Call for Workshop Proposals

We are currently accepting workshop proposals for the 2025 Community Food Gathering!

Workshop Format

Workshop sessions are 75 minutes with 30-minute breaks in between sessions. We’ll consider holding two sequential sessions for topics needing deeper exploration. We encourage sessions to include opportunities for connection, discussion, participant engagement, or hands-on activities.

Timeline

Deadline for 2025 Community Food Gathering Proposal Submissions: Friday, July 18

Notice of 2025 Community Food Gathering Workshop Selection: Friday, July 25

Submission

Please submit a proposal via google form (english) (spanish). If submitting more than one, please fill out separate forms for each workshop.

Spanish

English

Honorarium

Speakers have the option to receive registration fees waived and mileage reimbursed. There is also a $200 stipend per speaker available for up to two speakers.

Questions

If you have workshop questions or comments, please contact Statewide Gathering co-coordinator, Lindsey Carver at rooted.in.change.consulting@gmail.com.

AGENDA AT A GLANCE

We’ll have a keynote speaker, workshops, and panel discussions. Workshop sessions will weave in themes of resistance, reform, reimagination, and recreation while focused on topics about grassroots-led strategies, working within systems to influence policy, exploring alternative economic models, and deepening our relational practices so that we can transform our food systems towards equity and justice.

Then the first night kicks into high gear with a futuristic ’90s-themed afterparty! Get ready to dance under fun lights, sip on creative mocktails, wine, or beer, play jumbo lawn games and vibe out to a mix of classic 90s jams and fun beats. If lower energy activities are more your vibe, we’ll also have areas for quieter spaces. The night will be the perfect way to unwind, connect, and continue the celebration of community and creative collaboration.

Track 1: Elevating Community Wisdom & Accountability
This track highlights grassroots-led strategies, just recovery, mutual aid, and how communities can lead with accountability from and by community. This track centers resistance and reimagining outside of traditional structures, while emphasizing community-led transformation.
Track 2: Policy & Power: Transforming Institutions from Within
This track focuses on working within systems (government, schools, nonprofits) to influence policy, protect resources, and embed justice in institutional practices. This track centers reform approaches, focusing on transforming systems through sustained advocacy and strategic collaboration.
Track 3: Building Solidarity Economies & Democratic Food Futures
This track explores alternative economic models based upon value-driven practices, like co-ops, collective governance, or livable wages, that contribute to creating an ecosystem for equitable food futures. This track is about reimagining and recreating economies and systems for equity, resilience, and shared power.
Track 4: Culture of Care: Connection as a Tool for Change
This track deepens our relational practices – storytelling, care, conflict mediation, and authentic collaboration as core strategies in food justice work. This track is essential to both resist fragmentation and rebuild connection and trust.

September 17th & 18th, 2025 Colfax, NC

Days

Hours

Minutes

Seconds

The Community Food Gathering is Community Food Strategies’ signature statewide event which brings together various food system change makers to explore solutions, learn skills, and strategize around how to create a food system built by us and for us.

Learn More