The following is a narrative reflection written by Naja Grasty, Program Manager of the Shared Gifting Cohorts. 

With a backdrop of the rocky New Hampshire seacoast, The Food System Resilience Fund cohort gathered for their Spring Shared Gifting Circle which took place at the Seacoast Science Center in Rye,NH. The cohort group  gathered early on April 1st over pastries and locally harvested apple juice courtesy of cohort member Suzanne Long. Ten New England Food systems grassroots leaders, growers and grassroots organizations came together to share their stories, build community and decide how to split a shared pool of grant funds.This gathering shed light on both triumphs and challenges facing food systems throughout New England, due to loss of federal funding, climate change and shifting organizational structures and priorities. 

While the Food Systems and Resilience Fund cohort meets  monthly on zoom, it is hard not to notice the synergy that emanates through the space when the cohort gathers in-person. The cohort kicked off the day in breakout groups which allowed for generative conversations. The Seacoast Science Center’s tropical sea life exhibitions which helped create a grounding and colorful atmosphere throughout the gathering space. With the facilitation and guidance of Darnell Adams, after lunch cohort members spent time sharing the stories, future plans, and missions of their organization and how support of the Grassroots Fund has helped their organization build capacity, thus ushering in the shared gifting circle process. Naja Grasty, Program Manager remarked, “I first met this cohort in-person during their October Gathering which happened to be my third day on staff. It has been amazing to learn about these groups and see how relationships have grown and developed over these past six months.”

In the shared gifting process, cohort members made suggestions for how to adjust the group's funding to make the funding decision equitable for all participants. Though the groups were not able to come to a funding outcome on the day of, they were able to finalize the FSRF Shared Gifting funding decision digitally a few weeks later, which allowed everyone some space to think through and process the several different options the group came up with to distribute the funding amongst themselves. This gathering served as a model of shared governance, allowing for Grassroots organizers to take grant funding decisions into a collaborative focus. This gathering showed the power of allowing autonomy for food systems leaders to take funding matters into their own hands, in the efforts to build more equitable and expansive food systems, land stewardship and food sovereignty throughout New England.