April 2017

Network Innovation 3.0: The 2017 Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge

Curtis Ogden

For the third year in a row, the Interaction Institute for Social Change (IISC) is working with Food Solutions New England to design and facilitate the 21 Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge (April 9-29) as an extension of our mutual commitment to racial justice. The challenge is a virtual and networked remix of an exercise created by Dr. Eddie Moore, Jr. and Debby Irving, offered as a way of spreading and deepening commitment to learn about, talk about and take action to solve racial injustices in the food and other related systems.

Keney Park Sustainability Project: Engaging Community and Environment

Herbert Virgo

The Keney Park Sustainability Project (KPSP) is a program of the Family Day Foundation, a locally-based organization that engages the community around Keney Park in a variety of areas including: health and nutrition education, landscaping, forest management, waste stream reduction, building and design, and urban agriculture.  

Get to know Portland Keynote: Jacqueline Maisonpierre

Jaqueline Maisonpierre

Get to know the Keynote Speaker, Jacqueline Maisonpierre! Learn how we can all can promote social and environmental justice in our communities, and hear Jacqueline live at the Grassroots Fund's April 29th RootSkills In-Person Training.

Engaging with Environmental Justice: Community Asset Mapping and the Food System

Deborah Van Hoewyk

Food justice is not always linked to environmental justice, but it’s moving closer as more people recognize that the benefits and burdens of how and where food is produced and processed, transported and distributed, purchased and consumed, and finally disposed of—i.e., the “food system”—must be equitably shared across society.

April (and every month) is Environmental Justice Month at the Grassroots Fund!

Julia Dundorf

As the New England Grassroots Environment Fund celebrated its 21st birthday on April 1st we believe it is the perfect time focus on one of our core values - Environmental Justice (EJ). While we believe every month should represent EJ month, we’re celebrating the founding vision of the organization with a series of events this month to focus on how our communities and our neighbors can connect, share and act together within the context of building a movement toward environmental justice.

Transforming America’s Hospitals : From Healing the Sick, to Building Healthy, Resilient Communities

Marydale DeBor

In the past decade, the rising costs of health care services, the obesity and chronic disease epidemic and the impact of social determinants on the health status of Americans have inspired a movement among hospitals to become more than walled venues that care for the acutely ill, to organizations that align all their considerable assets and economic power to build robust communities.