Taking Community Stories to the National Stage: FFORC at AFHVS/ASFS 2025

This June, FFORC team members Gabby Statia and Brett Sheppard traveled to Burlington, Vermont to attend the Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society and Association for the Study of Food and Society (AFHVS/ASFS) annual conference, one of the leading gatherings for scholars, practitioners, and advocates working at the intersection of food, culture, and justice.

Gabby and Brett presented a poster titled "Sharing Power, Growing Community: A Pilot in Participatory Grantmaking with Garden Partners in NC," which detailed the design, process, and outcomes of FFORC's Participatory Grantmaking (PGM) initiative. The presentation centered the stories and projects of our garden partners, the community members and organizations whose leadership and vision are at the heart of this work. 

PGM is grounded in the principal that the people closest to the work are best equipped to design solutions to it. Through structured grantmaking cycles, our garden partners gained access to funding, built storytelling and technology skills, deepened local partnerships, and engaged in meaningful peer learning with one another.

Like many community-based programs, our PGM initiative has not been immune to the broader landscape of funding uncertainty. SNAP-Ed cuts have prevented us from launching a third iteration, a loss we feel deeply, given the momentum and relationships built through the first two rounds. Our partners have not stopped working, and neither have we. FFORC is actively seeking funding to sustain and expand this work, and we remain committed to our communities and garden partners.

Presenting at AFHVS/ASFS was an opportunity to share what we've learned with a national audience and connect with others doing aligned work across the country. We left Burlington energized and more committed than ever to finding pathways forward.

Stay tuned for updates, and if you know of funding opportunities that align with participatory, community-led food systems work, we'd love to hear from you.