 2023.
Travel Reimbursement: We have limited travel funds to support scholarship grantees with mileage and one night of accommodation reimbursements. To keep costs low, we encourage everyone to carpool and share rooms when possible. Mileage reimbursements will be based off of the roundtrip total miles traveled; whereas overnight accommodations will be a flat-rate $100 reimbursement per scholarship attendee for one night lodging. You must reserve your own hotel room. If you are selected for travel reimbursement, we will send travel reimbursements a few weeks after the event.
If you have questions, please contact Ali Stone at alstone3@ncsu.edu.
Conference & Hotel
Use this booking link to get hotel block rates at the Hampton Inn until March 8th.
Conference Location
Recommended Hotels
Hampton Inn
530 N. Winstead Avenue Rocky Mount, North Carolina 27804
1-252-937-6333
Book your accommodations using this booking link to get hotel block rates of $99/night. This hotel is 5.5 miles and 10 minutes from the Rocky Mount Event Center and is conveniently located near both I-95 and HWY 64.
You can also call the hotel (252-937-6333) and make a reservation for both March 14th & March 15th. Make sure to tell them you are attending the Community Food Gathering associated with NCSU and the Center for Environmental Farming Systems on March 14th and 15th to receive the discounted block price.
Additional details:
-
Check-in time: 3:00pm. Check-out time: 12:00pm.
- Parking is free of charge to all Hotel Guests.
- Reservations must be received by the cutoff date of March 8th. After this date, reservations will be at the regular rate.
Holiday Inn
200 Enterprise Dr., Rocky Mount, NC
1-252-937-7100
Book your accommodations using this booking link to get hotel block rates of $99/night at the Holiday Inn. This hotel is 5.5 miles and 10 minutes from the Rocky Mount Event Center and is conveniently located near both I-95 and HWY 64.
You can also call the hotel (252 -937-7100) and make a reservation that way. Make sure to tell them you are attending the Community Food Gathering Conference associated with NCSU and Center for Environmental Farming Systems for March 14th and 15th to receive the discounted block price.
Additional Holiday Inn details:
-
Check-in time: 3:00pm. Check-out time: 11:00am.
- All reservations can be changed or cancelled for free anytime before 6pm on 03/13/2023.
- Parking is free of charge to all Hotel Guests.
- Reservations must be received by the cutoff date of March 1st. After this date, reservations will be at regular rate.
Thank you to our sponsors for this event!
2019 GATHERING
The 2019 Gathering: Cultivating Community through Food took place on December 5 & 6th, 2019. More than 200 community leaders, entrepreneurs, educators, farmers, youth, local government and health professionals came together to learn about ongoing food, farm, and health efforts and opportunities connected to establishing a more equitable food system.