Dates/times: October 29, evening only 7:00pm-8:30pm (kickoff)
October 30, all day 8:00am-6:30pm (dialogue circles & action forum)
Location: Riverside Church
490 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10027
(120th St & Claremont, one block from Broadway, off the 1 train in Upper Manhattan)
On October 29-30, 2010, one of Bronx Health REACH's Legacy grantees, NY Faith & Justice, will hold a “Food, Faith, and Health Disparities Summit” in collaboration with Faith Leaders for Environmental Justice and the Riverside Church. The goal of the event is to bring together community members, food advocacy groups, and faith communities to collectively address key food and health disparities our communities are facing. This two day summit has been designed to not only voice our concerns but to establish working groups that will enforce the best of our recommendations in the coming year.
On Friday night October 29 from 7-8:30pm there will be a keynote speech, and everyone will be assigned to a small group to participate in the next day. All day Saturday October 30 (from 9am-6:30pm), attendees will work in groups of about 10 people to discuss the vision that summit participants share, barriers that the communities are facing, and strategies to overcome these barriers. The day will culminate with a large group Action Forum, where every small group will report back what they learned through the dialogue process to the larger gathering of participants. In the end, each group will identify 3-5 strategic priorities for action over the course of the next 1-2 years.
The goal is to have 200-300 people attend, and each group will be moderated by 1-2 facilitators, which means a total of 40-60 facilitators is needed. Anyone who would like to be a facilitator must attend one of two trainings beforehand:
A) Primary Facilitator Training Date: Saturday, October 23 @ 10am - 4pm (lunch will be provided).
Location: Judson Memorial Church (4th Street and Thompson @ Washington Square South - entrance on Thompson)
Trainer: Carolyne Abdullah (Curriculum Development Director, Everyday Democracy)
B) Alternate Facilitator Training Dates: Wed, Oct 20 and Thurs, Oct 21 @ 6-9pm (must attend both dates)
Alternate Location: TBD
Trainer: Lisa Sharon Harper (Executive Director, New York Faith & Justice / Director, Conversations for Change)
Benefits of being a facilitator include receiving a Professional Facilitator Certification, a nice addition to your resume, and an enhanced leadership capacity in any setting. Faith-based leaders, this is an opportunity to receive free high-level small group facilitation training for your entire team of small group leaders. Facilitator training guide preview can be viewed here.
Regardless of whether you choose to be a facilitator, we strongly encourage you to get people from your community to participate. For this Summit to achieve its goal of engaging the communities in coming up with solutions which will work for everyone, we need representation from congregations, community residents, store owners, parents, and teachers, to work together with food advocacy groups, political leaders, and businessmen to determine the best strategies for decreasing health disparities by making quality, healthy food more accessible to your neighborhood, at affordable prices. And the work will not end there! Over the next 1-2 years, the groups in the Summit will continue to act upon the strategic priorities that were identified. This is a great opportunity to start influencing policies to improve healthy food access in participating neighborhoods and to push forward in eliminating health disparities!
Registration to participate and to be a facilitator can be done at the following link, http://tiny.cc/FoodFaithHealth.
Saturday Schedule
8:00-Check-In/Continental Breakfast
9:00-Orientation to Small Group Discussion Process
9:15-Session 1: What is our Vision for a Healthy Food System for NYC?
10:30am-Session 2: What is at the Root of the Problem?
12:00-Lunch: Panel Discussion on Approaches to Change
1:15-Session 3: Approaches to Building a Healthy Food
System for All New Yorkers
3:00-Session 4: Moving to Action. What Can We Do?
4:30-Light Meal
5:00-Large Group: Action Forum